There are a few things I claim to be an expert in, and that expertise usually comes from hard-fought experience. Today, as someone with an exceptionally demanding schedule, I want to spend a little bit of time talking about stress relief. Specifically, I want to share four practices that have helped me reduce my stress levels at least a little bit.
First and foremost, if you’re finding yourself stressed in the evenings, it might be a good idea to evaluate your caffeine consumption. At my worst, I was drinking pre-workout before going to the gym, two or three cups of coffee at work, and, often, an energy drink towards the end of the day. This left me feeling jittery and cranky. No wonder: caffeine’s a great tool, but it has also been linked to anxiety and sleep disorders. Quitting cold turkey might be deeply unpleasant, so I recommend simply cutting back a little bit, and not consuming any caffeine within four hours of when you want to go to bed.
Next, take your sleep seriously. Especially when you have a lot to do, you need to perform well. To be at your mental and physical peak, or be able to put in an all-nighter when you need to, it’s important to develop a good foundation of rest. For this, I highly recommend either some blue light glasses or totally disconnecting from anything with screens for at least an hour before bed to give yourself the chance at falling asleep and staying that way.
Also, consider some exercise. Do you find yourself sitting at your desk, feeling both anxious and unable to stay focused on a singular task for long? You might benefit from some exercise. At the very least, you’ll get the mental benefits of being able to say that you completed a workout, and that’s a great feeling with which to start the day. It’s also a good opportunity to get some nice, post-workout endorphins that will help you remain happy and focused while you get some work done throughout the day after a workout. It’ll likely help you sleep, too.
Finally, it’s vital to take time off, even when you’re stressed. There is only so much work, effort, and concentration that a human being is capable of. This is doubly true when you’re stressed to the max. Instead of maintaining a low level of productivity for hours on end, it might make a lot more sense to take the evening off and relax. The work will be there in the morning, and you might be a lot more capable of handling it with a good night’s sleep under your belt.
All in all, I hope that you take one thing from reading this: stress is part of life, but it’s not something that we have to live with as a constant. It’s possible, and not always that difficult, to take some small, measurable steps that will help you improve your quality of life dramatically. If you need to do that, we really hope that you do, and we’d love to hear any stress management strategies that do or don’t, work for you.