How to relax after a stressful workday

The better you get at resting, the more energy and creativity you bring to your work.

Proper rest is not just a passive rest. Real rest that leaves you energized and inspired involves three essential elements:

1. Relaxing your mind
2. Relaxing your body
3. Relaxing your expectations.

If you have ever gotten in bed but your mind race with all the unfinished tasks, to-dos, and scenarios you replay in your mind, then you will know the importance of relaxing your mind.

To relax your mind, close any open loops and follow a 'shut down' routine.

• Open loops are all the tasks that you deem so important that you want to hold on to them.
• Anticipatory stress. Another is the feeling that you constantly need to be on stand-by, such as responding to messages.

A master list can help you relax your mind. A master list is a document where you write down every task, email, to-do, and idea. For each item, write down a concrete next step, set a deadline, and categorise them as either working on now, waiting for someone else, or another time.

To truly relax your mind:

• Record your progress in hours worked and tasks completed.
• Glance at the day or week ahead to ensure there isn't anything you're forgetting about.
• Acknowledge the day is over.

Use deep breathing exercises to relax your body:

• Sit somewhere comfortable with a straight back
• Close your eyes and begin breathing through your nose
• Breathe in for a count of two.
• Hold your breath for a count of one
• Breathe out through your mouth for a count of four. The key is to exhale longer than you inhale.
• Hold your breath for one second and then repeat.

This popular technique systematically relaxes your muscle groups one at a time.

• Lie down and stretch out.
• Breathe in and tense the first muscle group, for example, your hands. Tense hard, but not to the point of pain. Hold for 4-10 seconds.
• Exhale and relax the muscle group all at once.
• Relax for 10-20 seconds.
• Move on to the next muscle group. Work through your whole body in this way.
• When you're done, count backwards from 5 to bring your focus back to the present.

Eye strain is a common symptom of too much time on a screen. It can lead to headaches, tense shoulders and back, and potentially blurred vision.

A simple exercise to help with eye-strain: After every 20 minutes, look at an object 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

• Meditation practices can help you relax and focus your energy on your body and breath.
• A walk outside can calm your mind and body and help you further into a state of relaxation.

• Have a conversation with your boss on expectations and boundaries. Be open about when you're available and when not.
• Keep your phone in another room to resist the urge to check it.
• Remove work apps from your phone or home devise to create a distinction between phone (personal) and computer (work time.)
• Change your email signature that states how long you usually take to respond.
• Use if/then statements to reduce the need to keep working. (If I get an email notification at 5 pm, then I will ....)