Relaxing isn’t all about spending your time enjoyably or indulging yourself in quiet time. In reality, taking time to relax is fundamental to your well-being. When you’re feeling particularly stressed out, alleviating negative emotions and getting some sorely needed rest may not come easily. It can be challenging to let go of the thoughts and worries that are compelling you to seek out relaxation. In some instances, you actually have to be somewhat deliberate about relaxing by putting some care and planning into how you relax.

1. Take Charge of Your Sleep

Getting an adequate amount of sleep every night can play a huge role in your ability to relax over the course of all of your waking hours. The right nightly rest helps you moderate your mood and energy levels. When you haven’t had enough sleep, you can have an extremely difficult time relaxing, even when you’re feeling really fatigued and wiped out.

Get in the practice of going to bed around the same time every night. Consistency about a bedtime will help your body set and sustain a regular sleep cycle. Limit screen time before bed, optimize the comfort of your sleeping environment, and think about the act of going to bed positively. Don’t lament what you didn’t get done during the day and don’t dread the day ahead. Instead, focus all of your attention on the pleasantness of the present moment and rejoice about getting to relax.

2. Kick Back With Cannabis

If you want to reset a stressed-out mode of thought, cannabis can be a very useful tool for adapting your frame of mind. People react differently to cannabis, and some inexperienced users may feel some sense of anxiety the first couple of times that they smoke or ingest cannabis. For the most part, anxiety subsides once individuals grow accustomed to the sensation of having their THC receptors activated.

The strain of cannabis that you take could also bear on how relaxing or uplifting you find it to be. If you’re interested in a product that lends itself well to a quiet evening staying in and decompression, opt for an Alien OG flower. Cannabis users who like an indica that’s heavy but not harsh could find this type of flower to be a good fit.

3. Make Healthy Food Choices

Your diet has a monumental effect on your mental energy and emotions. Poor dietary choices could make the simple act of relaxing a lot harder than it needs to be. Ultra-processed foods are a burden on your digestive system, and ridding your body of all of their ingredients is no small feat. Don’t allocate your body’s precious energy reserves to digesting poorly made food with low-quality content while actively depriving your body of the nutritious food that it needs to function well. Conscientious healthful choices can keep your energy and mood on an even keel, and they can help your efforts to relax rather than impede them.

4. Spend Time With Your Pet

Your pet is always thrilled to see you and spend time with you. In fact, pets are usually pretty upbeat most of the time. Even if you have a kind of high-energy animal such as a puppy, quality one-on-one time with your four-legged family member is a great stress reliever.

5. Read

Take some time to immerse yourself in a book that has captured your imagination. Taking your mind off of ongoing stressors and focusing your attention on a good read is a fantastic way to unwind and reshape your perspective. Spending a little time in another world, even if it’s an imaginary one, can put some of the problems characterizing you world into a different scale of importance.

Living mindfully and practicing good self-care can ultimately help you relax when you want to. Don’t spend all of your time relaxing when you should be working, but plan ahead and gear up so you can make the most of however much time you have in your schedule to relax.