Tips on How to Relax at the End of the Day

If you find that you’re almost running on empty by the end of the day, then you’ll need to work out how best to refill your mental tank. There are a multitude of ways in which you might do this. In this article, we’ll run through a few of them!

Tidy up

If you live your life surrounded by clutter, then the chances are that you’re going to feel more than a little stressed about it. After all, if the kitchen is piled high with filthy plates, and every time you look at it you’re reminded of an unfinished task, then you’re going to find it difficult to relax. An untidy living space can also have a more direct influence on your state of mind, as those extra items might directly reduce your personal space.

If your home is filled with clutter, then why not take the time to have a clear-out? Once all of those superfluous items are removed, your living room will be a far more relaxing space.

Meditation

Thanks to popular culture, there are a number of misconceptions about what meditation is, and what it’s meant to achieve. The truth is that meditative practices come with a variety of different aims and ritual. But if you’re just looking to focus your mind, then you needn’t dress in robes or bang a gong or chant. You can just simply focus your mind on something arbitrary, like your breath. Concentrating on such a thing is a form of mental exercise – indulge in a few minutes of it every day and you’ll find that your resilience and concentration levels grow over time.

Listen to music

One of the more well-documented relaxation aids is music. You might think that, in order to create the more relaxing environment, you’ll need to play the most quiet, restrained music available. But there’s little point in doing so if you don’t enjoy listening to such music. If you find that a few minutes of Enya is enough to set your teeth on edge, then you can hardly pretend that an hour of it is going to put you into a relaxed state. In fact, the opposite is more likely.

The best solution here in an obvious one: listen to the sort of music that you enjoy listening to. If that’s barely-audible Celtic pipe-music, then so be it; likewise if it’s deafening thrash-metal.

Aromas

Of course, getting the right atmosphere for your living space requires that all of your senses are called upon – not just your eyes and ears. Scent is a hugely overlooked component of the relaxing living space, largely because we humans don’t have a particularly sensitive sense of smell. But by wafting the right perfumes through your home, you’ll be able to create an atmosphere that’s relaxing.

Much like music, it’s best to go with the scents that work for you. That said, there are a few rules of thumb that one might follow. Generally speaking, floral scents like lavender are the ones most associated with relaxation, while citrus fruit and mint aromas are best for mental stimulation. You might therefore use the former in your bathroom, and the latter in your study.

Scents needn’t just be applied to the room you’re staying in, either – you can perfume your body directly, in much the same way that you might before a night out. This end can be met using any number of perfumes, oils, soaps and butters – and so variety bath boxes like this one serve nicely. Which brings us rather neatly to our next area of inquiry.

Toiletries

Obviously, you’re going to feel more relaxed if you’re clean, and so regular washing is a must. It’s also important to pay attention to the health of your skin and hair (and indeed, your health in general). But you might make your bathroom experience that little bit more relaxing by making use of the more exotic, scent-infused toiletries that are now available. For example, you might treat yourself to a body butter, which will improve the quality of your skin and make you feel great, too.

Exercise

Everyone who’s taken the slightest interest in health and fitness knows that exercise releases endorphins, and that these endorphins help to make us feel good. Even if you don’t exactly know what an endorphin is, the chances are that you’ll be familiar with their effect immediately after a bout of exertion – step out of the gym and you feel fantastic!

As well as giving you that amazing glowing feeling, exercise is also beneficial in a number of other ways. It’ll offer protection against a number of unpleasant disorders, it’ll help to fight off fat build-up, and it’ll allow you to drift off to sleep that much more easily in the evenings – provided you haven’t strained yourself to the point of muscular spasm.

Dieting

Naturally, no mention of the importance of exercise could pass without mention of the importance of diet. And eating the right things can have a marked impact on your ability to relax. If you’re full of sugar and caffeine late in the evening, you’ll likely have a stressful time of it when you come to try and get to sleep. By the same token, if you’re pursuing an extreme ‘crash’ diet, the chances are that you’ll have trouble concentrating on anything, and that you’ll be unable to fully unwind at any time of the day. As ever, it’s best to fall back on the classic diet advice: eat, but don’t eat too much, and make sure that it’s mostly plants.

Play a game

Mental stimulation is a great way to unwind after a long day’s work. And we now live in a time where there’s more mental stimulation on offer than at any other – with a host of computer games joining the traditional pen-and-paper sort. Whether you prefer a round of high-octane shooting, or an hour pondering the mysteries of a crossword puzzle, a game might well provide a much sought-after means of putting your mind at ease.