Creating an Anxiety-Relief Evening Routine with Gentle Exercise

We live in a digital world, which offers an impressive array of benefits. Unfortunately, some are both a benefit and a curse, specifically the ability to be connected all the time.

Being connected ensures you’re always in the loop. Of course, always being in the loop means you never really shut down, unwind, or even have time to yourself. Work, family, and friends are all constantly demanding your time. It’s easy to understand why so many surveys find that stress levels today are higher than ever before.

Consistent high levels of stress have been linked with an increased risk of age-related diseases. Fortunately, creating an anxiety-relief evening routine with gentle exercise can help you destress and improve your quality of life.

It’s also essential if you’re prone to anxiety attacks, an evening routine and an anxiety emergency kit, can help you prevent such attacks.

Set a Bedtime

This may sound strange, but the average adult requires between 6 and 8 hours of sleep a night. Sleep is when your body processes the events of the day and heals itself. It’s essential for mental and physical health.

Unfortunately, it’s very easy to stay up late getting things done and not get enough sleep.

Most people can’t change the time they need to get up. Work backward from this, and you’ll know what time you need to go to sleep. Remember, that’s going to sleep, not going to bed.

When you work backward, allow yourself time to get into bed and fall asleep.

For example, if you have to be up at 6 am and you do best when you’ve had eight hours of sleep, you’ll want to go to bed at 9.30 pm. That gives you time to settle before falling asleep.

Introduce Gentle Exercise

Strenuous physical exercise isn’t recommended when you’re about to go to sleep/. Your body will be wired, making it difficult to go to sleep. However, gentle exercise can help relax your body and mind. Importantly, it will also bring you away from screens. The blue light from screens of all sorts will slow the production of melatonin; that’s the essential hormone for regulating sleep. Try incorporating the following exercises into your routine. It’s advisable to finish these half an hour before you go to bed and finish relaxing with a book or even some meditation.

Yoga

Yoga is the perfect gentle exercise. There are hundreds of positions for you to try. Doing this every night will improve your flexibility and core strength while improving your sleep quality. One of the best exercises to start with is Downward Dog. It’s very effective at stretching the muscles in your legs and back. Child’s pose is also a good option as it stretches the back of your legs and back. To open your chest and encourage emotional release, try the Sphinx pose. It’s best to do this near the beginning of your exercise routine as it can be mildly energizing. The Dolphin pose is effective at releasing tension in your shoulders and upper parts of your body. Adding in the Plow pose is also beneficial as it stretches your neck, back, and legs. In the process, it should improve your circulation. Finally, the classic knees-to-chest pose will help to relieve digestive issues, helping you get a good night’s sleep.

Tai Chi

There are plenty of Tai Chi movements you can do before bed to help calm your mind and body. The simplest is to stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent. Focus on breathing into the count of four, hold your breath for a few seconds, then breathe out to a count of four. You can follow this with arm rotations and arm extensions. That’s rotating your arms in circles followed by putting your hands together in front of you and extending them to the ceiling while rising onto tiptoes. There are more advanced Tai Chi exercises worth trying, but to start, keep it simple.

General Stretches

Most people hold tension in their shoulders and necks. Simple stretching exercises, such as rolling your neck or slowly turning your head from side to side, are good for these areas. Another good one is tipping your neck slowly toward your shoulder. The standing quad stretch and laying down hamstring stretch are also both effective.

Gentle exercise releases tension from your mind and body. This will help you feel more relaxed and less anxious, allowing you to focus on the important things in life. You don’t need to be visibly suffering from anxiety to benefit from these exercises; try them yourself, and you’ll soon see the benefit.