HOW TO UNWIND AFTER WORK: 7 Proven Strategies
Whether you’re working from home or you’re back in the office, chances are you are spent at the end of the day. Tension builds throughout the day, and we end up carrying it home with us. You want to relax, but it’s almost impossible — like you’re too stressed to de-stress. Or maybe the only way you can unwind is with alcohol.
If this is you, I’m here with 7 proven (non-alcoholic) strategies to help you unwind after work. Grab the checklist to make sure you’re implementing these in your life — after all, they don’t work if you don’t do them!
HOW TO UNWIND AFTER WORK 1. Get Enough Sleep
Just like working on your beach body starts months before you hit the pool, unwinding after work starts way before you get home from work. In fact, it starts the night before.
Getting enough rest is critical to being able to manage your stress and unwind after work.
The stress of being sleep deprived adds to the other stress you pick up during the day, which leaves you with extra stress you’re trying to unwind from at the end of the day.
Set a reminder on your phone to start winding down about an hour before you want to be asleep.
Once your reminder goes off, turn off the TV and make yourself a bedtime ritual that will help you fall asleep on time.
Be warned: Changing your sleep patterns takes time, so be patient with yourself (and especially your brain) as you’re trying something new.
The first few times you try this, you probably won’t sleep one iota better than you normally do.
Give your brain time to adjust to a new way of going about things, though, and you may find that you start sleeping a whole lot better.
HOW TO UNWIND AFTER WORK2. Take a Slower Morning
Once you start getting enough sleep, it’s easier to have a slower morning.
One thing that adds to the stress we have after work is the fact that we start the day in a frantic rush.
We snooze until the absolute last minute and then have to rush out the door — we’re already stressed before the day has even started.
Set yourself up for success by having a slower morning.
Get out of bed in enough time to not have to rush through your routine.
Again, this starts by going to bed early enough the night before and requires that you give your brain a few weeks to adjust to a new way of doing things.
But once you are getting rough sleep and you commit to having slower mornings, you’ll notice a significant reduction in the stress you experience throughout the day.
HOW TO UNWIND AFTER WORK 3. De-Stress Mid-Day
Even with enough sleep and a slower morning, stress builds throughout the day.
Take a moment in the middle of the day to bring down your stress level.
This will keep it from rising to an unmanageable level by the end of the day.
Options for bringing down your stress in the middle of the day are doing some quick deep-breathing exercises, completing a 5- or 10-minute meditation, going for a walk, or exercising.
HOW TO UNWIND AFTER WORK 4. Exercise
One of the most powerful things you can do to unwind after work is to exercise at some point during the day.
Exercising after work can help you unwind at the end of the day, but exercising before work or even in the middle of the day can also help reduce the amount of tension you bring home at the end of the day.
Regardless of when you fit it in, 20 to 30 minutes of heart-pumping exercise can make a monumental difference in how tense you feel in the evening.
HOW TO UNWIND AFTER WORK 5. Pause After Work
After work, it’s important to give your brain a chance to recognize that you’re ending your workday and starting your family time.
You can do this by pausing and taking a few deep breaths before you enter your house (or before you leave your home office) at the end of the day.
This works because it signals to your brain that you’re entering a different part of your life, so you can leave some of the work stress behind at the office rather than bringing it in the door with you.
This is especially important if you work from home — your brain has no idea what’s part of work life and what’s part of regular life, so having a ritual to tell your brain it’s time to switch from one to the other can help it more effectively separate the stress.
HOW TO UNWIND AFTER WORK 6. Schedule “Me” Time
A critical element to unwinding after work is to schedule some “me” time.
Schedule it, folks. On your calendar. With an alert. Make it a priority.
You’ve got children to wrangle and meals to cook and chores to do, so it doesn’t have to be long, but it does have to be there…somewhere.
Take the few precious “me” moments to deliberately destress.
Be careful about what you do during this time!
Things that we assume help us destress often are actually ineffective. I’m talking about scrolling social media, watching TV, etc.
If you’re skeptical, measure it for yourself: Rate how stressed you feel on a scale from 1 to 10 before you get on your phone and then 15 minutes later and see how much the number changes.
Then try something different (deep breathing, take a bath, read, write in a journal, do a hobby, call a friend, sit on the porch and watch the sunset, etc.) and see if the numbers change differently.
Choose the activities that make the greatest difference on your before-and-after stress level. Then make those activities a priority as often as possible.
HOW TO UNWIND AFTER WORK 7. Ditch Your Phone
I’m so convinced that your phone won’t help you unwind after work that ditching your phone is my final tip.
Not only do I think it won’t help, I actually think it will interfere with your unwinding.
It distracts us from how stressed we are, but it does zero to reduce how stressed we are.
So ditch it.
Leave it in your purse or in your bedroom while you’re home spending time with your family.
Grab it if you need to make a call, but train yourself to get out of the habit of mindlessly scrolling.
HOW TO UNWIND AFTER WORK 7. Ditch Your Phone
You’re used to doing things a certain way after work — you’re used to coming home, diving right into stressful chores and activities, and “destressing” by drowning in your phone.
But you know that pattern isn’t helping you, so it’s time to try something new.
It’ll be uncomfortable…and awkward…and it might even seem like it doesn’t work at first.
But give it a few weeks of honest effort and see what changes.
Grab my checklist here to keep track of implementing these strategies each day!
Now, part of the reason you’re so wound up after work is because you’re a worrier.
You worry about everything.
A couple of weeks ago, I brought you 10 questions to ask yourself to stop overthinking.
This is the exact same thing I teach my own personal clients in therapy, so you don’t want to miss it.
Talk to you soon,
Dr. Finch
P.S. Remember, this is education, not treatment. Always consult with a psychologist or therapist about your mental health to determine what information and interventions are best for you. See the disclaimer for more details.
Hayden C. Finch, PhD, is a practicing psychologist based in Des Moines, Iowa, and Little Rock, Arkansas, dedicated to helping you master your mental health.
