Weekly Wellbeing: Winding down routines
Massive shout out to @Jess1-RO for coming up with such a good idea!
This WW is to do with Slowing down/winding down routines at the end of the study/work day!
Life can get busy! With more and more people now moving to remote working/study, it is becoming increasingly important to have a slow down/wind down routine for the afternoon! After all, your place of work or study is now the same environment that you relax, chill and live. So, how do we make sure we switch off from work and study when it is time to rest and do regular home-life things?
Slow down/wind down routines are the small things you do every day to signal to your body and your mind that your work or study day is coming to an end. It might be things like:
- Logging out of all your emails, turning notifications off and stepping away from your computer
- Self care activities
- Changing rooms in your house
- Writing a list of things for tomorrow, and putting them aside for the night
- Doing some exercise
- Listening some calming music you wouldn't listen to when you are studying
Activity:
- Do you have a wind down/slow down routine? Is so, what does your wind down/slow down routine look like?
- What will you do to wind down this week?
Check back in with us again next week to let the community know how you went!
Comments
Me, reading this thread at 3am, still working on uni readings:
This is a super good (and important!) idea that more people should consider, nonetheless! I was talking to a few people from my uni today and every single one had mentioned that their sleep schedules have completely gone off the rails since social isolation started. 100%, I find myself getting more frustrated recently because I'm not setting set times for myself to 'clock out' for the day... which leads me playing video games all day, then at night realising I need to catch up since I'm a few weeks behind. 
And of course, I can't sleep if I'm frustrated at myself! It's a vicious cycle.
This week, I'd like to try to set a schedule up for myself... doing this is hard, however, as I've been feeling super fatigued and unwell recently, so I'm not sure how motivated I'll be feeling at one moment. It's a struggle to be kind to myself, but also maintain a work ethic, ahah. Any tips would be appreciated? 
Really, I think I need to maintain better sleep hygiene (no using my laptop in bed!), as well as a better, more regular sleep schedule.
I give extra kudos to everyone maintaining a regular schedule during this time! I don't know how you do it!
Hey @Hozzles ,
Great post! The most important thing is that you've started making a plan. I am partial to the odd video game too :). What I do when I'm playing games rather than studying is hide the games/controllers out of sight each night. Once I even put them in the boot of my car. I know that sounds simplistic but it helped me knowing that i couldn't just switch it on and play. Another thing I did was use a video game as a reward. Say you study for 4-5 hours per day. At 9pm enjoy the game for a couple of hours if you can. You may begin to associate it as a consequence of study (old school behaviourism I know).
Regarding sleep hygiene, 100% I keep any electronic devices out of my room. They all go downstairs. That way they aren't keeping me up, and I can't check them if I wake up in the middle of the night. Thus there are no distractions in my room. I keep a book (usually a novel) by my bed and 20-30 mins of reading sends me off to zzz.
Finally, if you're in stuck in a cycle (e.g., getting up, going to bed late), get up early no matter what (even if you've only slept 3 hours). That way you'll hopefully be knackered early that evening and go to sleep 
.
Let me know if any of these help.
A very timely reminder of how we can wind down after a busy day! Love this.
Do you have a wind down/slow down routine? Is so, what does your wind down/slow down routine look like?
What I've found helps me is having a shower, washing the day away, getting into a new set of comfy clothes and laying down for a little bit. I might scroll through social media, call my mum or listen to some music. Whatever I feel like. That helps me reset and slow down.
What will you do to wind down this week?
This week I got a new puppy! So part of my wind down routine will be to cuddle him and if he's feeling playful I'll do some training with him.
I love this post, thanks so much @ecla34 !
@Hozzles I used to really struggle with sleep hygiene and setting boundaries around home and study time when I was at uni, especially when I was a mature age student trying to fit study around kids! I found I was most successful when I really did try and treat my study times like it was a paid job- so no laptop in bed, no uni materials in my bedroom, having set break times, and sometimes I would even dress up a bit for "work" when I had a huge day of study to do or assessments to smash out. I really have to fight procrastination - I have found using a timer can be really helpful, and giving myself regular rewards. I did my best to avoid excessive caffeine in the afternoon, but I'm also going to be honest here and admit I still had a few occasions where all of my planning and time management went pear shaped, and I ended up writing assessments fuelled by caffeine and chocolate! I think it's also important to be kind to yourself, and not beat yourself up if it sometimes all goes a bit crazy. Every single person I've met at uni had at least one shocker!
Do you have a wind down/slow down routine? Is so, what does your wind down/slow down routine look like?
One thing I have found challenging about transitioning to working from home has been losing my commute time as a chance to transition from the work day, to home life, if that makes sense. I have a fairly long commute which included a decent walk, and it was my 'me time' at the end of the day. I have been trying to replicate that with a quick walk around my local area after I finish work, I usually listen to a podcast or some music. Or I hang out with my family, or try and do some stuff in the garden, or listen to music while I cook dinner. Any of these rituals seem to help me to transition from work to home life.
What will you do to wind down this week?
I know I'm a bit late on this! But this week to wind down I made hot cross buns from scratch, which was actually really fun (and kneading is super therapeutic!), and I have been doing quite a lot of gardening. We finally harvested our first 6 mandarins from our tree that we were given 2 years ago, and they were delicious!
