Stressful Home? 4 Useful Techniques for Winding Down

Modern life is more stressful than ever. Most people try to subsist on less than six hours of sleep. They also face myriad of disparate obligations with soccer schedules, weekend work reports, and unexpected doctor’s visits. In other words, today’s families try to do more and more activities in less and less time.

This is counterproductive in the workplace and in the schoolhouse. If you and your family are burning the candle at both ends, it’s time to stop. Your health and your sanity will suffer otherwise. If you’re not sure how to go about distressing, here are four useful and easy things to try to get yourselves back on track.

1. Make a Bedtime Routine

Many times, the daily stresses of life interfere with a person’s sleep pattern. This, in turn, makes it harder to recuperate from the stress caused by jobs and school obligations. If you’re finding that stress is interfering with your sleep or your kids’ sleep, think about developing a bedtime routine that helps you wind down so that you can fall asleep.

Some good bedtime routines include activities like reading a book, meditating, doing some light stretches or Qigong, and taking a bath. These activities will slow down your brain waves and allow you to move more into brain states that are conducive to sleep.

Strive to really make this time of day something you look forward to as well. For example, if you opt to take a bath or soak in a hot tub spa before bed, find ways to make this ritual meaningful and relaxing. Add scents to your water. You can even add Epson salts to your bubble bath to create your own personal hydrotherapy session. Most of these therapies are also suitable for kids, and they’re great for getting your sleep schedules back on track.

2. Hang out with Friends

Everyday Health recommends connecting friends or loved ones to help you alleviate some of the stress in your life. Friends offer you support, a comforting word, and even wine and chocolate should the occasion become really stressful. A night out with friends can make you laugh, which is also a great stress reliever.

Hanging out with friends is also good for your kids. Encourage your kids to invite friends over on a Friday night for a movie and some popcorn or even games.

3. Get Outside

Spending time in the great outdoors recharges your battery in numerous ways. It’s also a way to encourage your family to get in some exercise together. If you’re looking for family activities that you can do outside, choose simple activities like family bike rides or walks. Be sure to go at a leisurely pace, which encourages you and yours to relax a bit.

Being outside has lots of benefits aside from allowing you to de-stress. The exposure to the sun gives you some much-needed Vitamin D. It also allows you and your family to take a mental break from your daily lives, particularly if you opt for a walk in the woods, where you’ll be away from city noise.

4. Create Healthy Change

Finally, it’s important to take a look at the things that are stressing you and your family out. Kids take their cues from parents. If the parents are stressed, the kids will be stressed, too. Do what you can to remove these stress-causers from your life.

For example, if your job is causing you stress, think about getting a new one if possible. If your kids’ activities are causing a lot of stress, also think about getting rid of those, or at least some of them. Overbooked kids get crabby, fall behind in their school work, and sometimes get depressed due to all the pressure on them. In general, if possible to cut back on something unnecessarily stressful or eliminate it all together, do it.

The extra stress in your life sets you up for insomnia, heart disease and diabetes, and general mental and emotional malaise. The same can be said for your kids’ stress. If you find that your family members are succumbing to the effects of stress, try to incorporate some activities that help you reduce stress like exercising outside or taking therapeutic baths.

These activities should reduce your stress levels over time. If you find that they don’t, it might be time to rid yourself of the things that are causing you stress in the first place.