Relaxation exercises and more: Do sports - but please without stress
Everyone always talks about exercise to combat stress. Maybe you know this: Are you stressed? Sports! Are you drowning in your to-dos at work? First of all, sport! Do you continue with your tasks at home? Do some exercise first!
We say: First take a quick breath and take your time with this story. We're about to tell you how you can avoid doing sports when you're stressed. Because if your body is in stress mode, exercise often doesn't work. Your body shuts down, you're unfocused, listless, and you've already lost energy before it even starts. But don’t worry – help is on the way! Regardless of whether it's a competition or training: We'll give you effective relaxation techniques and exercises to combat stress, especially for athletes. Let's go!
Why stress and exercise don't go well together
Watch your body the next time you're really stressed - whether it's in your personal life or at work. What happens when stress takes over? Correct: The whole body stiffens , the muscles are tense (therefore tension is doubly suitable as a synonym for stress) and your energy dwindles . And that’s before you even start exercising. So without looseness you will not achieve success or progress in most sports. Your muscles should only work during exercise and not long before.
By the way: Excitement or stress usually also affects your stomach - your eating behavior changes and may have a counterproductive effect on your training or your competition situation. We'll come to this in more detail later. And: Your sleeping behavior can also change if the stress is too deep in your neck.
In stressful situations, stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline and also a little norepinephrine are released. These are actually intended to push your body into a quick escape response - but when they float around in your bloodstream for a long period of time, it has negative effects on your behavior and well-being . By puberty at the latest, most of us have experienced what it means when our hormones are out of balance. Therefore, even in an acute stressful situation, it is important to listen and pay attention to your body.
However, a little bit of stress and fear before a competition can also be beneficial - and is also completely natural. A healthy dose of excitement can help you focus on something and concentrate optimally. But that only applies if the excitement is contained and disappears as soon as the competition begins.
Seven effective tips to combat stress while exercising
Do you tense up before or during competition situations? You can't get rid of everyday worries even when jogging? For you, your thoughts only really start spinning when you try to meditate or do yoga? Do we know. We don't like it either. That's why we've collected seven practical tips for you here that are neither magic nor esoteric fanfare and that really help you relax before and during exercise:
Tip #1: Get your stuff in order
Jogging turns into running when you exercise to avoid thinking about bills, debts, or personal problems. You can often save the money for a sports coach and invest in other experts such as tax advisors, psychologists or therapists. Shed the burden of everyday life so that you can do sport more relaxed. Before exercising, make a conscious decision to focus on your current activity and ignore everything else. Pay attention to your body and try to consciously feel every movement - this can also help you combat stress and just be in the here and now. Maybe you'll even be able to get into a flow experience . In this case, you are doing something good for your body and mind or achieving new best performances in the competition. But even without flow, you can make better use of the sporting part of your day if you just focus on it .
Tip No. 2: Train, also mentally
Mental training for the psyche helps you with any type of sport. Be it tennis, horse riding, swimming, football or martial arts – mental strength pays off everywhere. And then of course also in everyday life. But how can you train mentally? For example in the form of concentration and relaxation exercises or relaxation techniques such as autogenic training , progressive muscle relaxation and breathing exercises . You can also do the latter very well during a competition if you notice that your stress level is rising again. Especially in elite and competitive sports, athletes swear by mental training in order to be able to counteract the pressure and stress.
Relaxation exercises can help you enjoy exercise more.
Tip No. 3: Get out of your emotions
Let your emotions out! Don't be shy: It's okay to go onto the tennis court in anger - just make sure that you don't overstep your boundaries or get injured. Try to transform your emotions and use sports as a kind of channel . This is especially true when emotions are present but don't take over - if you simply had a bad day or had to deal with a stressful customer, exercising afterwards can help you let out your frustration. It is not for nothing that many experts recommend exercise to combat stress. And if you're doing sports anyway, this route is a good option.
If you have deep emotions, martial arts can also help you and become a channel for intense, negative feelings. But the same applies here: sport is not a panacea . If in doubt, always seek specialist medical advice.
Tip #4: Yoga? Just relax, please!
Unfortunately, even yoga as a sport or relaxation exercise is of little use to you if your heart is pounding like crazy, your thoughts continue to revolve around the current project at work and you actually feel completely drained. What can help: Yoga knows more dynamic styles (Vinyasa, Jivamukti) and those that are more aimed at relaxation and meditation (Yin Yoga or Yoga Nidra, for example). So you can stick to the meditative part first to really clear your head. Because asanas simply cannot be performed well with a full head and muscles that are tense to the breaking point. In a basic meditation, you choose to direct your thoughts to a single thing , an object, or something abstract like a number or a word and focus exclusively on that . When you're ready, you can take a look at our 5 benefits of yoga .
Tip No. 5: Eat to combat stress
Diet also influences your stress level. Therefore, it is very important to eat the right things to avoid deficiencies. Magnesium deficiency, for example, can cause you to become exhausted and tired more quickly. How about our vegan Dextro Energy* Gums Orange + Magnesium 1 to counteract this? Or would you prefer our Dextro Energy* cube with Magnesium 1 ?
Also important when stress increases again: drink enough! Provide your body with enough fluids - that's exactly what it urgently needs.
The right amount of carbohydrates , omega-3 fatty acids (found in nuts or fish) and proteins are also essential to support your body in stressful times.
To protect your immune system, which tends to become more vulnerable in stressful times, you can take a look at our ImmunFit° Direct . It provides you with various vitamins and trace elements . Eating as a relaxation exercise sounds good, right?
Tip #6: Organizing is about studying
In any stressful situation, good organization can be worth its weight in gold - just as poor organization usually causes even more stress. So try to organize yourself well when exercising (and ideally beforehand). Create a schedule for your day and allow enough time for the sport you would like to do. Maybe you only have a small window of time in a day - here are quick workouts that you can even do at home. If you have more time, you could go for a ride on the bike or take a dip in the swimming pool. Organization also includes a proper training plan and perhaps even a nutrition plan . This saves you time and is good for you at the same time. Especially if you are a professional athlete preparing for competitions, you certainly know how much well-thought-out plans are worth.
Tip No. 7: Do sports – just for you!
Sometimes it can help to take a short break from the daily grind and briefly reflect on why you do the things you do. Question your reasons for exercising : Is it because you want to do something good for your body or because the hundredth post from fitness influencers on Instagram made you feel guilty? Also keep in mind that a lot of things on social media are more illusion than reality - Photoshop and steroids are keywords here. Compare with others, constantly new fitness trends, constantly upgrading equipment etc.: If you leave all that behind you, this is one of the most valuable relaxation exercises, true to the motto: Your sport is for you and for no one else . It's also completely okay to be mediocre. Excessive expectations and pressure to perform only increase the stress level and have a negative impact - including on your motivation.
° Vitamin B6, B12, C, folic acid, zinc, selenium and iron each contribute to the normal function of the immune system.
° Vitamin B2, B6, B12, C, folic acid, magnesium and iron each contribute to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue.
1 Magnesium contributes to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue and to normal energy metabolism.
*Contains carbohydrates.
A varied, balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle are important.
Sources:
-Röwe, Nadia: “How emotions influence our food.” https://www.bzfe.de/ernaehrung/ernaehrungswissen/gesundheit/wie-emotionen-unser-essen-beeinflussen/ [Status: January 12, 2023]
-Federal Institute for Sports Science: “Relaxation and mobilization techniques”
https://www.bisp-sportpsychologie.de/SpoPsy/DE/Infoportal/Sportpsychologische_Betreuung_im_Spitzensport/trainingstechnik/Entspannverfahren.html [Status: January 12, 2023]
