How to Relax The Tense Facial Muscles. Having tense facial muscles seems like no big deal, but it can lead to chronic headaches, jaw pain, and even tooth damage over time. Learning to relax the tense facial muscles can relieve these issues and help you feel more relaxed overall. Read on for tips and tricks for relaxing your facial muscles and easing tension.

Why Facial Muscle Tension is an Issue

If you find yourself frequently clenching your jaw, squeezing your eyes, or scrunching your nose, you may have chronic facial tension. This tension builds over time from habits like grinding teeth, squinting, frowning, and generally having poor posture.

Facial tension can lead to issues like:

• Headaches and migraines – Tense muscles put pressure on nerves in your head and neck. This can cause pain and discomfort.
• Jaw and tooth pain – Clenching and grinding your teeth wears down the enamel and strains the temporomandibular joint.
• Wrinkles – Constant muscle tension can lead to premature wrinkling around areas like the eyes and mouth.
• Impaired sleep – It’s hard to fully relax and drift off when your face is tense. This leads to poor sleep quality.

The good news is there are many techniques you can use to encourage those facial muscles to chill out. Relieving tension can help minimize pain and prevent long-term issues.

How to Relax The Tense Facial Muscles

One of the best things about techniques for relaxing facial muscles is that you can do them anywhere, anytime. Give these tricks a try during your commute, at your desk, or while watching TV.

Massage Pressure Points

Using your fingers to massage pressure points on your face can release tension and increase blood flow. Try applying gentle, circular pressure to these areas:

• Forehead – Great for relieving forehead tension and pain.
• Under your eyebrows – Helps ease tension in your eyes.
• Jaw joints – Massaging the joints and muscles helps relax your jaw.
• Between nose and upper lip – This area is connected to your eyes and forehead.

Massage for a minute or two at each pressure point you want to target. You’ll likely feel the muscles start to loosen up right away.

Do Facial Stretches

Stretching is a quick and easy way to get tension to start releasing. Try these facial muscle stretches:

• Open your mouth wide into a big yawn, and hold for 5 seconds. Feel the time in your jaw, chin, and neck.
• Flare your nostrils as wide as possible, and hold for 5 seconds. This stretches muscles around your nose.
• Lift your eyebrows up as high as you can, and hold for 5 seconds. You’ll feel the stretch in your forehead.
• Scrunch your nose by wrinkling it up, and hold for 5 seconds. Stretches muscles in nose and cheeks.

Aim to hold each stretch for at least 5 seconds. Repeat a few times whenever you need a tension reliever.

Practice Deep Breathing

When your facial muscles tense up, your breathing tends to become shallow. Deep breathing signals your body to relax.

Try this technique: Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose, letting your belly expand. Count to 5 as you inhale. Hold for a 2 count. Exhale slowly through your mouth, deflating your belly. Count to 5 as you exhale. Repeat for 10 deep breaths, keeping the pace slow.

You should feel your chest and shoulders lowering as your body eases into relaxation. This can be done inconspicuously, even in public.

Learn more: How to Prevent Varicose Veins.

Relax Muscles Before Bed

If facial tension is interfering with your sleep, be proactive by relaxing muscles before bed. This allows you to drift off in a more restful state.

Do Some Yoga

A few minutes of yoga helps prepare both your body and mind for sleep. Try poses like:

• Child’s pose – Knees on the floor, sit back on heels, head down. Stretches back and neck gently.
• Forward fold – Bend at hips, arms hang down, let head relax toward knees. Loosen muscles all along your back.
• Reclined butterfly – Lie on your back, bring the soles of your feet together, and let your knees drop open to the sides. Opens up the inner thighs and hip flexors.

Hold each pose for 5 long, deep breaths. The combination of stretching and deep breathing tells your muscles to unwind.

Use a Warm Compress

Applying something warm to tense facial muscles causes them to loosen up. Try using:

• Warm washcloth – Run a washcloth under hot water and wring it out well. Drape it over your eyes and forehead to melt away tension.
• Rice sock – Fill a clean sock with rice and tie off the end. Microwave for 1-2 minutes to warm. Apply to the jaw or wherever it feels tight.
• Hot water bottle – Drape this across your cheeks, nose, and eyes. The soothing warmth relaxes rigid muscles.

Keep the temperature pleasant, not hot. Leave the compress in place for 10-15 minutes as you relax.

Get a Facial Massage

A gentle face and head massage right before bed can work wonders on your ability to fall asleep. The human touch combined with massage techniques loosens muscles for quality rest.

Have your partner or a family member lightly massage these areas using small circular motions:

• Forehead
• Eye sockets
• Cheeks
• Jaw and chin
• Back of neck

Or invest in a handheld facial massager tool with interchangeable heads. Slowly move it over your facial muscles using light pressure. Allow your eyes to close as you enjoy relaxing massage time.

When to Seek Help for Facial Tension

Most of the time, you can successfully reduce facial tension on your own using various relaxation techniques. But if you suffer from severe, chronic tightness that is affecting your quality of life, seeing a professional may help.

Consider making an appointment with your doctor or dentist if:

• Pain persists despite relaxation techniques.
• You frequently get headaches or jaw pain.
• You have damage from clenching/grinding your teeth.
• Tension is causing sleep issues or impacting your mood.
• Tightness develops suddenly and feels unnatural.

A doctor can check for underlying issues like tooth alignment problems, nerve inflammation, or high-stress levels. Medication, dental devices, physical therapy, massage, or Botox injections could be prescribed to alleviate stubborn facial tension.

Feel free to get help if facial tension becomes more than an occasional annoyance. Reducing strain on your facial muscles can significantly enhance your comfort and well-being.

Relaxed Face Muscles Lead to Feeling Relaxed

Relaxing your facial muscles can help you feel more chilled out. That’s because expressions impact mood, according to research. Smiling makes you happier, frowning makes you sadder, and scowling makes you angrier.

So ironically, by intentionally releasing facial tension, you also release emotional tension. Those relaxed facial muscles send signals to your brain to lower stress levels and lighten your mood.

Try smiling big or puffing up your cheeks and letting the air flow out. You’ll be amazed how quickly it can change your emotional state. Ditch tension habits like clenching your jaw, furrowing your brow, or wrinkling your nose. Your overall outlook will brighten right along with your face!