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The Nuance
Relaxing Your Muscles Can Relax Your Mind
Progressive muscle relaxation therapy is one of the simplest science-backed treatments for anxiety
During the early days of the novel coronavirus outbreak, doctors in China noticed that many people hospitalized with Covid-19 were developing anxiety and sleeping problems. These patients were forced to spend weeks cut off from contact with friends and family, and so the doctors partly attributed their woes to the unsettling effects of social isolation.
At a hospital in Hainan province, a physician study team decided to treat their patients’ isolation-induced anxiety and sleeping problems using a relaxation technique known as progressive muscle relaxation therapy, or PMR.
“Progressive muscle relaxation teaches you how to relax your muscles through a two-step process,” explains Mohammad Jafferany, MD, a clinical professor of dermatology, psychiatry, and behavioral sciences at Central Michigan University. Jafferany was not involved with the Chinese research, but he has studied the clinical effects of PMR. “First, you systematically tense particular muscle groups in your body,” he explains. “Next, you release the tension and notice how your muscles feel when you relax them.”
