Another way of prioritizing sleep is to use habit-building apps, which can help you mode-switch from work to rest time. Fabulous is one of the best habit-building apps, as it helps you create life-changing habits through bite-sized steps. Using night lamps or playing white noise can also help you develop stronger sleep habits. You can integrate the functionality of these devices with your Alexa sleep routines for better implementation. Meanwhile, Theragun Pro is suitable for muscle relaxation throughout the body. It uses scientific calibration and a proprietary motor to provide deep muscle treatment at five built-in speed settings.

Spending Quality Time with People

Sometimes, feeling overwhelmed by work comes down to how organized you are. It can involve mentally going over what you’re looking forward to in the rest of your evening, or texting a loved one and refocusing your attention to your life. Rachel Goldman, PhD FTOS, is a licensed psychologist, clinical assistant professor, speaker, wellness expert specializing in eating behaviors, stress management, and health behavior change. Stress affects everyone differently, and what is a how to destress after work stressor for one person may not be for another.

Enjoy quality time with loved ones

Some of these can be subtle sources of tension, such as an uncomfortable workspace, chatter in the back, or a long commute. Some tension is expected, especially when facing a looming presentation or challenging assignment. But when work stress becomes chronic, it can affect your physical and emotional well-being. Do your best to use commute time as a „transition time,“ during which you reset and refocus.

• Journaling is an excellent coping tool that promotes mental health and relieves stress and anxiety.
• While you might not be able to sneak away from work to run yourself a bubble bath, creating a self-care plan can give you the tools to get through stressful experiences at work, and reward yourself too.
• However, as with job stress venting in general, focusing too much on the stress created by difficult co-workers can rob us of the joy of our non-work lives.
• Improve overall mood and energy levels to cope with work stress by using essential oils of soothing fragrances like lavender or chamomile.
• Evidence suggests that having some type of routine can be a great way combat the negative effects of stress.
• Find a job at a place that supports the kinds of things you’re looking for.

Best Vitamins for Stress Relief

For example, if deadlines increase your stress levels, you might need to ask for longer lead times or start earlier. If you don’t have enough time to execute all your duties, you might want to automate certain tasks. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), meditation is an effective way to achieve mental and physical relaxation. A 2021 study showed that listening to music for 10 minutes, regardless of the environment, lowers cortisol levels and improves your mood, particularly when it’s your favorite type of music. While it’s not possible to eliminate all stress from your life, you can learn to cope with it and manage your reactions to stressful situations. Unwind after work with Talkspace, the online therapy platform that connects you with licensed therapists who are experienced in stress management techniques.

• This can decrease your stress levels, prevent burnout, and increase your overall happiness.
• “They may have negative, unhelpful, intrusive thoughts or an urge to work when they aren’t on the job that interferes with their personal life,” she adds.
• These little happiness-boosters, known as „pleasures“ by psychologists, can lift your mood in a measurable way and reduce stress in the process.
• If you work from home, Dr. Lassen suggests closing your office door and shutting your laptop to signal to yourself and others that you’re done working for the day.

Walking – and being active generally – can improve your mood, and boost your mental wellbeing. For most of our day, we don’t think about breathing – our body breathes for us. However, we tend to breathe more shallowly when we don’t focus on breathing, so a simply focus on the intake of air, holding, and exhaling can bring more oxygen into our bodies, and calm our thoughts. For more, follow guided breathing techniques in the Calmer Community.

The more time that we focus on work, the less time we are being mindful and present and enjoying the moment. Listening to music offers many benefits and can effectively relieve stress before, during, and after work. Playing an uplifting song while you make breakfast can help you start the day off feeling better prepared to interact with the people in your life.

Using Technology to Reduce Work Stress

You can include people, places, and events that cause you a physical, mental, or emotional response. Experiencing work strain is unavoidable — even if you love what you do. You can take actionable steps to keep job stress at a manageable level. The ride home from work can be stressful if you keep replaying the stresses of the day, or letting traffic stress you out even more.

• Give yourself a moment away from your desk and enjoy listening to relax.
• Work stress has significant health consequences that range from relatively benign (like getting more colds and flus) to potentially serious (such as heart disease and metabolic syndrome).
• But when work stress becomes chronic, it can affect your physical and emotional well-being.
• Another study found that people who partake in leisure activities have lower stress levels and better stress-management skills.

Get off social media

On May 19, 2022, Verywell Mind hosted a virtual Mental Health in the Workplace webinar, hosted by Amy Morin, LCSW. If you missed it, check out this recap to learn ways to foster supportive work environments and helpful strategies to improve your well-being on the job. Research has indicated that the percentage of Americans who are stressed at work is high—and it’s only getting higher. According to Pew Research Center, a little more than half of adults find that their job is stressful some of the time. However, 29% say that their job is stressful most of the time, with 19% suggest that this stress is overwhelming.

Therefore, using Therabody SmartGoggles every day may have a larger health impact. You might be surprised by how affected by workplace stress you are when you have a stressful morning. When you start off the day with planning, good nutrition, and a positive attitude, you might find that the stress of your job rolls off your back more easily. After scrambling to get the kids fed and off to school, dodging traffic and combating road rage, and gulping down coffee in lieu of a healthy breakfast, many people arrive to work already stressed.