Relaxing at home after work may be impossible to do at first, given your hectic schedule and demanding work responsibilities. However, these 15 simple relaxation tips will prove to you that you don’t have to travel far to achieve your goal.
Read on and find out how you can relax at home after work effectively.
Table of Contents
15 Ways To Relax At Home After Work
1. Keep your work obligations at work
The first crucial step to relaxing at home after work hours is to actually stop stressing and thinking about work. Peace of mind is impossible if you continue to worry about the litany of tasks that require your attention. So, the moment you step out of your office cubicle, leave your worries and troubles where they belong on your table. Enjoy the world outside the confines of your office and switch off your mobile phone once you get home.
Learn more: 8 Ways To Stop Bringing Work Stress Home
2. Change into comfortable clothes
If you want to really relax at home after work, you have to feel cozy enough in your own clothes to laze about or romp around in your own abode. Kick off your shoes, slip out of your 3-piece corporate attire, and change into something comfy like a loose t-shirt and baggy pair of shorts or pants.
Learn more: Top 3 Relax Clothing You Should Have in Your Wardrobe
3. Stretch
Sitting down all day in the office can leave you stressed, tired, and feeling cramped and grumpy. Doing some quick stretches at home (or even at work) will relieve you of muscle tension and help you relax in the process.
You can also try different relaxation exercises that help you to relax at home after work. Here is one relaxation exercise you can try right away.
4. Hydrate
Drink lots of water. Your body tends to become dehydrated when you’re stressed out, so it is important to hydrate often.
5. Meditate
Meditation can allay tension and anxiety. However, you don’t have to attend yoga class or retreat to the woods to meditate and relax at home after work. A few minutes of peace and quiet are enough to calm you down after a highly stressful day. Find a quiet corner in your house, close your eyes, take several deep breaths, and let peace take over your mind.
6. Visualize
Visualization is another great form of relaxation. All you have to do is to close your eyes and imagine. Instead of trying to empty your mind of negative thoughts, the visualization process allows you to focus on the more positive ones. Mental images of the sea or a beautiful park have great calming effects, therefore, they can help you wind down from a hectic day. With these beautiful sceneries embedded in your mind, you’ll be drifting off to sleep in no time.
Learn more: Top 10 Benefits Of Positive Visualization
7. Unwind to good music
Music has an incredible healing power over people’s anxieties because of its ability to connect to their emotions. Whether you prefer to listen to soothing jazz music, the latest dance record, or the sounds of nature, what matters most is to choose a type of music, which makes you feel good. However, most experts advise that the best way to relax at home after work is to listen to soft instrumental or classical music.
8. Take a warm bath
You cannot go wrong with a hot shower or a long warm bath. Water has a calming effect on the body, mind and soul, so don’t forget to cleanse away your troubles by soaking into a scented bubble bath after a tiring day at work.
9. Exercise
For some people, relaxation means hitting the gym after work. You may think that working out when you’re tired may sound like a terrible idea, but exercising always has a very positive effect on the body and the mind of a person. Any physical activity – whether it’s running on the treadmill or just running on the spot – releases endorphins that make you feel happy.
You don’t have to go to the gym to exercise. You can go for a quick jog around your house or your neighbourhood, do some crunches, or pump up the volume of your favourite music and dance in your living room.
If you like calmer activities, try this relaxation exercise before going to bed.
10. Get a back massage
Most of the time at the end of every day, all that hard-working people look forward to is to lie down on a comfortable bed and get a good back massage. Massaging can ease the knots in your muscles, thereby calming your nerves. You don’t have to book an appointment at the spa for this. Why not get a home service from a professional massage therapist? Better yet, have your partner massage your back for you. Always keep massage oils handy or within easy reach.
If you live alone, you can try this self-massage exercise to relieve tensions in the lower back.
Video: No 1 self-massage exercise to release tension in the lower back
11. Catch up with good friends
Nothing compares to a great conversation with like-minded friends at the end of a stressful day. You can always meet up at your place or at the nearest restaurant near your work for a good catch-up talk or curl up in your living room during a gossip session on the phone. Having someone to talk to can do wonders in reducing stress and depression.
12. Laugh
Laughing out loud is the ultimate stress buster and probably the best way to relax at home after work. It doesn’t just lighten your emotional and mental load, but it definitely boosts your happy hormones, as well. It’s okay to be silly from time to time. Chat with a friend and reminisce about your childhood, most especially your many foolish antics. Sit back, relax and watch your favourite sitcom and reruns of its funniest episodes.
13. Organize your place
Though it may be true that creative people can work well in chaos, it isn’t always the case when you are trying to put your mind off stressful things, especially if it’s work-related. A chaotic environment can aggravate an already chaotic mind. If you want to relax at home, you just cannot do that inside a messy room; hence, it is important to de-clutter.
Organize your bookshelves and drawers, put away what needs to be put away, keep your clothes in your closet or the laundry basket, and straighten the cushions on your sofa. When everything is set and easy on the eyes, sit back, relax, put your legs up and take a deep breath.
14. Read a book
One good way to relax at home after work is to escape from it all. You don’t have to hop on a plane for that next flight to Paris. You can easily transport yourself anywhere in the world by picking up a good book and losing yourself in the story. Reading relaxes your mind by diverting your thoughts from stressful real-life issues to somewhere else beautiful.
15. Count
Sleep is an excellent remedy for stress and anxiety. However, if you have problems getting enough sleep, then counting will certainly do the trick. Don’t just count to 10 or 100. Just keep counting until you’ve fallen into a deep slumber.
All these exercises and activities can definitely help you relax at home after a stressful day at work.
