Rocking chairs are soothing and comfortable for everyone who sits on them. Many people find the gentle rocking motion a contributing factor to comfort. People have rocking chairs in different locations in their homes to relax for a while. However, it can be hard to determine what gives the chairs this feeling.
If you are in this situation, you may wonder why rocking chairs are so relaxing. Well, there are reasons and explanations for this.
Here are the reasons why rocking chairs are relaxing:
- They improve emotional well-being.
- Relieves arthritis and back pain
- Help with treating insomnia.
- Enhances blood circulation.
- Improves mental health.
- Works to improve balance.
- Benefits nursing mothers and newborn babies.
- Serves as a means of Mild exercise.
- Enhances post-surgery healing.
- Provides emotional support.
- Helps in maintaining body weight.
This article outlines and explains the reasons for rocking chairs being relaxing. All these reasons involve the various health benefits that give the chair this feeling.
11 Reasons Why Rocking Chairs Are Relaxing
The ultimate goal of sitting on a chair is support and comfort. The rocking chair is popular for providing adequate comfort. Sitting on the chair for a while gives a soothing feeling. The chair’s construction and design connect with the body parts to send calming signals. Sitting on a rocking chair for a long time can make the occupant less depressed.
Still, it is best to understand why you get this feeling after sitting in a rocking chair. Then, you can use the advantage of the chair’s health benefits for future purposes. You can read through the detailed explanation below to know what makes rocking chairs so relaxing.
1. They Improve Emotional Well-Being
The rocking chair’s design makes them automatically move backward when a user sits in one. Even when the user isn’t rocking on the chair, it moves this way to meet the person’s center of gravity. Therefore, making the occupant get adequate comfort without any stress. The continuous rocking motion of the chair causes a reaction in the brain.
When an occupant rocks on the chair, the brain releases endorphins. Endorphin is a hormone that reduces stress and improves mood. Rocking for a while increases the level of relaxation the user gets. Rocking chairs creates a feeling of peace and relaxation due to the brain’s reaction to rocking.
2. Relieves Arthritis and Back Pain
The pain from arthritis can make the affected person cranky. The condition worsens over time, even with medication, especially in older people. However, rocking chairs have a way of working magic to ease the achy and dull pain of arthritis. Rocking movements improve oxygen and blood circulation to the joints.
In addition, back pain can make sitting uncomfortable and painful, but rocking helps to ease it. Just like in the case of arthritis, the rocking motion increases blood circulation in the back region. The motion also prevents the brain from getting pain impulses from the affected body parts.
Therefore, If you have arthritis, you can make it a routine to sit on rocking chairs while you watch TV or do other sitting jobs. The chair’s ability to improve blood flow helps to make the occupant feel relaxed.
3. Help With Treating Insomnia
The back-and-forth motion of rocking chairs helps with the treatment of insomnia. The rocking motion relieves stress, making the user fall asleep easily. Many fall asleep on rocking chairs because of the soothing signal they send to the entire body. Most homes for senior citizens have rocking chairs for this advantage.
Therefore, one of the reasons rocking chairs make you feel relaxed is the ability to make you fall asleep. Sleep has several health benefits, such as relaxing the brain and easing stress. So, rocking helps you to achieve this.
4. Enhances Blood Circulation
The human circulatory system helps the body fight off cardiovascular diseases. The body needs proper blood circulation to reduce inflammation, improve the heart’s health, and keep it active. The rocking motion of the chair helps to enhance blood circulation.
Enhanced blood circulation helps to reduce pain. Therefore, the occupant feels relieved and relaxed after sitting on a rocking chair.
5. Improves Mental Health
In the same way, rocking chairs helps the brain to release endorphins to reduce stress. They also produce a familiar and consistent scenario that gives a soothing feeling of happiness, calm, and nostalgia. The chairs settle the brain and make the user feel more at home, irrespective of the location.
At the same time, rocking chairs connect with the brain to reduce symptoms of depression, dementia, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Dementia causes confusion and reduced concentration, making the affected person have memory problems and withdraw from activities because they can’t cope.
The person finds it difficult to complete tasks because of the lack of concentration and memory loss. Dementia is difficult to manage and is common among senior citizens. However, rocking chairs have amazing sensory qualities that impact brain function. This quality contributes to the reason people feel relaxed in rocking chairs.
Many dementia patients show a positive response to rocking chairs over time. They tend to have improved memory retention and regain concentration due to the chair’s rocking movement.
6. Works to Improve Balance
As the rocking chair goes back and forth, it naturally helps the user’s body balance. People with health conditions like Parkinson’s disease, which affects movement, need the rocking chair. The rocking chair improves body balance and helps to increase the person’s stability while boosting neurological function.
The person will improve faster and become independent due to the chair’s healing power. In addition, anyone who has Parkinson’s disease feels more relaxed from the chair’s stability.
7. Benefits Nursing Mothers and Newborn Babies
The chair is more beneficial as a medical device for people of all ages. For example, nursing mothers can sit on chairs while breastfeeding or during playtime to calm their babies. This moment helps to improve the mother-child bond. In addition, it is common to find rocking chairs in nurseries because they help to calm newborn babies.
The gentle rocking motion of the chair can soothe babies and make them sleep faster because the chair mimics the feeling of an adult rocking a child to sleep. Therefore, nurseries mostly have rocking chairs for this purpose. This factor contributes to the reason for the chairs being relaxing.
8. Serves as a Means of Mild Exercise
People suffering from different health conditions find it difficult to exercise most of the time. For example, it is common for patients with arthritis or joint pain to experience such difficulty. However, the rocking chair creates a simple solution to that. The chair helps to exercise the body most comfortably.
Exercising on rocking chairs helps to loosen stiff joints and relax the body muscles without applying much force or effort. Exercises generally help to make the body feel relaxed, and doing so on rocking chairs is healthy for sick people. The chair’s ability to allow light exercise is one reason they relax the user.
9. Enhances Post Surgery Healing
Abdominal surgery can delay the action of the digestive system and bowel movement. People who undergo surgery sometimes experience bowel dysfunction. In most cases, the patient may be unable to eat normally until the digestive tract resumes operation.
However, sitting on rocking chairs helps pass the healing process much faster. The movement of the chair helps the patients to resume bowel movement sooner. In addition, the chair’s ability to increase blood circulation helps the surgical spot to heal faster. Finally, the person feels less pain from sitting on rocking chairs consistently, which makes it soothing.
10. Provides Emotional Support
The ability of rocking chairs to reduce depression and relax the body also helps them calm the mind. The chairs emotionally comfort the user’s soul and mind. The rocking motion of the chair enhances concentration and soothes the mind. The chair serves as a support for the occupant’s body and soul.
11. Helps in Maintaining Body Weight
Exercising on rocking chairs is easy and less stressful, but it has several health benefits. Part of this benefit is maintaining body weight. Rocking back and forth helps the user to burn a few calories. Although it may not cause an obvious weight loss, it balances the body fat and maintains the weight.
In addition, the rocking motion tones the body, strengthens the muscle, and boosts energy. This benefit contributes to why the chair’s occupant feels a burst of energy after sitting for a while.
Conclusion
Rocking chairs are more useful for medical purposes because of their health benefit. The rocking motion improves both physical and mental health. In addition, the presence of rocking chairs creates a feeling of nostalgia and tradition in the setting. All these factors are the reasons for rocking chairs being relaxing. Experiencing these features makes the user feel relaxed. So, having one of these chairs in your home is best to get these benefits while you sit casually.
I hope that you found this article helpful and that you now understand the reasons that make rocking chairs relaxing. It would help to position the chair in a place with a calming view to increase the feeling.
