Stressful days are impossible to avoid. This stress may come from work, relationships, or any other challenges you face throughout your day. Learning some ways to effectively reduce your stress to unwind after a long day will help you immensely.
If you aren’t using any strategies to relieve stress after a long day, your stress day after day can build and build. Over time this can cause mental or physical damage.
This article will explain some of the best ways to destress after a long day including exercising, reading, and journaling.
How to Reduce Stress
1. Exercise consistently
2. Journal
3. Meditate
4. Reduce caffeine intake
5. Create a sleep schedule
6. Eat healthy foods
7. Reduce your screen time
8. Improve your sleep environment
9. Stretch
10. Practice self-care
11. Get outside
12. Go for a walk
13. Read
14. Spend time with family or friends
15. Take a nap
16. Take some time off
17. Listen to music / a podcast
18. Turn off notifications
19. Take a warm bath
20. Bake your favorite treat
21. Do something creative
What happens to your body when you’re feeling stressed?
Stress prompts your “fight or flight” response. Small amounts of stress can be beneficial and make you stronger, but it is the long-term feelings of stress that you should avoid.
There are also physical effects that come from being stressed for an extended period of time. Some physical responses you may experience include headaches, high blood pressure, and negative effects on your immune system. Stress can also affect your sleep, motivation, and ability to concentrate. For more information on the consequences of stress, take a look at this article.
Why is it important to de-stress?
- Improve your mental and physical health
- Improve your decision-making
- Improve your sleep
- Improve your overall health
- Improve your relationships
- Improve your efficiency at work
21 Ways to Reduce Stress
Avoiding stress at all costs is not possible so it is important to learn the best way to work through it. Personally, I like to use some of these techniques on a daily basis and others specifically after an especially stressful day.
1. Exercise consistently
Exercise has been proven to have significant benefits to your physical and mental health. For more details on the science behind these benefits, take a look at this article.
To experience the greatest benefits, you should exercise consistently. This doesn’t mean you need to do an extra long high-intensity workout every single day. Instead, create a schedule and stick to it.
Personally, I try to aim to move my body every day, with varying intensities. Some days, I go for a walk or do some stretches, and other days, I opt for a run or other high-intensity workout. The most important thing is to stay consistent and stay within your ability level.
Before starting something a new workout routine, consider speaking with your doctor to ensure you do it safely.
2. Journal
Journaling can help you to organize all the thoughts in your mind. When I feel stressed, oftentimes I feel as though my mind is overflowing. By jotting down some of the items on your mind, you allow yourself to remove those things from the list in your head.
This helps me to feel like I can empty all of the thoughts circling around in my mind. After making that list, you can continue to journal to further clear your mind. If you’re not sure what to write about, follow some journal prompt ideas or even use a guided journal.
3. Meditate
Meditating can help you to refocus your mind as well as relax and slow your breathing. Meditating can seem incredibly intimidating at first. If you’ve never done it before, I would recommend starting with a guided meditation.
There are many different apps that have meditation specifically for beginners. I’ve seen some as short as 2-3 minutes. As with most things, consistency is key. Since they can be so short, find a time that you will do this and stick to it.
Personally, I think before going to bed or first thing in the morning are good times to meditate every day.
4. Reduce caffeine intake
While caffeine has its benefits, having too much can increase anxiety and negatively impact your sleep. Caffeine will affect everyone differently so it is important to know your limit.
If you have trouble sleeping at night, try to limit your caffeine to only the morning, or even reduce the amount of caffeine you have in the morning.
5. Create a sleep schedule
Going to bed and waking up at the same time every day will help you feel the most rested. The exact times will vary from person to person, but be sure that your schedule allows you to get 7-9 hours of sleep.
{ Related post: 5 Easy Tips to Fall Asleep Easier and Improve Your Productivity }
6. Eat healthy foods
Not only does eating healthy have physical benefits, it can have benefits to your mental health as well. In terms of reducing stress, it is important to have healthy eating habits before going to bed.
What you eat before bed can drastically affect your quality of sleep, which will make it more difficult to reduce stress. Take a look at this article for more information on how your nutrition before bed can affect your sleep.
7. Reduce your screen time
Screen time has been proven to increase anxiety and stress. At the end of the day, you should try to opt for activities not involving your phone. Try to fill your evenings with reading, or spending time with friends.
8. Improve your sleep environment
Quality sleep is so important in reducing stress which is why you should ensure you have an environment that lends itself to a good night’s sleep.
This includes blackout shades so it stays as dark as possible, silencing your phone to avoid any notifications waking you up, and using any other techniques that help you sleep better. Some people sleep better with white noise, others like to sleep with a mask over their eyes. Do what works best for you.
9. Stretch
Stretching can help you to release stress after a long day. This will help you get your mind off the stress and refocus on self-improvement. You can make this even more effective in relieving stress by listening to some calming music while stretching.
10. Practice self-care
Any kind of self-care is great for relieving stress. You should choose something that you’ve been wanting to do for a while!
{ Related post: 5 Easy Self-Care Weekend Activities that You Can Start Right Away! }
11. Get outside
Getting outside is a great way to clear your mind. For those of you who spend your day inside at a desk, taking the time to get some fresh air will have a huge benefit.
12. Go for a walk
Going for a walk will get your body moving and release hormones which will reduce stress. This article gives more information on the science behind this.
13. Read
Finding a good book that you don’t want to put down will help you get your mind off any stressors.
14. Spend time with family or friends
Taking some time to socialize can also help distract you from a long day. In addition, knowing that you have plans after work may help you to stay motivated to get through the day having something to look forward to.
15. Take a nap
A stressful day can make you feel very exhausted. Powering through is not always the best choice so consider allowing yourself to take a nap to regroup.
16. Take some time off
As I mentioned, powering through is not always the solution. If you are going through a very stressful patch, taking some time off may be the answer. If you decide to take time off, allow yourself to rest and then regroup to get back into the swing of things.
17. Listen to music / a podcast
Turning on my favorite music or podcast usually puts me in a good mood. This is a great place to start on your way home from work.
18. Turn off notifications
Dealing with constant notifications makes it almost impossible to let your mind relax. If you are feeling stressed, the added stimulation of notifications will only make things worse.
{ Related post: 9 Time Wasting Activities that are Hurting Your Productivity! }
19. Take a warm bath
A warm bath can be very soothing and allow you to relax. Take the time to set it up with your favorite candles, book, and maybe some music.
20. Bake your favorite treat
Baking is a great way to do something for yourself and you’re rewarded with some good treats!
21. Do something creative
Creativity is a great outlet that many people don’t use often enough. This can be fun to do on your own or with some friends.
Try out some of these techniques after a stressful day! Thanks for reading and reach out to ourteam@wellroundedyou.com with any comments or questions.
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