Stress changes our bodies. Your jaw clenches. Your neck and leg muscles tense to prime you, ready to act. This fight-or-flight response will save your life faced with a threat yet destroy you if left unchecked. Your jaw turns into stone. /How to Unclench, a thread

This thread's purpose is to show you why your jaw gets so tense and how to resolve the issue for good.

The American Institute of Stress reports that more than half of US adults feel anxious throughout the day. They are in a constant state of fight-or-flight. This statistic mirrors the many people who reach out to tell me about their tense jaws when I post about the topic.

Inside you, there are two forces, Sympa and Para. They oppose each other yet work in harmony. Sympa excites you while Para calms your body.

These forces act upon your muscles together to produce your posture and your movements. Sympa tenses and shortens them. Para relaxes and lengthens. Synchrony between both is essential for quality execution. You would fall apart otherwise.

One system can become dominant based on the context. A dangerous situation stresses your body to mobilize your energy until you resolve the threat. You'll need to relax at some point to recover from this prolonged effort. Too much time in one zone attracts disease and death.

That's where things get tense for your jaw. You have some of the most powerful muscles in your body to move the thickest bone on your head and crush your food. They produce high levels of tension and are highly susceptible to your state. Chronic stress is a stiffness sentence

Pent-up tension around your jaw is a recipe for nuisances ranging from pain to teeth grinding, headaches, and bad sleep. You restrict vital nerves and blood vessels that supply your brain and face. This disruption affects all your muscles from the neck down to your feet.

An essential thing to resolve excessive jaw tension is to address the various sources of stress in your life. It would be like trying unclog an overflowing sink without first turning off the water otherwise. /How to Unclench Your Jaw in 8 steps

1/ Identify the sources of stress in your life You can't run away from all stressful situations, yet there certainly some things that you can control. Figure out what you can and can't change. The rest of the list will help you deal with both.

2/ Lower your screen time, especially at night. The blue light from your devices excites the cells in your eyes and makes you think you are in the middle of the day. This stress will keep your body awake, unable to unwind. Most devices come with blue light filters nowadays.

3/ Restore nutritional deficiencies You will be stuck in a anxiety vicious cycle if you lack the minerals to clear the stress from your system like magnesium. Make sure to eat nutrient-dense food or to supplement if you can't access quality.

4/ Learn to disengage from your thoughts A mere thought has the power to kickstart your stress response. This can be useful in certain contexts where a little boost is needed, but detrimental if constantly engaged. Look at your thoughts like they're clouds in a blue sky.

5/ Make time for relaxing practices in your day These methods will summon Para, your calming nervous system often left in the shadow of its other half in today's high-stress lifestyles.

6/ Jaw Massages The pressure applied by your fingers changes the temperature in and around the muscle, which causes the fibers to relax/lengthen. Addressing the sources of your stress will ensure you don't have to constantly massage to feel relieved.

7/ Jaw Exercises Constantly clenching your jaw muscles means the ones that open your mouth will be in a perpetual lengthened state, which renders them weak and unable to counter the pressure. These exercises will keep things balanced.

8/ Tongue Exercises The anatomy of your tongue and its relationship with your jaw influences the pressure in the area. Different movements will contract and lengthen your taste organ. You stretch your TMJ simply by sticking your tongue out as far out as possible, for instance.

How to Unclench Your Jaw Overview/ 1-Identify sources of stress in your life 2- Less screen time 3- Restore nutritional deficiencies 4- Learn to disengage from your thoughts 5- Make time for relaxing practices 6- Jaw massages 7- Jaw exercises 8- Tongue exercises

This is the real Great Reset.