How to End Your Day Feeling Great

Activities to do during after-work hours to live an organized life

Photo by Petr Vyšohlíd on Unsplash

For some reason, we do not feel right to rest for an adequate time. We think the more we get done, the more productive we are. In the pursuit of getting more done, we forget to take some time off.

According to research, we have around 6000 thoughts per day. So to wind down after work, we need to be in a state where we are thinking less.

We can try the below activities to have peaceful after-work hours.

Take a Warm Shower

After work, my day will not end without a warm shower. I have started this habit for a few weeks now. It cleans the body. And mind also.

Without the warm shower, I can not get into the dreamland.

According to a study by Japan Health and Research Institute, Tokyo City University, and Jichi Medical University, the warm shower has the following benefits like

1. It helps to get cleaner and healthier skin
2. It improves sleep at night
3. It moisturizes the skin
4. It slows the mental activity

Have a Light Meal

A year back, I tried all the spicy dishes during dinner time. It was just my eating habit. One day I fell sick due to irregular eating habits at night. After that, I vowed to eat as plain but healthy as possible during dinner. It’s not because I already knew the importance of it. It’s because I was forced to by my body system.

Health experts suggest keeping the dinner menu simple and full of nutrients. After a hectic day at work, my soul will only crave simple and easily digestible food. So I usually go with one bowl recipe. We can try something like below -

1. Boiled rice and grains
2. Boiled rice and vegetables
3. Grilled fish and rice

I prefer to have rice as a staple food during dinner, so I include it in almost all dinner recipes.

Medical research suggests eating light can help in digestion and metabolism. Eventually, we will have a good sleep at night and a healthy morning.

Enjoy Self-Care

It is my favorite thing to do after work. I do the following activities, which take me to a meditative state -

1. Doing light yoga
2. Doing basic skincare
3. Brisk walking for at least 30 mins
4. Take a short power nap

Selfcare gives us the following benefits-

1. Feel positive about ourselves
2. Manage stress creatively
3. Maintain work-life balance
4. Ability to be grateful for what we have
5. Saying ‘No’ to overthinking

Switch on the Warm Light

Warm light has a healing effect on me. It gives me a feeling that the universe embraces me and acknowledges all my struggles.

It has a healing effect on us due to the following reasons -

1. It resonates with the biological clock during the evening
2. It gives similar lighting to the sunset light
3. It resembles the natural human circadian rhythm. It helps to wind down the day.

“The sun is gone, but I have a light.” — Kurt Cobain

Start Journalling

I have recently started journaling. I must say it has a cooling effect on my mind. Journaling can be of different types depending on your inclination. I am trying the below methods now -

1. Art journaling — Express your day by drawing anything that comes to your mind. It need not be a perfect piece of art. You need to express your thoughts and emotions through colors and words.
2. Doodling — It is a technique to draw repeated patterns. As we pay to focus on the activity for a long time, our attention span increases. It prevents the brain from wandering here and there.
3. Bullet journaling — In this technique, we note all that happened during the day. What made us happy, what made us sad — everything we can note down. We can track these emotional patterns over some time.
4. Gratitude Journaling — In this type of journaling, we mention everything for which we are grateful. It can range from a simple thing to a big thing.

Put the Phone Away

In this age, the whole world is on our smartphones. Our lives are less about intentional living and more about operating through phones. We indeed need to harness the benefits of evolving technology. At the same time, we take care of our systems — our body and mind.

Research has identified a direct relationship between using a phone before sleep, insomnia, and irritability during the day. The blue light emitting from the phone suppresses melatonin production, the sleep hormone.

A few harmful effects of using a phone before bedtime can be -

1. Scrolling the phone can affect the sleep
2. Checking the phone keeps the mind stimulated before bedtime
3. The digital content that we consume before bedtime harms our thought process

Sleep medicine expert Michelle Drerup suggests we remove all digital devices at least an hour before we sleep.

Conclusion

To have a bright day ahead, we must focus on how we close the previous day. After-work activities define how we respond to the events we have to face the next day. Some will be good, some not so good. We will never have control over external events. But we can always control our response to them. This way, we become a better version of ourselves.