My body tenses up all the time

Why Am I So Tense? – Your Guide to Tackling Tension

Are you always tense? Shoulders hunched, fist and jaw clenched? If so, it is important that you take the time to learn how to relax and release that pent up tension. Those who master their stress levels have a higher quality of life than people who are unable to ‘let go.’

People who are tense often feel a level of guilt about taking it easy and finding time for themselves. But, prolonged tension can lead to a number of issues, such as pain, muscle aches, burnout and fatigue. One of the most common physical symptoms is head and backache pain.

Psychological Causes of Tension

In many cases, feeling tense is due to putting too much pressure on ourselves and overexerting our brain – causing us to feel overwhelmed and exhausted. You may feel like you cannot relax, or you have forgotten how it feels to be calm. This mental stress can cause our body to tense. Your body and mind are intricately linked.

There are many things that can cause tension, from anxiety and depression to a negative, traumatic experience. If you find that your mind and body have gone into overdrive, it can make it difficult for you to relax.

How can I be less tense?

Relax the body, and the mind relaxes too.

Here is a thought-provoking question to think about: When was the last time you took a long lunch break, read a book, or had a peaceful walk?

You must find time to relax to help counteract the negative effects of stress. Learning to focus your attention on peaceful thoughts will allow your emotions and body to calm down.

While a good massage certainly wouldn’t go amiss, here are a few ideas to help you take time for yourself and stop tension from building:

Do a tension check

Regularly check-in throughout the day – particularly if you feel nervous or stressed. Make a conscious effort to relax your shoulders, jaws, and wrists. You may need to do this frequently at first – as you will likely notice that you begin to tense up again quickly. But with regular checks to relax your muscles throughout the day, eventually you will learn to loosen up.

Correct breathing is essential for relaxation. Be sure to breathe from your stomach and not your chest. Often when we are stressed, our breathing pattern changes and becomes shallow, using the shoulders rather than our diaphragm. Again, take time to be aware of this. A physiotherapist once gave me the goal of spending two minutes in a morning and an evening to focus on breathing correctly.

Listen to music

Any kind of music that you enjoy, can help you to feel calm. Often, classical musical or relaxing, soothing tunes are particularly helpful when it comes to reducing stress. You could try searching for ‘relaxing song tracks’ on Spotify or YouTube, put in your headphones and then close your eyes for 5-10 minutes to just listen.

Exercise

Take an exercise class, such as Pilates, go for a swim in the ocean or take a nice long walk among nature. Moving your body is a great way to reduce tension and rid yourself of damaging stress hormones.

Take mini-breaks

We live fast-paced lives but it’s important to take little breaks for ourselves throughout the day. For example, make sure you enjoy a lunch break. Use the time to read a book, sit quietly by a lake, try a new café, or just sip your coffee in peace. Even just finding a quick 5 minutes regularly throughout the day to shut your eyes and relax will help you find your balance.

Find a hobby

Crafting, painting, sketching, reading, writing, the list is endless – anything that helps distract you and relax you. If you love reading, check out our social media where you will find weekly book reviews from our team of psychologists!

Hot shower

Taking a hot bath or shower is a great way to reduce muscle tension. As warm water is soothing to muscles that are tense, it can often provide a sense of immediate relaxation. A bath is ideal, as it will give you the chance to sit back and relax. But if you are short of time, a nice warm shower will work well too.

Talk to a therapist

We strongly believe that therapy should be viewed as self-care. Taking an hour for yourself to talk things through will not only help you to relax but our psychologists have a number of techniques that can help you cope with stress and tension in the long run. For example, CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) is a common and effective form of treatment for stress.

Take control of guilt-producing thoughts.

If you feel guilty about taking time for yourself – you are less likely to continue to do it. This means that ultimately, you could end up living your life by other people’s expectations and standards. Instead of feeling guilty for relaxing, focus on why it is beneficial to you and your family. Your relationships and family life will likely fare better if you are a more energised and relaxed person.

Are you wondering how stressed you really are? Take this short self-assessment for stress here. After completing the test, you will get your personal score straight away.

If you would like to learn how to better manage stress and tension, why not schedule an appointment with one of our experienced psychologists? If you are unsure whether therapy is right for you, we offer an initial 20-minute ($19) taster session. This allows you to get a ‘feel’ for therapy and see whether you would benefit with no-obligation to continue.

To book your initial session and get started on your journey towards a more relaxed and stress-free life, click here. Alternatively, please contact our reception team for more information on 1800 327 477.

Click here to book your initial 20-minute appointment

Rebecca bobin

AU Clinical Psychologist

Samantha Archer

AU Registered psychologist

Dr Antony Thomas

NZ Registered Pscyhologist

Your body tenses for a reason.

The trick is not to overdo it.

When I was in labor, everyone encouraged me to remember to breathe—the OB-GYN, the nurses, my partner, my parents, and anyone else who wandered into the room. As if I—after months of practicing deep breathing to ocean sounds—didn’t already know this. As if I was purposely trying not to breathe, instead of frantically gasping for breath amidst the pain. “You’re fighting the contractions,” someone said. “You’re tensing all over. It’s just going to be more painful if you’re tensing. Give in to the contractions.” Instead of curling inward or grabbing the bedrails until my knuckles turned white, I purposely opened up my body, concentrating on releasing the tension and my breath. When we’re in pain, it’s so much easier to tense our muscles, hunch our shoulders, and scream, but in that instance, I breathed, released, and relaxed. And then the process started all over again when the next contraction hit.

Why is muscle tensing such an automatic reaction to pain if it may also increase discomfort? The answer lies in the fight-flight-fright response: when facing a life-threatening situation our bodily functions, including muscles, hormones, digestion, and reflexes, can shift into a highly reactive state. “What we perceive as tensing is a sudden rise in cardiac output (mostly an increase in heart rate, but also in contractility) which is felt as a rise in blood pressure, combined with a priming of skeletal muscles for action. During these sympathetic responses, skeletal muscles open their blood vessels and begin mobilizing stored glucose, which puts them ‘on edge’, by lowering their threshold for contraction,” says Nathan H. Lents, a professor of molecular biology at John Jay College of the City University of New York. When muscles tense, they can respond quickly if necessary for self-protection. So there are benefits to having the ability to tense up. We don’t only tense when we sense danger though. Tensing is a manifestation of stress, and modern day stressors like work or commuting can lead to chronic tension. Similarly, acute pain and chronic illnesses can heighten the frequency and magnitude of tension. “Pain is initially a protective response but if not controlled it can become destructive and maladaptive in a similar way to being too tense for a prolonged period of time,” says Dr. Lynn Webster, a physician and pain researcher.

Muscle tension can be both helpful and problematic. It may seem counterintuitive for our bodies to act unfavorably, but evolution is an imperfect process. According to Lents, we have glitches throughout our bodies, from genes and proteins to anatomy and physiology. Many of our physical traits are the result of compromises. These glitches don’t have to stop us in our tracks. Deep breathing can help us deal with muscle tension by offering relaxation and a different focal point. “Anxiety and tension increase the level of pain. Deep breaths refocus our attention, clears the mind, and reduces the tension,” Webster says. In general, distractions like deep breathing can alleviate pain by taking our mind off of discomfort. Lents says this can also be achieved at the molecular level by stimulating the same sensory nerve that carries pain with other kinds of stimuli. For example, when we stub a toe, an automatic reaction can be to shake it out or move it around. When we do this, the pain signal can be diluted by the other signals in the same nerve. When we deep breathe, the chest expansion that occurs can be a stimulus that can drown out the pain. “Different things work for different people, but the common thread is that if we consider pain as something competing for our attention, we can do some work to put our focus on other things instead,” says Lents.

constant tension in the body ?

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I constantly feel strong muscle tension in my body, sometimes it seems to me that my whole body is compressed.

I realize this as my problem, probably for about one and a half to two years. Recently, I have been observing and fixing for myself which areas are very tense. I try to relax at such a moment, but there is no feeling of complete relaxation and "letting go". There remains a feeling of stiffness in the whole body, some kind of clumsiness and bodily inferiority or something. The complete absence of all that is called grace, lightness, there is no freedom and looseness in the body. I feel my body as not filled with vital energy, shriveled, deformed. I clearly see this deformity on my face - a twisted smile, a strange tilt of the head, depression in the shoulders, generally inexpressive, erased, a face that has no emotions, play, life, extinct eyes.
I feel tension in stressful situations, after which a headache often occurs. I almost always feel tired. But even in moments when there is no pressure from outside, for example, during homework in the kitchen, I feel how my shoulders and head are tightly clamped, my neck and knees are tense, my fingers are tucked in, my whole face is tense and especially my jaw, throat.

These same sensations are on the border of sleep and awakening, that is, in a dream the body does not relax. I tried to relax, but there was no feeling that the tension was going away. In addition, it is worth returning to normal life and forgetting that you need to relax the body, tension immediately reappears.
I am a woman, 27 years old, never played sports, dancing, etc. It didn’t work out with physical education at school, I couldn’t master many standards - jumping, running for speed, all exercises for strength. Only flexibility was well developed.
This problem has been bothering me a lot lately, I really hope that the post will be published in the community, although the topic is not quite a profile one.
Is it possible to get rid of this problem forever on your own with the help of some psychological practices - with the help of tracking and self-correction. I'm not good at it. Or bodily practices (and which ones?)
or using some other methods? The reasons for all this are psychological, I think.

In which direction to dig?
Maybe someone will share their experience? Thank you.

Tags: 2015, looking for a psychologist / a question for a psychologist

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Weird problem

I don't want to seem like some kind of whiner from scratch. But the problem may be small, but still there. I don’t love, I don’t know how and most often I can’t ...
Structural analysis of dreams by K. Rösler

I recently translated a piece of an article by Jungian analyst Christian Rösler about dreams. Perhaps the accomplices will also be interested. Good stuff…
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Trick your brain: how to overcome laziness and start working

Recent advances in neuropsychology will help everyone who is used to being lazy but looking for new ways of motivation

Early yesterday, no time today, late tomorrow. We are always waiting for the right moment to make a dream come true. Either there is no time and knowledge, then the circumstances are not the same. Famous people had similar problems. Everyone got out as best they could. So, resentment and hatred for the Metallica group moved forward Dave Mustaine, the founder of the American metal band Megadeth, the French writer Victor Hugo cut his hair in an unsightly way to eliminate the desire to go out and finish the novel on time, and the composer Ludwig van Beethoven stimulated activity by pouring ice water. Nowadays, it is not necessary to resort to such radical methods. It is enough to analyze the latest achievements in the field of neuropsychology, adjust your behavior a little and enjoy the result.

As we already know from the previous article, we have two opposing parts. The representative of the ancient brain, let's call him Zhrulkin (he wants everything now), and the young brain - Rationalov (thinks about the future). Due to the fact that Rationalov consumes more energy and is less responsible for survival and procreation, Zhrulkin more often dominates us. The usefulness of Zhrulkin has been proven by millions of years of incredible human vitality. He makes sure that we work less, eat more, and motivate us to have sex. There are exceptions, and a person from childhood can control Zhrulkin, but not everyone is so lucky. Therefore, most need various tricks in order to push it into the background. Consider the most effective ways.

Use your brain's weakness for unfinished business

Once you start, you won't be stopped. The brain gets to work. After all, unfinished business terribly annoys him. This was confirmed in his research by psychologist Kenneth McGraw. The subjects were given a puzzle and, when everything was almost ready, they were asked to finish. There was no rational point in continuing to complete the puzzle, but 90% of the participants remained to complete the work.

A similar effect occurs when reading an uninteresting book or watching a movie. There is no point in continuing, but unconsciously I want to finish reading or watching it. To use the method for your own selfish purposes, it is enough to get off the ground, for example, by working in a group of like-minded people.

Further, the effect of the unfinished action will keep pushing you to work.

Change your mental attitude

A patient of the American psychiatrist Milton Erickson could not keep her weight at 60 kg. As soon as the cherished figure was reached, the girl returned to her usual 80 kg. Erickson warned that the treatment would be painful, and the patient agreed. He forced her to increase her total from 80 to 90 kg. The girl threw tantrums, sobbed, but gradually recovered to 90 kg.

And then, with incredible relief, she began to reduce it and quickly reached 60 kg. The secret of success is to change the mental attitude from "lose weight - gain weight" to "gain - lose weight." The fear of overcoming this horror again allowed me to consolidate my success and not gain more weight. Many more are familiar with the problem of skipping workouts: today I will cancel the lesson, but next time I will go 100%. And the next day, do not go, giving yourself a new promise. The way out will be to change the attitude “I won’t go today - I’ll go tomorrow”, to “I won’t go today - I won’t go tomorrow”. Promise yourself that if you skip class today, you will forget about sports for two weeks. And it is more difficult to do it than to postpone it for tomorrow. So you get rid of the standard excuse and stop feeding yourself breakfast.

Make the first step as easy as possible

Getting started is often difficult because of how long it can take. The brain draws scary pictures of a temporary apocalypse. Trembling with horror, we try to move this terrible moment as far as possible. An effective anti-apocalyptic solution would be to split the task into a number of small, not scary, and sometimes tasty ones. You don't have to do a thesis.

Plan to make a title page, table of contents, or introduction. It is best that the first step takes no more than 20 seconds. Thanks to the butterfly effect, small actions can lead to incredible results.

Build neural connections

The brain doesn't like doing new things. From his point of view, it can be unsafe and very energy-consuming. The new activity differs from the usual one in a smaller number of neural connections in the brain. And to develop new connections, you need to constantly practice.

The practice of visualization copes with this task very well: the brain does not care whether you are actually doing the work or just imagining how you are working on a new thing.

In both cases, new neuropaths will be built. The effectiveness of visualization was able to prove the Australian psychologist Alan Richardson, conducting research on basketball players.

It was only by visualizing their practice of throwing the ball into the basket that the players were able to improve their results. The progress of the players who trained in the gym during the same time was not much better. If you do not have enough willpower to start the daily necessary actions, mentally imagine that you are doing this business, and most importantly, with pleasure. Only the necessary neural connections will be developed in at least 45 days, but with each repetition it will be easier and easier for you to act.

Train your willpower

Success in life depends on willpower. The research of professor of psychobiology Casey from Cornwell University clearly proves this. Casey offered marshmallows to the children, but with the condition that if you wait 15 minutes, you can get another sweet. Some of the children could not resist the temptation and ate marshmallows right away. After 40 years, the professor decided to find out the fate of the children and saw that those who passed the test and did not eat marshmallows turned out to be more efficient, moderate in nutrition and less susceptible to bad habits. But there is good news for the weak-willed: willpower can be trained.

You can follow the path of the physicist Nikola Tesla, who deliberately refused desserts in favor of others, thus developing willpower. Or start meditating. After all, meditation suppresses the ancient impulsive brain, reducing stress, anxiety and fear. Meditation activates the frontal lobes responsible for willpower, improving attention, memory, concentration and creativity. Five to ten minutes of meditation a day is enough to develop self-control.

Fill up with hormone fuel

Hormones regulate metabolism and cellular activity, have a significant impact on performance. A cocktail of melatonin, dopamine, endorphin, serotonin and oxytocin will add strength and motivation to achieve outstanding results.

Melatonin strengthens the immune system, slows down the aging process, and is produced only at night, so good sleep is so important.

Dopamine is a hormone of pleasure, it affects motivation. It is helped to produce pleasant memories, delicious food, and alcohol, but with devastating consequences.

Endorphin is a hormone of joy. Synthesis occurs under the influence of physical activity.

Serotonin - a hormone of good mood, produced under the influence of pleasant memories and sunlight.

Oxytocin reduces anxiety, and its synthesis is promoted by sex, massage and communication with friends.

The main thing to remember is that the performance depends on the quality of the fuel. Therefore, supply the body with first-class fuel.

These recommendations will be enough to move in the direction of your dreams.

Learn more