Source:filipvas.com

Things You Need to Rest After a Long Day

Looking up at the clock every two minutes when it Friday waiting for your work time is a pretty common thing for everyone. Children wait for the bell to finally ring so they can go out and play with other kids while adults are dreading those last few hours to get home and just rest. No matter if your weeks are filled with physical labor or if you are constantly at meetings left and right, training in the gym, there is nothing better than just getting home and relaxing. If these last few weeks have been too stressful for you, it is time to look for some ways to truly relax through the weekend.

Here are some of the best ways you can rest after a very long day at work.

Get off the internet

Source:teepublic.com

After so much socializing, typing and contacting people for your job, your mind will probably be tired of all the computer and phone screens. This means that it is time for you to focus on your own physical and mental health. To properly focus on yourself the first step you must do is to get off the internet. Turn off all your computers, mute your phone and turn off the Wi-Fi. While you actively want to rest, your mind has made a habit to respond to those notification sounds, a habit that you cannot control. Putting all your notifications to mute is the most crucial part of proper rest. Just turn off anything that can distract your mind while you are relaxing in your bed. Of course, you do not have to do this throughout the whole weekend or an entire day, but you should at least stay disconnected from the world for at least a few hours.

You can use these hours to enjoy the silence, sleep, exercise or for quality time with your friends, kids or partner. If you plan to exercise, we recommend that you only do some light training so you do not strain yourself too much physically and you end up even more tired than before. By the term light exercises, we would include long walks, jogging, practicing yoga or something similar. Running is pretty light and easy to do exercise and it is not as hard on the muscles as other workouts you could do. Getting a good sweat before a hot shower is one of the most relaxing things.

Listen to some music

Source:mic.com

You might think that more noise such as music might tire you even more, but that is a common misconception. Listening to music, especially relaxing music has a lot of different effects on the mind based on many types of research and experiments.

Since music has been proved that it can trigger people’s emotions, it has been found that it can also considerably reduce stress. By listening to more relaxing music you can slow down your body which then relaxes your mind. The less your mind has to work on your body, the more relaxed it is.

Many doctors or surgeons prefer to put music during surgery so the patient feels more relaxed and to reduce their stress.

According to Chillout Radio, the quality of sleep can be considerably improved if you listen to relaxing music just before you fall asleep. So if you are having problems getting into the REM state of sleep, you should definitely set-up a playlist of slow and relaxing songs for the next time you go to bed.

A long bath

Source:babyabout.net

This is probably the most common way to reduce stress and to relax after a long day, but it is still worth mentioning. Just before you get home, go to the market and get yourself a nice bath bomb or shampoo with a smell that you like. When you get home the first thing you need to do is to make sure if you have enough hot water and get the tap running. Fill up the bath with warm enough water and drop the bath bomb or whatever you bought. After the bath gets foamy just get in there, mute your phone and just enjoy the time alone. The warm water and laying down in the tub for 20 minutes is the perfect way for releasing endorphins which help with stress.

After the long bath, you could also focus on your tense muscles, back or neck since your body is still soft because of the warm water. Try to do some light stretching to release that tension or use a massage roller on yourself if you have one.

Get into more comfy clothes

Believe it or not, but a lot of people do not actually wear any more comfortable clothes when they are at home. People do not realize how much getting out of those tight jeans can help with stress after a long day. Get yourself a nice set of comfy shirt, jumper and track pants. Sure, you will not look the best, but the point is to be comfortable, not fashionable.

Find yourself a stress-free hobby

Source:verywellmind.com

After studying for so long or after working for hours and hours at the office, you should find something you want to do, not what someone else has ordered you. Doing something that you really want is a great way to reduce stress and relax. If you ever have seen a leisure activity that seemed like an interesting hobby, now is the time to start.

Have you ever felt like you want to be a better cook? Then why not dedicate on cooking on those weekends after a long week. Not only will you become a better cook after some time you will also have healthy and tasty food to eat.

You could also take up something else such as knitting. Those continuous repetitive motions have been proved time and time again that they cause endorphins to be secreted. We are just sharing our ideas and examples, there are hundreds of other relaxing things you could do during the weekends, it completely depends on you.


Peter is a freelance writer with more than eight years of experience covering topics in politics. He was one of the guys that were here when the foreignpolicyi.org started.