How to de-stress from work prior to bed?

[ronragus]

Good Day! Apologize if not specifically cpap/apnea related- but is significantly affecting my cpap routine I suspect....

I just got back to working-from-home schedules 2 days ago (yes I am one of the more fortunate ones that still have a job these days...), and realized that I ended up waking up in the middle of the night earlier now than the past couple weeks from which I did not think about catching up with work. I have had a much harder time getting back to sleep afterwards regardless whether I kept the cpap on or took it off (so I dont think has much to do with cpap comfort?), and my thoughts were going all over the place with a lot of bed turning. I then got to thinking I need something new to get rid of this work related stress before bed! Ever since staying at home I have been power walking for 5km daily but that obviously is not sufficient of an exercise for stress relief- I suppose I need to think of more exhausting exercises to get some sort of "runners high" from ? Much appreciated if you guys can share what works well for you for work related stress relief prior to bed! Thanks!

[Miss Emerita]

Your power walks earlier in the day sound like an excellent idea! But you should avoid strenuous exercise within about 3 hours of bed time.

Some advice I've gleaned from various trusted medical sites: turn off your devices and TV at least several hours before bed. If you need to use a device to read a book, change the settings to reduce blue light. Don't drink alcohol or eat within 3-4 hours of bed. Be sure your hands and feet are warm. Try a hot bath. Try some very simple meditation: just sit quietly, try focusing on something like your breathing, notice your thoughts, and gently refocus them when they roam.

[joeljjk11]

Prayer seems to help me relax (or meditation if you are not religious). I was also doing yoga once a week before the world turned upside down and that seemed to help quite a bit with my stress. There are some pretty decent Yoga classes on YouTube.

[ChicagoGranny]

Ever since staying at home I have been power walking for 5km daily but that obviously is not sufficient of an exercise for stress relief- I suppose I need to think of more exhausting exercises to get some sort of "runners high" from ?

You don't state your age, but that is plenty of exercise (about 30-40 minutes?) for stress relief. You should finish at least 3 to 4 hours before bedtime.

By any chance is your work desk in the bedroom? If so, try to figure out how to work in another room.

Good sleep habits are not just about exercise. Miss Emerita offers some good advice.

[ronragus]

Ever since staying at home I have been power walking for 5km daily but that obviously is not sufficient of an exercise for stress relief- I suppose I need to think of more exhausting exercises to get some sort of "runners high" from ?

You don't state your age, but that is plenty of exercise (about 30-40 minutes?) for stress relief. You should finish at least 3 to 4 hours before bedtime.

By any chance is your work desk in the bedroom? If so, try to figure out how to work in another room.

Good sleep habits are not just about exercise. Miss Emerita offers some good advice.

Sorry forgot to mention I am 31. Thanks you are right my work desk happens to be in the bedroom will think of moving it elsewhere.

[chunkyfrog]

Since I retired in 2013, it is doubtful that anything can be done about any residual stress now.

[DreamDiver]

... Ever since staying at home I have been power walking for 5km daily but that obviously is not sufficient of an exercise for stress relief- I suppose I need to think of more exhausting exercises to get some sort of "runners high" from ? Much appreciated if you guys can share what works well for you for work related stress relief prior to bed! Thanks!

Was your regular to-work commute in the early morning? I wonder if working from home means you're not getting that jolt of morning blue skies. That's a classic reset for sleep hygiene. If you're not getting that light from the blue sky during your morning commute and you're just staying indoors, I wonder if that's enough to affect your sleep cycle. Maybe if you're power-walking mid-day or after work -- but haven't done your early morning wakeup commute, it's changing that sleep reset so that you wake up in the middle of the night. It wasn't clear in the paragraph above exactly when you're doing your power walk. If your commute was early morning, why not try an early morning easy stroll before coming back to your home to work? It might be an easy fix.

[zonker]

Since I retired in 2013, it is doubtful that anything can be done about any residual stress now.

can i come over to your house and stand right next to you and say "i'm not touching you." over and over?

[Chris8243]

Since I retired in 2013, it is doubtful that anything can be done about any residual stress now.

can i come over to your house and stand right next to you and say "i'm not touching you." over and over?

Maybe if you wear your CPAP get-up!

You outta try wearing that out food shopping or somewhere you're supposed to wear a mask. Bet you get more than a 6 ft perimeter social distance.

[zonker]

Since I retired in 2013, it is doubtful that anything can be done about any residual stress now.

can i come over to your house and stand right next to you and say "i'm not touching you." over and over?

Maybe if you wear your CPAP get-up!

You outta try wearing that out food shopping or somewhere you're supposed to wear a mask. Bet you get more than a 6 ft perimeter social distance.

only if i make my eyes very big!!


now watch, dogslobber will be along with another hacked zoner rig shot....

[Bookbear]

You might try a mug of chamomile tea about an hour prior to sleep.

[DreamDiver]

Since I retired in 2013, it is doubtful that anything can be done about any residual stress now.

Residual stress... Ha ha!

I'm not in college, and graduated years ago, but I still wake up sometimes with these dreams:
1. I'm late for class.
2. They've moved the class venue to another building, and I didn't get the memo and I'm late for class.
or the worst:
3. I accidentally added some obscure/difficult class to my schedule at the beginning of the semester, but neglected to confirm that I was enrolled in that class, only to find just after the drop/add date that I've missed the first two weeks and will likely be penalized heavily in my GPA for not showing up to class.

I was pretty much never late for class, and never did the drop/add dangle. Dreams are just weird.

[Midwest_non_sleeper]

Since I retired in 2013, it is doubtful that anything can be done about any residual stress now.

can i come over to your house and stand right next to you and say "i'm not touching you." over and over?

Maybe if you wear your CPAP get-up!

You outta try wearing that out food shopping or somewhere you're supposed to wear a mask. Bet you get more than a 6 ft perimeter social distance.

only if i make my eyes very big!!


now watch, dogslobber will be along with another hacked zoner rig shot....

[Midwest_non_sleeper]

Since I retired in 2013, it is doubtful that anything can be done about any residual stress now.

Residual stress... Ha ha!

I'm not in college, and graduated years ago, but I still wake up sometimes with these dreams:
1. I'm late for class.
2. They've moved the class venue to another building, and I didn't get the memo and I'm late for class.
or the worst:
3. I accidentally added some obscure/difficult class to my schedule at the beginning of the semester, but neglected to confirm that I was enrolled in that class, only to find just after the drop/add date that I've missed the first two weeks and will likely be penalized heavily in my GPA for not showing up to class.

I was pretty much never late for class, and never did the drop/add dangle. Dreams are just weird.

Hey, count your blessings. After being in the military and being deployed, and now in law enforcement for 15+ years, I regularly die or am killed in a myriad of ways in my dreams. It happens so often now that I basically just shrug them off. I have been: Drowned, shot, stabbed, choked to death, fallen from various things, including a couple of buildings, run over...and oddly enough, in my most recent one, I died from being stung by bees repeatedly? At this point, I beginning to think the 'ole Reaper is just having fun with me. Afterwards, me talking to my wife: "Welp, died again last night, I'm off to work honey, have a good day, love you!"

"Dreams are weird" is the understatement of the century.

[DreamDiver]

Hey, count your blessings. After being in the military and being deployed, and now in law enforcement for 15+ years, I regularly die or am killed in a myriad of ways in my dreams. It happens so often now that I basically just shrug them off. I have been: Drowned, shot, stabbed, choked to death, fallen from various things, including a couple of buildings, run over...and oddly enough, in my most recent one, I died from being stung by bees repeatedly? At this point, I beginning to think the 'ole Reaper is just having fun with me. Afterwards, me talking to my wife: "Welp, died again last night, I'm off to work honey, have a good day, love you!"

"Dreams are weird" is the understatement of the century.

Without doubt. It makes me remember too the health care workers in hospitals all over the world right now that are seeing so much. We could not be here without your service. Thank you.

I'm curious...

If anyone may have secrets on how to destress from work prior to bed, it's got to be you. Perhaps you'll share some insights?