Your day starts out with a traffic jam/cancelled train/kid with a stomach ache. It then turns into a meeting that runs over, a client that cancels or an al desko lunch (or no lunch at all as the kid’s stomach ache got unmentionably worse) followed by a hectic afternoon of deadlines and/or toddler tantrums. Then there’s exercise to fit in and dinner to think about.

We’ve all been there. A stressful day all too often means we flop onto the sofa with a glass of wine, fall asleep in front of the TV and roll exhausted into bed, only for the cycle to continue tomorrow.

Although we can’t always help the causes of our stress, we can change how we recover from a hectic day. Doing things to help us unwind will help us feel less stressed the following day, make healthier lifestyle choices and sleep better. Here’s our top tips on winding down after one of those days.

1. Turn off your phone – doing so will help you avoid dealing with work emails outside of office hours or feel envious of the ‘perfect’ lifestyles so often flaunted on social media.
2. Keep a diary – it’s really cathartic being able to write things down that upset or stress us, especially the things we keep bottled up inside. Writing them down helps us work out what’s worth stressing over and what’s not. It also helps to write down all the positive things that’ve happened that day too, however small.
3. Alcohol isn’t necessarily the devil – if a glass of wine helps you to destress, then have one! The devil is in the amount and frequency. Have one small glass, once or twice during the week to disconnect and wind down in the evening.
4. Practice mindfulness – there are numerous mindfulness apps, books and audio books that aim to guide you through short mindfulness practices that will help you become more present and aware of the current moment. In turn this will help you to focus less on past and future stresses.
5. Exercise to unwind – yoga is great for destressing, but any exercise forces you to turn your attention to what you’re doing, helping you to switch off from a stressful day.
6. Do something you enjoy – whether it’s cooking, reading, practicing a new skill or hobby, watching a boxset or catching up with friends, doing things we enjoy automatically make us switch off.
7. Listen to music – listening to our favourite songs and artists can transport us away into a different world, far removed from the stressful one we actually inhabit. So, pop the radio on whilst cooking, relax in the bath with your best tunes or go for a walk with your headphones on and for a short while, transport yourself somewhere else.
8. Daydream! Even if for a few minutes, imagine yourself reaching a fitness goal, on a pristine beach or at a time when stress was nothing but a distant memory. These kind of meaningful connections allow us to escape and unwind and are a perfectly healthy way to spend a few moments detaching from the day.