How to handle tension and treatment for it?

 Go on to one or more of the following exercises, working slowly, smoothly, without jerking. Start by doing them for just a few minutes a day; then work up to perhaps as long as half an hour. Seated comfortably, raise your arms slowly overhead-and let them drop suddenly. Do the same with the legs. After each drop, pause several seconds to appreciate the relaxed effect. Breathe deeply, exhale slowly. Lie on your back on the floor. 

Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Exhale slowly. Tighten all muscles in your body. Then let go. Breathe deeply, exhale slowly. Still on the floor, shrug your shoulders up to your ears-and then let them fall back. Turn your head far to the left, then to the front, and relax. Repeat to the right. Breathe deeply and exhale after each movement.

Lying on your abdomen, rest your head on your folded arms. Tighten buttock muscles, then let go. Repeat several times. If you find these exercises helpful, you may wish to consult two books written by Dr. Edmund Jacobson: Anxiety and Tension Control," which is primarily addressed to physicians, and You Must Relax,t primarily written for lay people. Many other physicians today believe that the key to relaxing tension is muscle control. 

With every type of nervous stress, they note, there is muscular expression-sometimes as obvious as drumming with the fingers, sometimes as subtle as a mere flick of the eyes. If you can develop muscular control, you can help prevent buildup of tension. For that you will need to recognize delicate sensations most people are unaware of, distinguishing the slightly different feeling of a muscle performing useful work and a muscle tensed uselessly. Then it is necessary to control the unused muscles, turning them off.

The objective is differential relaxation in which muscles in constructive use stay in use while others are relaxed fully. As an example of how to go about this, close your eyes and silently repeat to yourself the names of three states or Presidents of the United States. Though you are not speaking, notice the small, almost imperceptible tentative movements that take place in your tongue, lips, jaw, cheeks, and throat. Then see if you can relax these muscles completely. o. Jacobson, Edmund, Anxiety and Tension Control.