Summer Mountain Fun

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Chillin’ and Relaxin’

Summer mountain fun. Enjoy this beautiful video filmed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We’re blessed to have spent over three decades here in the Tetons.

How many of these Summer Mountain Fun Activities can you spot in this featured video?

Find out how you can win a trip to Jackson Hole in our Summit Escape Contest.

Summer can be busy with travel, vacation, work, family, and recreation. August is your last chance to get some relaxation before Summer comes to an end. Even a hour in a hammock can help unwind from all the activity the long summer days allow us to indulge in.

Benefits of Relaxin’

Here are some of the benefits you will enjoy from relaxing from Wikipedia.

The benefits of relaxation can be found in three main areas of an individual’s health, including; mental, physical and physiological health. Being relaxed can do positive things for someone’s health from just elevating your mood^[9] to helping with insomnia.^[10] All of these things can help an individual live a happier and healthier life and may increase the longevity of one’s life.^[10] There are not many draw backs of relaxation. It is an easy technique to understand and follow through with. Three categories that relaxation can help with are mental, physical, and physiological.

Mental

Mental health is very important and needs to be worked on every day. Relaxation can help with many impairments that can occur in one’s mental health. There is a higher mood and lower anxiety in those who practice relaxation techniques.^[3] Those who are relaxed have much slower and clearer thought processes than those who are not relaxed; this can be shown on an EEG.^[11] It is well known that relaxation can help reduce stress. With reducing stress, a person can help reduce the negative things that stress can do to the body.^[11] Coping mechanisms are also improved with relaxation techniques in both mental and physical pain.^[9]

Sleep disorders are an area that can produce stress and mental health issues. Relaxation may help reduce insomnia in those who have sleeping disorders. Those with insomnia may even give up sleeping aids just by practicing relaxation techniques.^[10] Being off of unnecessary medication or sleep aids will help health as an over all. Even though relaxation cannot get rid of chronic diseases, it may help dull of the symptoms one may have. Many cancer and AIDS patients are taught relaxation techniques.

Physical

Physical health is also something that needs to be worked on daily, whether it is exercise, healthy eating, or relaxation.^[10] states that blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration rate will all decrease when one is relaxed. This means that a person’s heart does not beat as fast and their breathing is shallow, helping one’s body have time to rest. This will reduce the extra stress that these things can do to the body if they are over worked. Muscle tension will decrease.^[10] If one’s muscle tension is decreased they are not burning up extra energy that they may need later in the day. Metabolism can also decrease; this is mostly seen in hibernation and sleep and that gives the body extra time to rest and focus on other aspect that it needs to.^[10] This could be seen as a good or bad thing, depending on the overall quality of health. People who practice relaxation have said to be able to tolerate pain better both mentally and physically.^[9]

Physiological

In regards to the nervous system, relaxation can also play a big role. An individual will go from active and alert, which is the sympathetic, to parasympathetic which is rest and digest.^[11] When they are relaxing, it gives the body time to catch up. A person does not need to worry about running, because they are sitting still and allowing “rest and digest”. Immune systems will increase with increased relaxation^[5] which is why relaxation can be seen as part of treatment for AIDS and cancer patients.^[10]