How to deal with hay fever with relaxation
Stress is weakening to both the immune system and the adrenal glands. You may even have noticed that your allergy symptoms worsen when you are feeling stressed. Having to deal with hay fever symptoms for several weeks – or even months – at a time doesn’t help. Indeed, it can lead to chronic stress – the state of being constantly ‘on alert’. The physiological changes associated with this state, which include raised heart-rate, shallow breathing and muscular tension, can even persist after the attack is over, leading to nerviness, hypertension, irritability and depression.
Stress-busting suggestions
In hay fever, stress management should be a high priority. Fortunately, there are many ways to reduce stress, some of which are listed below. If you can carry out two or three (at least) of these suggestions every day, you should find yourself more able to cope with your symptoms, as well as with the difficulties that arise in everyday life.
• Smile as often as you can.
• Drive in the slow lane.
• Perform your daily activities at a slower pace – walking, eating, reading, housework, washing the car, doing the crossword puzzle and so on.
• Stop yourself from grimacing.
• Buy a small gift for someone you care about.
• Tell someone you care about how much they mean to you.
• Refer to yourself less frequently in conversation.
• Practise controlling your anger.
• Pay someone a compliment.
• Allow yourself to cry if you feel like doing so.
• Practise assertiveness.
• Listen to music.
• Take a long bath.
• Alter your routine slightly.
A relaxation exercise
Relaxation is one of the forgotten skills in today’s hectic world, but it can help to counter the effects of stress arising from hay fever symptoms. It’s advisable, therefore, that you learn at least one relaxation technique. The following exercise is perhaps the easiest:
1 Ensure that you are not wearing tight clothing.
2 Make yourself comfortable in a place where you will not be disturbed. Listening to restful music may help you relax.
3 Begin to slow down your breathing, inhaling through your nose to a count of two.
4 Ensuring that the abdomen pushes outwards (as explained above), exhale to a count of four, five or six.
After a couple of minutes, concentrate on each part of your body in turn, starting with your right arm. Consciously relax each set of muscles, allowing the tension to flow right out. Let your arm feel heavier and heavier as every last remnant of tension seeps away.
Follow this procedure with the muscles of your left arm, then the muscles of your face, your neck, your stomach, your hips, and finally your legs.
Visualization
At this point visualization can be introduced into the exercise. As you continue to breathe slowly and evenly, imagine yourself on a deserted tropical beach, listening to the sounds of the ocean, thousands of miles from your worries and cares. Let the warm sun, the gentle breeze, the peacefulness of it all wash over you.
The tranquillity you feel at this stage can be enhanced by repeating the relaxation exercise frequently – once or twice a day is best. With time, you should be able to switch into a calm state of mind whenever you feel stressed.
Meditation
Arguably the oldest natural therapy, meditation is the simplest and most effective form of self-help. Dr Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School has shown that meditation tends to normalize blood pressure, the pulse rate and level of stress hormones in the blood. He has proved, too, that it produces changes in brain-wave patterns (showing less excitability), and that it strengthens the immune system and endocrine system (hormones).
The unusual thing about meditation is that it involves ‘letting go’, allowing the mind to roam freely. Most of us are used to trying to control our thoughts – in our work, for example – so letting go is not as easy as it sounds.
It may help to know that people who regularly meditate say they have more energy, require less sleep, are less anxious, and feel ‘more alive’ than they did before. Ideally, the technique should be taught by a skilled instructor – but as meditation is essentially performed alone it can be learned alone with equal success.
Meditation may sound a bit off-beat to you. But isn’t it worth a try – especially when you can do it for free? Kick off those shoes and make yourself comfortable somewhere you can be alone for a while. Now follow these simple instructions:
1 Close your eyes, relax, and practise the deep-breathing exercise.
2 Concentrate on your breathing. Try to free your mind of conscious control.
3 Letting your mind roam unchecked, try to allow the deeper, more serene part of you to take over.
4 If you wish to go further into meditation, concentrate on mentally repeating a ‘mantra’ – a certain word or short phrase. It should be something positive, such as ‘Relax’, ‘I feel calm’, or even ‘I am special’.
5 When you are ready to finish, open your eyes and allow yourself time to adjust to the outside world before getting to your feet.
The aim of mentally repeating a mantra is to plant positive thoughts into your subconscious mind. It is a form of self-hypnosis; you alone control the messages placed there.