Relieve Work Stress with The 10 Healthiest Ways

Mind. - Here are the 10 Healthiest Ways to Relieve Work Stress from Men's Journal that written by Esther Crain.

(Photo: Tom Merton / Getty Images)

It’s bad enough when your job generates the kind of workday stress that makes you want to punch your office wall. But when anxiety follows you home and haunts your brain after hours, it becomes toxic — threatening to mess with your relationships and health. Even your work performance can take a hit, since you can’t ace your workload if you don’t carve out the much-needed downtime to disengage and recharge, says Steve Orma, Ph.D., a San Francisco-based psychologist who specializes in anxiety and insomnia. These 10 hacks will help you build a barrier to separate work time from your time. 


1. Unwind on Your Commute

The minute you step out of the office, your downtime officially begins. Take advantage of it by losing yourself in activities you can do in transit — like finishing a book on tape or plugging into a relaxing playlist.

2. Take Time Alone

"To escape the pressure and anxiety of the workday, a lot of guys need to be left alone for 30 minutes or so when they first arrive home and decompress, especially if their work involves dealing with lots of people," says Orma.

3. Change Out of Your Work Clothes

What we wear subconsciously influences our thoughts and actions, says Orma. So hanging up that suit and tie and putting on jeans and a sweatshirt cue your brain that the workday is over, and it’s time for some R&R.

4. Sweat Out Anxiety

If you’re a morning workout man, here’s an argument for moving it to after the day is over: Being physically active eases the tightness and tension in your muscles that has accumulated over the last eight hours, says Roy L. Cohen, New York City–based career coach and author of The Wall Street Professional’s Survival Guide.

5. Don’t Talk Work Over Dinner

The Dr. Phils of the world like to say that talking about what’s stressing us out helps us blow off steam. On the other hand, when you rehash everything you’re anxious about over and over to friends or your partner, anxiety can snowball, says Orma.

6. Wash Your Hands

The workday may be over, but you can’t stop thinking about a decision you made in a meeting, or you’re doubting your judgment with a client. Try this trick: wash your hands with soap and water. A University of Michigan study found that the simple act of washing your hands symbolically cleanses you of the need to justify a decision.

7. Keep Work at Work

Occasionally bringing work home is one of those necessary evils of the contemporary world. But if you regularly finish reports or projects off the clock, then no wonder job stress is so hard to shake — you’re basically always on the job.

8. Savor the Day’s Successes

Go ahead and bask in your own glory. A recent study from the University of Florida found that people who spent a few minutes at the end of the work day writing down what they felt they accomplished — scoring praise from coworkers, killing it during a presentation — reported lower stress levels that evening after leaving work and a greater sense of detachment from the office.

9. Cut the Digital Leash

Sure it can be career suicide for some to totally shut off your devices after hours and not reply to messages from your boss. But when you’re always checking your phone to see if anyone from work has messaged you, you’ll never be able to separate work from your personal life. 

10. Schedule Something to Look Forward To

Fantasy football, a romantic dinner out, a night catching up on House of Cards — whatever you get a kick out of doing in your downtime, schedule it for your post-work hours. It’ll give you something to look forward to and then get lost in. 

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