Relaxation Moments

Relaxation, Peace and Serenity for the Mind and Body

22 Tips for Falling Asleep Faster and Sleeping Better

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The average healthy adult needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night. That being said, millions of people around the world experience poor sleep. Sleep issues can be attributed to many reasons, including stress and anxiety.

Poor sleep can also occur because many people haven’t cultivated good sleep habits — often referred to as sleep hygiene. Sleep hygiene includes practices that can help you get to sleep and stay asleep.

Sleep is important. It’s not something that you can do without. No matter what is going on in your life, you need to get quality daily rest so you can maintain a healthy mind and body. Sleep is when your body cleanses and repairs itself. It’s also necessary for processing what you encountered during the day.

If you suffer from poor sleep, the good news is that there’s a lot you can do to change that. Many of these tips are very simple and don’t take a lot of time, money, or energy to implement. The key to making them work is doing them!

You spend a third of your life sleeping! That’s a lot of time, and yet many of us don’t invest in making this the best experience we can. Instead, we look at sleep at just “something to do” between one day and the next.

We need to shift our mindset to focus more on the quality of our sleep because it influences everything else we do during the other two-thirds of our life!

A restful night’s sleep has many benefits …

Sleep is not just something to do. It’s a necessary part of our daily life and will naturally occur in absence of anything that disturbs or disrupts it.

Sleep gives your body time to cleanse and repair itself. There are certain processes that only take place in the body while you’re sleeping. One of those processes involves cleansing the toxins that build up in the brain during the day. It’s also a time for the body to repair itself. When you rest, your body “goes to work” in amazing ways that keep you healthy in mind and body.

A good night’s sleep makes you more alert the next day. Not only will your concentration be heightened, you’ll make fewer mistakes in your work. Restful sleep reduces your frustration and irritation levels, and that’s especially important when we need to deal with our family, friends, and co-workers!

You’ll have a better view of life. Everything looks better when you’re well-rested — regardless of what’s going on in your life. If you’ve ever suffered from a long night of tossing and turning the next day, everything looks and feels different. Life feels harder. Problems seem bigger. And your body feels heavy and tired — because it is!

So you can see that there are many healthful benefits to mind and body by getting a good night’s sleep, which underscores why you should pay attention to this important part of your life.

Things to keep in mind …

Before jumping into helpful actions you can take right now to improve your quality of sleep, it’s important to keep a few things in mind.

Routines. Healthy habits are important for creating a better sleep result. Anything that you can do regularly will automatically start priming your body and brain for sleep. The tips below provide helpful ideas about things you can do (and not do) as you create a routine that works for you.

Be patient with yourself. It takes time to create new habits. Consider tracking your daily tasks on a calendar until they become routine. You may need to add, delete, or change your routine until you can find one that works for you. This may take some time and experimentation. Give yourself 21 – 30 days for your new habits to become routine.

Now, let’s look at what you can do to improve the quality of your sleep and, thus, the quality of your life!

Sleep Tips for a Better Night’s Rest

Never underestimate the importance of sleep. Creating a healthy sleep routine should be a priority above all else. Review these helpful tips which will give you a new view to cultivating better quality sleep.

Tip #1: Create a daily end-of-day routine that primes you for sleep. It’s best to do this routine outside of your bedroom, so you only use your bedroom for sleep. Your routine might include writing in a gratitude journal, reading a few paragraphs in a book, or listening to relaxing music. Since you’ll want to do this every night, make sure you enjoy the activities, they don’t excite the body or mind, and they don’t take a lot of time.

Tip #2: Use your bedroom only for sleep and not as a place to work, read, listen to music, or watch TV.

Tip #3: Remove gadgets from your room (including your TV) so you won’t be tempted to access them or be disturbed by them.

Tip #4: Turn off any type of gadgets or screens several hours prior to bedtime. That means you need to turn off your TV, computer, and phone.

Tip #5: If you use an alarm clock, reset it with soothing wakeup tones so that you’re not jarred out of sleep. Awakening suddenly to unpleasant sounds creates a stress response in the brain and body that’s best to be avoided.

Tip #6: Exercise regularly or do tasks that involve moving your body during the day, as this will help you sleep better at night. That being said, avoid exercising within 3 hours of bedtime.

Tip #7: Create a mantra to say as you drift off to sleep. A mantra is a phrase that you repeat over and over. You can craft one of your own or repeat a prayer, scripture or favorite quote.

Tip #8: Fix your bed before you sleep. A good habit is to fix your bed first thing in the morning. Why? It keeps your room looking tidy, and it helps you sleep better according to a study by the National Sleep Foundation.

Tip #9: Clean your bedroom area. Clutter can create agitation and possibly even depression. Make sure you keep your bedroom clean. Put things away. Regularly dust and vacuum, too.

Tip #10: Don’t sleep on a cluttered bed. Make your pets sleep in their own beds. Remove any extra stuff from your bed surface, including extra pillows, stuffed animals, blankets,and books. Keep your bed simple, inviting, and clear of clutter.

Tip #11: Clear the air. Air out your bedroom daily and consider investing in an air purifier to make sure you’re breathing in fresh air. Avoid using sanitizers and candles as these can disrupt sleep. Fresh air is best.

Tip #12: Avoid consuming caffeine or alcohol several hours before bedtime. In fact, avoid drinking a lot of liquids to avoid having to wake up to use the restroom.

Tip #13: Adjust the temperature to keep things on the cooler side. You’ll fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer in a cooler room. If it’s hot in the summer and you don’t have air conditioning, you might invest in a small fan to circulate air around the room.

Tip #14: Set a bedtime and wake up time and stick to it — even on the weekends. You thrive on routines, and creating a sleep schedule will make your day and evening much better.

Tip #15: Wash your bedding. Change your sheets and pillowcases weekly to ensure you’re sleeping in a clean bed.

Tip #16: Sleep in a dark room. Any type of light can disrupt sleep. If you can’t darken the room sufficiently, consider investing in a sleep mask.

Tip #17: Avoid eating meals or snacks within a few hours of bedtime. Digestion consumes a lot of energy and can sometimes disrupt sleep.

Tip #18: If your alarm clock emits light, cover it up, so it doesn’t disturb your sleep. Also, if you awake during the night, you won’t be able to see what time it is so that will reduce anxiety.

Tip #19: You spend 1/3 or your life in bed. Make it comfortable for sleeping by investing in a quality mattress.

Tip #20: Reduce noise in your sleep area. Or, if you need distraction, invest in a white noise generator.

Tip #21: To enjoy better sleep, invest in quality bed linens, including a good supportive pillow.

Tip #22: Avoid taking naps within 6 hours of bedtime and keep them less than 90 minutes long so they don’t upset your regular sleep cycles.

Your sleep hygiene or habits need an appropriate level of attention because they’re vitally important to creating and maintaining your continued physical and mental health.

Try implementing some of these sleep tips and you’ll find the quality of your sleep and wake time will improve!

To restful sleep!

Tame Your Brain by Coloring Mandalas

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Mandalas have recently become immensely popular, although their existence has started long ago. The very word “mandala,” translated from Sanskrit, means circle. Simultaneously, according to the Buddhist faith members’ explanation, the term itself refers to a pictorial representation of the universe.

It is important to note that Mandalas appear in all fragments of human life. Mandalas appear in the moon, sun, and earth. In a certain way, it symbolizes the circle of life, including your friends, family, and the culture in which you live.

Mandalas’ meaning is a circular pattern that symbolizes that life is like a circle; it never ends. Mandalas can have a powerful spiritual meaning for a person/group of people.

How to Use Mandalas

When choosing a Mandala, make sure that you know its meaning and that its visual appearance is attractive. If a particular Mandala is appealing to us, experts say the Mandala helps our brain prevent running thoughts from breaking through and allows us to have a spiritual view of that Mandala.

After that, you need to observe it for a while before you start coloring it. The longer you follow the mandala lines, the more you can become aware of the feeling of light. Intuitive thoughts can become more powerful. You can create mandalas yourself, and you can also start coloring existing ones for it to work.

Mandala Coloring Methods:

  • From the inside out – that means you start from the center.
  • From the outside in – this way can help you establish more vital meditation skills, while at the same time, it encourages creativity.
  • By Sections – Every Mandala usually has 4/6/8 symmetrical sections.
  • Optional – In the end, there are no rules. You can choose the way that is the most fun for you to draw or color a mandala.

How to Choose Your Colors

If you want to use Mandalas for specific purposes, check out the color meanings and choose based on what you need.

Meaning of Different Colors:

  • Red: Symbolizes strength, passion, and energy, aggression, sensuality. At the same time, red color is the color of the first Chakra.
  • Orange: Symbolizes change, creativity, transformation, self-esteem. It is the color of the second Chakra.
  • Yellow: It symbolizes happiness, desire to learn and acquire new knowledge, willpower, laughter, and wisdom. It is the color of the third Chakra.
  • Green: This color is a symbol of nature, hope, physical healing, psychic abilities. It is the color of the fourth Chakra.
  • Blue: This is the color of the fifth Chakra. It symbolizes peace, calmness, communication, respect, meditation, inner peace, and emotional healing.
  • Indigo blue:  This is the color of the sixth Chakra. It represents intuition, mind, justice, creativity.
  • Purple: This is the color of the seventh Chakra. At the same time, it symbolizes oscillations, creativity, focus, and everything related to spirituality.
  • Black: In most cultures, this color has a negative connotation. The color black symbolizes individuality, deep thinking, mystery, authority, etc.
  • Pink: Symbolizes love, femininity, tenderness, femininity.

Mandalas can help us tame our minds and brains, establish stronger concentration and focus, get rid of stress and unnecessary thoughts, practice self-discipline, and meditate in a slightly different way.

Achieve Meditation Through Coloring Pages for Adults

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Parents and teachers have long considered drawing and coloring a good tool/activity. It is a widespread activity for engaging and calming anxious and disobedient children. But adults adopted this relaxing activity that reminds them of their childhood.

What started as a novel pastime has become a trend spread worldwide. The evidence is that many coloring books for adults have found their way to the top of international bestsellers’ charts. There are many reasons adults color, but the biggest one is that this activity relaxes and has many benefits.

Coloring Is a Form of Meditation

Based on research from the 20th century, coloring has a relaxing impact. It encompasses calmness. And it stimulates brain areas associated with human motor skills, creativity, and senses.

Even the psychiatrist Carl Jung used colors in his practice. He introduced into Western thought the Eastern motif of the mandala, the appearance of which he believed to reflect the human soul’s internal processes. He drew and created the mandala’s motifs, believing that their shape reflected provided a safe space of calm for his patients to bring their Self into sessions.

Several different studies included brain scans during coloring. The researchers concluded that both brain hemispheres activate during this activity. That means that we are using both our creative and logical side during this activity.

Just like meditation, coloring allows us to remain present in the current moment. It stimulates relaxing thoughts and helps us control them and prevents over-thinking. It can also help you replace negative thoughts, patterns, and images in your mind with more pleasant ones.

If you have tried to meditate several times and did not like it or unsuccessful, you can now ease yourself from stress with this activity. You may like it too much.

The Therapeutic Effect of Coloring Books

Coloring has been around for a long time. It gives the best results when you engage in it often. Many mental health practitioners and their clients turn to coloring to ease anxiety. Psychiatrists and psychologists often use drawing, coloring, and presenting different images as one form of therapy with their patients.

Of course, we don’t have to be patients of these practitioners to enjoy the benefits of coloring. Like any other kind of art, coloring requires time to do. As you take time alone, you move away from everyday problems.

While coloring, some people concentrate entirely on what they are doing, while others let their thoughts wander. In both cases, the person relaxes. And when we are relaxed, amazing things can happen!

The state of relaxation, which we achieve by coloring, results in:

  • Happiness
  • Calmness
  • Absence of depression and anxiety
  • A reduction in blood pressure
  • A decrease in fear and anger
  • The elimination of headaches
  • The elimination of digestive disorders
  • Brain stimulation – helps us in solving our problems faster
  • It tames our mind – it doesn’t allow us to overthink
  • Improved focus and concentration
  • Embraces our inner child
  • Increases self-awareness
  • Strengthens self-confidence

Love Yourself: Self Care with a Coloring Routine

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We are all in a hurry and lead a busy life. The day does not seem to be long enough to achieve all personal and business responsibilities. Unfortunately, as a result, our self-care suffers.

Taking care of yourself should be a priority in this time where we all seem to rush around a lot. Because, if not, stress, lack of sleep, and chronic fatigue become an integral part of your daily life.

When you have your day planned to the brim, the excess can result in stress. If you plan your daily routine within your energy levels’ limits, you can feel more at peace. And if you do not plan your day and let things happen sporadically, you may experience chaotic energy levels.

The best way to handle your schedule is to plan as much as you can in advance and allow yourself time for a self-care routine.

Self-Care Activity – Coloring

Self-care activities should be something that you enjoy engaging in and positively impacting your mental health. There are many activities of self-care you can choose.

Coloring adult coloring pages is a lot of fun and is easy to include in your daily self-care routine. Plus, it has many benefits.

To color, you only need a quiet place, a piece of paper or coloring book for adults, any coloring pencils, markers, or crayons, and that is it. If you also turn on some soothing music, make yourself a cup of tea or coffee and turn off your phone, you will create your oasis of peace.

Set aside at least half an hour a day for this activity, and you will eventually notice all its advantages.

Benefits of Adult Coloring   

1.     It has a calming effect. It can help you reduce stress and anxiety.

2.     It encourages creativity. Given that there are no rules for this activity, you can improve your coloring skill and embrace your inner artist.

3.     It will improve your focus and concentration in general. While you are coloring, you will have to focus on what you are doing, eliminating negative thoughts and emotions. When it becomes a habit, it will improve your focus on other activities as well.

4.     It is a great way to practice Mindfulness, and at the same time, it is a form of meditation.

5.     It will help you reconnect with yourself.

Tips for Creating Your Coloring Routine

  • Get to know all the colors, learn more about their meanings.
  • Find coloring books and colored pencils you like.
  • If you like Mandalas, get acquainted with the meaning of the Mandala you want to color. It can enhance and deepen your coloring self-care routine.
  • Be persistent, even when it seems that you don’t have time to do something for yourself.
  • Create an atmosphere that will entice you to practice this activity every day.

Push your boundaries, and don’t be afraid to combine colors. There is nothing right or wrong when it comes to coloring. Let your creativity run

How Coloring Helps You Fall Asleep

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Sleep experts say that many adults encounter sleep disorders. Most of the time, those sleep disorders meet the criteria of insomnia. People who experience sleep disorders get less sleep, frequently wake during the night, and have reduced energy levels during the day.

An extended period without sleep affects mood and behavior. At the same time, it also affects the mental and physical condition. Stress and anxiety are some of the biggest triggers for sleep disorders.

If you suffer from sleep disorders, sometimes overthinking and overanalyzing triggers these disorders. The best way to improve your sleep and establish healthy sleep patterns is to find an activity that will help you reduce stress before bedtime.

It may sound surprising, but one of the best activities to achieve a better sleep quality is coloring. It is an activity intended for all ages. It helps you relax and be in a more meditative mindset, which would help you sleep better.

What Happens When You Sleep?

During the night, the human body produces Melatonin, according to the Sleep Foundation. It is a hormone created by the pineal gland that facilitates falling asleep and enables a sounder sleep. Melatonin secretion decreases over the years and begins to decline in a person’s forties.

For this reason, the elderly often have a problem with insomnia. To stimulate the production of Melatonin, go to bed a little earlier. Make sure to put aside cell phones, tablets, or laptops before bedtime. We recommend giving yourself 1 hour before bedtime to color. Coloring improves tallows the brain to ease tension and stress in a relaxing and creative way.

The relaxation provided by coloring books lowers the amygdala’s activity. It is the part of our brain that is the center of our fight or flight responses and which experts claim our reactions to things going on in our environment.

Quality sleep is most important for energy production. When we get enough sleep, we get up fresh and rested, or exhausted after a poor night of sleep. As a result of insomnia, the body weakens, and immunity decreases, which leads to a poor overall health picture of the body.

Try Coloring to Get Better Sleep

  • The best way to improve your sleep quality with this activity is to practice it before bedtime — color for at least 15 to 30 minutes before going to bed.
  • You will achieve the best effect if coloring becomes part of your daily routine and self-care.
  • Everyone needs to spend some time engaging in self-care during the day because it is vital for establishing mental balance. Spend that time on useful activities that can help us nourish your body and soul.
  • The most significant benefits of coloring are reducing stress and anxiety, anger and fear, and boosting brain/mind stimulation.
  • We can compare the various effects of coloring with the results of meditation. You can improve focus and nourish your soul.
  • When the body is relaxed, and the mind is free of running thoughts, the body falls into sleep more easily and naturally.

Stress Less with Coloring for Adults

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A surprising trend in relaxation products has been the expansion of coloring books for adults. The question is: Is coloring just for fun? Or does it provide us with various benefits for our mental health?

The answer to both questions is YES!

Coloring is not only for children. Numerous studies have proven that this activity reduces stress, drives a low mood away, and encourages creativity. It has a similar effect to meditation, and because of its positive impact, many experts recommend it as a form of therapy.

What Does the Research Have to Say?

Since this activity for adults has recently become popular, profound research is still limited. What is widely known is that coloring therapy has been recommended for years and has been an enormous success.

In 2006, researchers conducted a study and discovered that this type of mindfulness therapy helped women who have cancer – it decreased emotional and physical distress symptoms during their treatment. It has also helped people cope with other conditions (depression, anxiety, addictions, and trauma). Also, studies prove that this therapy benefited those who loved to draw and color when they were children.

The Benefits of Coloring

1. It reduces stress/anxiety – during coloring, the level of anxiety and stress decreases. The activity requires complete focus. Also, colors and patterns are hypnotic, making you feel good and in charge of yourself.

2. It boosts creativity – In this type of therapy, there are no limits. All it takes is to let your imagination run wild. There are no rules. You can paint in / out of lines and use any colors and patterns. And finally, there is no wrong way of coloring.

3. It exercises the human brain – When adults start coloring, they use both sides of their brain. The brain’s left side is the “rational” side responsible for fine motor skills and problem-solving. The human brain’s right side oversees the artistic choice of colors and provides aesthetic balance. Coloring exercises both sides of the human brain.

4. It encourages self-awareness and mindfulness – Maximum concentration is required when using coloring books for adults, which means that you must entirely be focused on this activity and block the rest of the world. You will unknowingly practice being present at a given moment. It will also help you sort your thoughts so that your attention is not distracted, helping you for other spheres in life.

Other benefits:

  • You can take coloring with you on any occasion, wherever you go, for which you do not need a lot of space and materials.
  • It is for everyone, not just kids or artists.
  • It strengthens our focus and concentration.
  • It’s a great way to get away from mobiles/laptops/computers.
  • It can improve vision and motor skills.
  • It can improve sleep.
  • It is a form of meditation.
  • It can bring back your happy childhood memories.
  • It can displace negative thoughts and emotions.

Benefits of Music Therapy

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Music therapy is defined on wikipedia.org as “an evidence-based clinical use of musical interventions to improve clients’ quality of life”. While you may not want to formally use music therapy in your own life, it’s good to know what the benefits are if you’re thinking about using music to help you relax.

In music therapy it is used to help people develop better health in emotional, social, cognitive and sensory ways. This is done by including active participation in musical experiences as well as being receptive to listening to music.

Music therapy is used for relaxation as well as for other reasons. One of the advantages of using music therapy is that it is based on both neural and physical responses to the sound you hear. This means you can benefit from singing or playing an instrument as well as listening to music.

If you feel like singing along to music in the car, try it.

Research has shown that music therapy has benefits for all people. So, if you’re a busy person and you’re looking for ways to relax, think about all the ways to bring music into your life. Are there times during the day when you can wear headphones during work hours? Perhaps you could incorporate music into family activities with your kids. If you’re spending time writing a to do list, why not listen to music while you’re doing it? There are lots of short times during the day when you could include music in your life.

Studies have even shown that people who listen to the distraction of music at the same time as undergoing a painful experience (like having an intravenous needle placed in the arm) feel less pain and less stress as a result of music.

If you know you have to undergo a painful procedure consider using music as a distraction. The more relaxed you are throughout your day the better you’ll feel overall.

Although music can’t help with curing diseases or ailments, it has been shown to improve people’s coping ability during these times.

If music is useful to help people cope with illness, why not give it a go when you’re not feeling on top of a task? See if your coping skills improve when you listen to music at a time of high stress. Music may help you reduce feelings of being overwhelmed or anxious.

From studies done with music therapy we know music can be used to enhance people’s lives when they need it most. If you are at all hesitant about using music to help you relax then consider trying it for at least part of your day and at least a couple of weeks. The results may surprise you.

Include Music in Other Activities

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Music can be used to lower your stress levels and improve your mood, but do you have time for music?

If you’re always busy you probably think you don’t have time to sit down and listen to music. You probably forget about music because you’re so distracted by your busy life. If you live according to a planner and schedule everything, it’s time to schedule music as a complementary activity.

You don’t need to take time out to benefit from music. You can simply add it into other activities.

Like to run on a treadmill or a walk outside? Then you can use headphones to listen to music at the same time.

If you’re preparing a meal in your kitchen remember to turn on some music to help you relax. If you’re meal prepping for the week this is a great time to use music because you get a longer time to enjoy several different types of music.

You can even add music to your morning routine. Do you apply makeup or shave in the morning before going to work? Try adding music to your bathroom. You can even listen while to your favorite tunes while you’re in the shower. If you get a waterproof speaker this makes it more enjoyable.

When you take time during your day to practice meditation you can add music to enhance the experience. And if you need help to get to sleep at night try using classical or slow tempo music to help you relax and drift off to sleep.

If you work at a desk during the day use headphones to add music. As long as your boss is happy to see that you’re still concentrating on your work, you should be able to use music at work.

When you’re working while listening to music it’s often better to choose instrumental music only. By not having lyrics you remove the distraction that the words offer. Some workplaces encourage the use of music during work hours, especially in open offices where other distractions are frequent and the noise level from other people can become extremely loud. Noise cancelling headphones are useful in these situations.

If you like to start your day with affirmations this is a great time to incorporate music. By saying positive or calming affirmations while listening to music you’re helping your mind to concentrate by blocking out other sounds and distractions. If you always say specific affirmations while listening to one particular piece of music you can build an association with it. Then if you want to experience the same feelings you get when you say the affirmation, you can get it by listening to the same music at other times of the day.

Why Does Music Help You Relax?

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Did you know that music is the only sensory experience that can activate all the areas of your brain at one time? The brain experiences stimulation in many different parts when you’re listening to music. This can help to build new neuropathways.

Now that we know about brain plasticity, the ability to create new pathways in the brain is important because it affects our behavior.

If you strengthen stress pathways in the brain it encourages you to continue in that behavior. But new pathways can help you change. Neural pathways are the underlying foundation of your thoughts, the way you feel things, the way you act and your habits of thinking.

One of the benefits of using music to influence brain function is that it is non-invasive. Not only can music therapists easily use music with their patients, but you can use music in ways that benefit you at home. If you’re trying to relax it’s good to know that music can have a strong influence on many different parts of your brain.

Music also has a physical effect on your body. When you listen to slower tempo music it helps to relax your muscles and release the tension which may be adding to your stress.

Another interesting fact about music and relaxation is that there are studies showing the exact beat per minute that helps you relax. Music at 60 beats per minutes can help your brain to synchronize with the beats that cause alpha brainwaves and this is the brainwave that is existing when you’re relaxed yet still conscious.

If you listen to music that’s around 60 beats per minute for up to 45 minutes in the evening this can help you to get to sleep. If you want to try this, choose a comfortable place to sit or lie down and choose calm music. You’ll preferably want to select music that appeals to you. If you like the music and it’s calming then you probably won’t need to worry about whether it is 60 beats per minute. It needs to be comforting and calming for it to work. If you don’t like the music then you’re going to be distracted by it in a bad way and it won’t help you relax.

Music can be used at any time of the day or night to help you relax. And if you’re using it at work or when you’re out and about there’s always the option to use headphones. Music offers you so many options and can be adapted to each person’s preferences. Now that you know how music affects your brain and body go ahead and find out what suits you best.

Listening to Music to Relax

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Most people know that listening to music can calm the mind. But did you know that it also has a physiological effect on your body. If you choose to listen to slow or quiet music it can help to slow down your heart rate and lower your blood pressure. One type of music that is often good for this purpose is classical music.

By having an effect on these physiological functions in your body you can use music to help you relax. Listening to music in this way has also been shown to decrease your levels of stress hormones such as cortisol.

If you’re a busy person and you’re trying to find new ways to relax, music is useful because you can use it while doing other tasks. If you’re the type of person who get frustrated and it feels like you’re wasting time by engaging in relaxation exercises then music may be your answer.

Try to include slow and relaxing music in the car while you’re driving. Even if you’re not a fan of classical music, give it a go for relaxation purposes. It’s easy to try while you’re driving.

And if you go to the gym or take your dog for a walk, consider listening to classical music at the same time. Of course, it depends on what you’re doing at the gym because you may want to pump yourself up with high energy music rather than relaxing. If you need to spend time waiting for an appointment try wearing your headphones and listening to classical music while you wait. There are plenty of opportunities during the day when you can experiment with calming music.

If you have trouble getting to sleep at night because your thoughts are racing then you may want to use music to initiate the relaxation response. For this purpose you may want to try something other than classical music. If you have some favorite songs that are familiar and produce a comforting feeling for you, then these would be suitable before bedtime.

Once you find which music suits you best, you’ll be able to use it readily as a stress management tool regularly during the day or save it just for times of high stress. At least you’ll be ready with your own personalized relaxation strategy. And if you think music isn’t really helping you to de-stress then try experimenting with something completely different. Music from another culture may be good for this.