How to de-stress yourself after a hard day at work?

With a 9-6:30 routine, comprising of a lot of tasks to complete and deadlines to be met, along with meetings & presentations, one will obviously get stressed. Stress affects your health; it also leads to irritation, anger, fatigue and can ruin a good day.
To avoid it here are a few simple ways to de-stress yourself after a hard day at work:

1. Listen to calm music.
Research has shown that soft music can reduce the heart rate, slow your breathing and lower your blood pressure.

2. Meditate.
Meditation or practising yoga especially breathing exercises like pranayama can help you to calm down emotions of anxiety and relax.

3. Watch something funny.
Watch funny videos on Youtube or TV and have a good laugh. Laughing helps relieve stress. You can also keep yourself entertained by watching shows of your interest.

4. Exercise.
Light exercises like an evening walk or stretching can help you release the tiredness and feel fresh and happy.

5. Follow your hobby.
May it be cooking, dancing, singing, drawing, craft, reading or anything else that you love doing and makes you happy. It could even be colouring. Nowadays there are many colouring books as well apps available on the internet.

6. Spend time with your friends and family.
You will always feel better after talking to and sharing your thoughts and tensions with your Mom, Dad or other loved ones.

7. Play with your pet.
Pets play a very helpful role to get rid of stress. Playing with your pets specially cats or dogs after work can easily relieve you from stress. (Playing with kids, can also make you feel joyful).

8. Hang Up, Then Turn Off Your Phone.
Try and stay offline. Give social media a break. You don’t always have to be online. Have some “me” time. Enjoy it.

9. Take a nap.
Close your eyes and just relax, do not allow your brain to have any stressful thoughts. You can also have a power nap before actually sleeping to feel energetic and fresh.

10. Pray.
Faith, spirituality and regular praying can also help you to reduce stress.

Hope I helped you a bit in relieving your stress!!

— Nisha Prabhudesai