My Favorite Relaxation Technique for Racing Mind at Night: Progressive Muscle Relaxation 

What do you turn to when you have a racing mind at night? Even after doing a container exercise, sometimes I need to work the tension and anxiety out of my body to overcome insomnia.

While deep breathing or visualization helps, I’ve found that I need to get into my senses to work stuff out. In other words, to get true mental relaxation, I need to unwind my body. 

The first time I did progressive muscle relaxation was on my public high school cross-country team. 

Coach was really progressive and had noticed that a lot of us high-achieving girls would get ourselves really wound up at competitions. He wanted to equip us with tools to get more embodied. 

So after every meet, Coach would have us lay on the ground. I remember using my gym bag as a pillow for neck support. 

He’d have us start by squeezing our toes tight, then pointing our ankles, and flexing a calf muscle. We’d work all the way from our lower legs to the crowns of our heads. 

Afterward, I could always feel a huge difference in my attitude. I didn’t realize at the time how much it helped me downshift from stress. 

I’m so grateful that I learned this relaxation technique during my childhood. I can’t wait to tell you more about it. 

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) is an active exercise where you incrementally tighten a part of the body, from top to bottom or bottom to top, and then release before moving to the next muscle group. 

More than a mindfulness meditation, like a body scan, where you would only pay attention to different parts of your body, in a progressive muscle relaxation, there’s tensing or squeezing to create muscle tension that you then let go. 

Just like my cross country coach, you might try to do this meditation with an inhale to hold your breath while you squeeze, and then exhale while you let go and relax the muscle group. 

There’s not typically any guided imagery that goes with it. There’s simply some small movement from the tensing and letting go, but it’s not intense. 

Beware of straining. The goal is to pay special attention to each part of your body. You might feel some residual physical sensations from the increased blood flow. 

Usually, experts suggest leaning back or lying down while you do it to get into a relaxed state.

I can usually feel my heart rate start to go down as I practice PMR across my body. So what benefits does a relaxation technique like progressive muscle relaxation have? 

Progressive Muscle Relaxation Benefits

I was surprised to see some peer-reviewed research on progressive muscle exercises. Usually, when a practice like this is free, research money doesn’t go towards it. 

In other words, because there isn’t a company that can trademark it or make money off of it, there won’t be a lot of studies. Thankfully some mental health professionals have prioritized it. 

In the limited research, we do see benefits. Here is a summary of some of the most striking benefits of regular practice: 

• “Progressive muscle relaxation exercise and deep breathing exercise applied to COPD patients were effective in decreasing their dyspnea [labored breathing] and fatigue symptoms.”
• “Progressive muscle relaxation as an auxiliary method can reduce anxiety and improve sleep quality in patients with COVID-19.”

What’s even cooler is that progressive muscle relaxation can have a synergistic effect when combined with deep breathing: 

• “The combined interventions of [slow breathing exercises] SBEs and progressive muscle relaxation techniques can effectively reduce the heart rate, respiratory rate, [high blood pressure] BP, and anxiety in essential hypertensive patients compared to both techniques when given alone.”

Other studies have noted effects for depression compared to a control group. 

So try it with whatever you like–belly breathing or diaphragmatic breathing! Katie’s best tip for doing relaxation breathing is to make your exhale longer than your inhale.

But more than lower blood pressure, progressive muscle relaxation is one of the best relaxation techniques out there. I like it because I don’t have to leave the house or use a video like I would for yoga or tai chi. 

In my opinion, progressive muscle relaxation is the closest thing you can do to giving yourself a massage. 

Since I realized I was in Cell Danger Response, this exercise is one of my favorite ways to communicate safety to my body. It helps lower my stress response and get me back to homeostasis. 

It also has helped me during migraine headaches. Usually, I get them from stress, but PMR moves me to a state of relaxation.

Read More: What to Do about Cell Danger Response

Progressive Muscle Relaxation Example

This relaxation technique can start at your feet or on your head. With other physical relaxation tools, I like to listen to audio recordings, but with this one, I like to go through it by myself. 

I have a slight preference for my feet first, but you may prefer your head. Some people like to do their right foot separate from their left, or their left hand separate from their right. 

Make up the progressive relaxation that works for you! 

After each muscle group, I think of the word “release” or “let go” to help my muscles untense. When you pair it with an exhale, you’ll be more likely to notice a relaxation response.

Here’s how I like to move through my body:

• Curl your toes 
• Point your toes
• Flex your ankles
• Squeeze your calves 
• Lift your kneecaps 
• Flex your quads 
• Squeeze your thighs 
• Turn your thighs inward 
• Squeeze your buttocks and hips
• Push your stomach out 
• Pull your stomach in 
• Arch your lower back 
• Squeeze your ribs in 
• Expand your lungs 
• Pull your shoulders down 
• Squeeze your hands into fists 
• Flex your forearms and wrists
• Squeeze your upper arm
• Flex the backside of your arms 
• Hunch your shoulders forward 
• Give yourself a tight hug 
• Lift your shoulders up 
• Tuck your chin down 
• Flex your neck 
• Push your tongue into the roof of your mouth
• Stick your tongue out 
• Squeeze your jaw
• Purse your lips 
• Furrow your brow 
• Lift your forehead 
• Push your scalp back 

What did I miss in this progressive muscle relaxation? What would you add? 

My hope is you can try this relaxation technique the next time you want to scroll on your phone. 

And may it help you be the grounded and calm spouse and parent you want to be! I hope my family remembers me operating from a place of ease. And progressive muscle relaxation is an easy way to get there. 

More Stress Mastery and Relaxation Strategies for Busy Moms 

• What Is a Container Exercise? You Don’t Have to Move for It! 
• 5 Senses Meditation QUICK and EASY
• Have You Tried a Body Scan Meditation Yet? 

Sources 

1. Neşe, A., & Samancıoğlu Bağlama, S. (2022). The Effect of Progressive Muscle Relaxation and Deep Breathing Exercises on Dyspnea and Fatigue Symptoms of COPD Patients: A Randomized Controlled Study. Holistic nursing practice, 36(4), E18–E26. https://doi.org/10.1097/HNP.0000000000000531  
2. Liu, K., Chen, Y., Wu, D., Lin, R., Wang, Z., & Pan, L. (2020). Effects of progressive muscle relaxation on anxiety and sleep quality in patients with COVID-19. Complementary therapies in clinical practice, 39, 101132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2020.101132 
3. Pathan, F. K. M., Pandian, J. S., Shaikh, A. I., Ahsan, M., Nuhmani, S., Iqbal, A., & Alghadir, A. H. (2023). Effect of slow breathing exercise and progressive muscle relaxation technique in the individual with essential hypertension: A randomized controlled trial. Medicine, 102(47), e35792. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000035792 

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