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Relaxing is an ever appealing yet ever decreasing part of people's days. The desire to sit and do nothing just for an hour is such a battle I face everyday, whether it's in the form of procrastination, exhaustion or boredom. Putting tasks and necessary jobs of for just that little bit longer is so tempting yet deep down we still know those things need to be done. After college or work and other activities that require our attention throughout the day it is understandable as to why we are exhausted a lot of he time, especially at times of high stress e.g around exams or deadlines, the need to complete these tasks can sometimes take away essential rest time, leading to less and less periods of free time.
However I think that even with all the demanding aspects of life it is so so important to leave aside a bit of me time at the end of the day, at least half an hour where you can relax and do something you enjoy, whether it be catching up on your favourite tv program or sit down with a cuppa and a book, I think it is an essential part of the day. This should particularly be near your bedtime as it allows your body to wind down and prepare for a good night's sleep, allowing yourself the most restoring sleep possible.
Ideally you are supposed to turn all electrical items off around an hour before you go to sleep as this allows time for your brain to finish processing the information and also allows your brains chemicals to rebalance before your body prepares to shut down the the night and begin repairing itself. However in this day and age this is very unlikely, as people tend to go on their phones, tablets, e-readers or laptops whilst in bed before they go to sleep. This is actually shown to drop your melatonin levels, this affects your sleep quality, as this chemical that is actually largely responsible for helping your body wind down and mellow out.
I have a really bad sleeping pattern and on most nights (with few exceptions) I rarely go to sleep or even to bed before midnight! This therefore only allows me a maximum of 7 and a half hours sleep a night, hardly enough to power me through the next day. This isn't down to choice mind you, I just struggle to fall asleep before this time, and it's not that I'm not tired, my sleeping pattern is just really out of sync and quite disrupted. Due to this I can generally get into quite bad/irritable moods which obviously isn't nice for me or anyone around me; however I have learnt to deal with my tiredness and my moods connected to this. Yet this shouldn't be the solution!
I have recently found that taking time out to relax and breathe has helped an awful lot with stress loads and mood swings, to do this I have found several different methods that work in different ways.
This is a site that I found through Tanya Burr who uses it for her anxiety. This also helps for just a quick (or long) wind down at the end of the day or when feeling stressed. It is a website that has a spoken guided routine that is essentially meditation, soothing music is played in the background and a calm voice gives instructions on how to relax your body. This is a physical exercise that also helps with your mind, and clears your head of thoughts of anything other than you and right now. It is crazy how helpful and effective this is, it really is a don't believe it till you try it kind of thing.
This is another website that I have found useful, I actually found this about a year or 2 ago on tumblr and it has been so helpful ever since. This is what I went to if i ever needed to chill out before I found Calm.com. It is slightly different to calm though as it isn't quite meditation however in a sense it is; you are told to turn off any distractions e.g your phone, and put headphones in to listen to the music, you then read the phrases as it goes along, this is only a 90 second exercise.
3)Reading
I know a lot of people don't like to read and find it boring or uninteresting but what I say to those people is, you haven't found the right book! To be quite honest, the thought of curling up in bed, with a warm drink of some kind and a really good book is the image of bliss to me. Getting lost in a story that you have no concerns with, getting involved in the story as if your there, or even an easy page turner that is simple to read, there are so many different types of books I don't know how anyone can dismiss the activity altogether (I'll stop rambling, honestly, I could write a whole post on this alone). Anyway reading is such a relaxing activity and really helps your body to wind down ready for sleep.
So these are a few ways that I have found mega helpful in winding down, de-stressing and just allowing myself a bit of time to stop. I really do think it is important to give yourself this opportunity, it shouldn't be a privilege or a luxury to have a bit of down time, it should be a reward for all your hard work that day.
So if your ever feeling like your super stressed, or really annoyed or even a bit down, I urge you to try one of these things just to centre yourself, have a bit of space and regain control. You never know you may even enjoy them and find yourself using them regularly as a part of your day to day routine.
I hope this post was insightful or helpful to any of you.
I'll be sure to do a shorter post on Sunday, but I really wanted to talk about this properly :)
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