If you’ve ever had a long, stressful day at work, then you must know that this affects you in the  evening, when you want to relax, but end up watching a movie at home or falling asleep. Even though you often encounter challenging situations at work, sometimes it gets too much, and you might get into a burnout.

Because long-term stress will affect your health if you don’t take it easy sometimes, it is important to take a step back and be aware of the situation. Analyse the factors that are contributing to your stress, and try to work it out so you can spend more time actually relaxing, than just running away from the tiredness. 

Cook something delicious and nutritious

You get home, but you’re way too tired to cook something, so you order some food, and that’s it for the night. Sounds familiar? It is more convenient, but there are also disadvantages; you’ll spend more money, eat unhealthy dishes, and you’ll fall into the trap of the comfortable zone. Why not try something new and easy at home? Cooking is relaxing if you enjoy making something on your own.

For example, an easy recipe is a dinner salad. And because it’s a salad that should be served as one of the three main meals of the day, it should contain protein and fibre. This way you won’t feel hungry after you eat. Therefore, you should start with the basics: veggies (any kind you like), protein (chicken, eggs) and carbs (beans), and then add some extra ingredients for a more intense flavour. You can also add a homemade dressing to smooth it out. Get creative each night and you’ll discover many delicious recipes!

Take a long bath

If you’re usually taking a shower because you’re too tired to soak in the tub for a longer period, consider taking a long bath maybe once a week and make it part of your weekly habits. In the morning, a cold shower might wake you up and prepare you for the long day ahead, but for the evening, a long bath will definitely relax your muscles, so you’ll have the best and restful sleep.

How do you do it? First of all, prepare the bathroom. Get some scented candles and place them around the room. Then proceed to decorate the bathroom in a way that will make you feel comfortable and safe. For the bath, you can use essential oils, a bath bomb or special salts to loosen up your muscles. If you want to go further than that, choose a relaxing playlist. After this bath, you’ll feel like a new person!  

Choose comfortable loungewear

There’s nothing more important than feeling cosy after a long day in office clothes. That’s why bamboo pajamas and loungewear will definitely be a game changer, you have a variety of beautiful options to choose from. Some advantages of bamboo fabrics are: sustainability, anti-bacterial, offers UV protection and it’s good for sensitive skin.

There are plenty of designs and styles for loungewear/sleepwear that you can choose from. These clothes don’t have to be simple and bland; you can pick some stylish pieces to make you feel good and fashionable even in the evenings at home. There are clothes with fun and colourful patterns that you usually avoid, but you can actually enjoy pyjamas in a flattering way.

Try reading more

Reading doesn’t have to be always about learning something new or about information, it can also be relaxing, especially if we’re talking about short novels and poetry. If you’re not sure what you want to read about in order to relax, you can start with fictional books. There are two ways of finding the perfect book: you either choose one that is different from your personal experiences or you read a book that has something in common with your interests. You can ask for recommendations from your friends if you don’t want to search for too much time.

If you’re not convinced, here are the advantages of reading:

• You’re improving your memory without making too much effort;
• You’re improving your concentration strength;
• If you create a routine out of reading every night, you’ll improve your sleep;
• You’ll do something fun and entertaining to reduce the stress.

Stretch the stress away

Working many hours a day comes with health problems for your back, posture and joints. With time, these problems aggravate and will extend to other parts of your body. You can avoid these if you start stretching as often as you can. Your muscles will feel better each day, and you’ll also be in a good shape.

You can start with the simplest steps: reach for the ceiling when you feel your back hurts or stretch your neck (but not too fast). If you want to try more exercises, a stretching mat will be helpful; you can use it anywhere. There are also many people that come up with different stretching exercises, and you can choose your favourite ones and exercise together.

Small steps for the perfect sleep

It’s difficult to instantly create a good routine before sleeping, it might be even more stressful to think about planning and being consistent. But the good thing is that you don’t have to change immediately, even if you feel the need to relax as soon as you get home. In order to get to the point where you’ll automatically improve your habits, you need to take it easy.

Create small habits each day, and try to improve them in time. After a few weeks, you’ll notice that by sleeping better, your level of stress will be reduced, and all the other habits will contribute to your general state of mind. Remember that sometimes, the anxiety and nervousness will be intense and  affect you, but if you have a balanced lifestyle, with time only for yourself, it’ll be easier to get over the daily stress.

To sum it up, you have to make small changes to your lifestyle, but not only that; you can enjoy the process by doing fun things.