Relaxation ... take my advice, and share your own!

[Gogeta70]

...snip...

And this relaxation exercise gets me sleepy too.



As always, exercise is great for a good night's sleep.

I'm just gonna transcribe that paper here, because blegh.

Relaxation Exercise

This exercise, if practiced over time, will help to relax you. The exercise is intended to help move the focus from your mind and its constant internal chatter to your body.

Take your time as you do the exercise. It is helpful to find a place where you will not be disturbed. Turn off any music and put your phone on silent.

- Make yourself comfortable

- Take a few minutes to relax, breathing in and out slow, deep breaths. Make each out breath longer than your in breath. A good way to do this is to breathe in to the count of 3 and out to the count of 5.

- When you are relaxed and ready to start, shift your attention to your right foot. Take a moment to focus on the way it feels.

- Slowly tense the muscles in your foot, squeezing as tightly as you can. Hold for a count of 10.

- Relax your right foot. Focus on the tension flowing away and the way your foot feels as it becomes limp and loose.

- Stay in the relaxed state for a moment, breathing deeply and slowly.

- When you're ready, shift your attention to your left foot. Follow the same sequence of muscle tension and release.

- Move slowly up through your body — legs, abdomen, and back, neck, face — contracting and relaxing the muscle groups as you go.

When you finish the exercise, remain where you are for a few minutes. Give yourself time to get ready for whatever you need to do next.

[luggyx]

Hey guys,

I noticed that for me stress and tension builds up over time. It gets to the point there if I drink even a bit of caffeine my hands start to shake. And it can continue for several hours. Very annoying... as I like coffee. And also it makes work nightmare.

As I work in high stress enviroment as probably the most of you. I had to find a way to relax in different parts of the day.
- Early in the morning I usually do sports (running, gym, walk, swim and etc.). Also I try to get as much yellowish light as possible (lowers melatonin levels in the brain). Helps to wake up so much better than staying in the dark and your brain shouting "go back to sleep!".
- Working hours: Try to take regular brakes than possible. (Meditate in the toilet for couple minutes. Get a short walk. Talk to co-workers. Any thing that helps move away from work for a bit.). Also slowly started giving less f**ks about stuff. As everything is urgent at my job to the most people. For real only 2 to 3 things are important out of 50 .
- Evenings: Trying to relax, listening to nature sounds or relaxing music on the headphones. Gaming, reading book/article or watching movie helps to relax a lot. Dimming the lights (increases melatonin levels in the brain) and meditation just before sleep to completely relax before sleep.

In my experience sauna works awesome if you go to it once in 2 weeks or so.

But the most relaxing thing for me in a long run was to fix my finances. By that I mean saving up to 6 months of expenses. As I always know if anything happens I can walk out of my job the next day. It took me a while but helped a lot with giving less f**ks . Now I can enjoy my work more and say "NO!" more.

Overall quick fixes help, but worked out routine that works for you helps in a long run. It's hard to find it and to stick with it. But results are pure awesome.

P.S.: I am also a dad of little one, so some night are better than others .

Sorry for long post. It's just that this topic is the one that I had looked into very deep.