INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Music can influence your mood. If you want to feel calm, listen to music that helps you feel that way. You may want to listen to upbeat music on your way home to bust stress or listen to calming music to feel relaxed. If you’re feeling stressed, listen to music in the background instead of focusing on it. If you need to let your stress out, try singing karaoke. . Especially if you feel exhausted or tense from your day, take a few moments to do some deep breathing. Lengthen your breath by pausing between each inhale and exhale. This can help you feel present, calm, and relaxed. Try inhaling for four seconds, holding it for four seconds, then releasing for four seconds. Scent can induce feelings and help to shift your mood. Try burning a scented candle, using scented body lotion or shower gel, or applying essential oils to your skin.  These scents can help move you into a calm relaxed state fairly quickly. Some relaxing scents include lavender, ylang-ylang, and jasmine. . You might store tension in your body you don’t even know about. Progressive muscle relaxation helps you to release tensions in your body and put your body into a less tense state. This can also help you bring awareness to where you hold tension in your body, especially work tensions.  Try tensing and relaxing each muscle from your toes to your head, one by one. For example, tense your toes for five seconds, then release. Move to your ankles, calves, quads, and up your body.  Create a quiet environment in which to do relaxation exercises, away from distractions and stressors. Don’t try to multi-task while you are doing this exercise. Focus entirely on relaxing and being in the moment. Meditation is a great way to get a reset. Some proven benefits include reducing stress, decreasing anxiety and depression, and slowing the effects of aging in the brain. Start with 3-5 minutes of meditation then build up to 15 or 20 minutes.  There are lots of techniques to try when meditating, including clearing your mind, focusing on a mantra, or focusing on a specific part of your body or your emotions. If you are new to meditation, try starting with guided meditation until you feel confident enough to meditate on your own. You can find guided meditation videos online, or download guided meditation apps for your phone. Whether you attend a yoga class or do poses on your own, yoga can be calming and help you unwind. If you’re looking for a gentle or restorative class, try doing a Hatha yoga or Satyananda class. You might feel refreshed, relaxed, and restored after your class.  If you’re on your own and want to do some relaxing yoga at home, try the cat cow pose, child pose, and savasana to relax and unwind. You don’t have to wait until you leave work to do yoga. Try incorporating some simple seated poses into your daily work routine.  You can even do a few simple seated poses or breathing exercises in your car or on the bus or train as you commute home from work. It’s important to not rely on alcohol as a relaxant to help you unwind as too much alcohol can make you feel worse instead of better. Alcohol can heighten situations and make you feel more anxious!Alcohol isn't metabolized like other foods and drinks. The amount of energy it takes to metabolize large doses of alcohol causes more stress to the body, even if you feel relaxed.

SUMMARY: Listen to music to match your desired mood. Breathe deeply Use aromas to feel calm. Do progressive muscle relaxation Meditate. Do yoga. Don't rely on Alcohol.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Work, games, and most other activities should be done at a table or desk instead of on the bed, and in another room whenever possible. Training yourself to associate the bed with sleep or calm bedtime activities can help trigger falling asleep more consistently. A way to wind down each night puts you in the right frame of mind for sleeping, especially if you repeat the same ritual every time. If lying awake in bed causes anxiety or fear, this is especially important. Try the following ideas:  Read a calm book. Listen to a book on tape or a podcast, with your eyes closed. If this keeps you up, listen to nature sounds instead. Eat a small snack if you tend to wake up hungry, such as a glass of milk, a banana, or a small bowl of low-sugar cereal. Exercising is a great idea, as long as you don't wake yourself up with a workout right before bed. Exhausting yourself to extreme fatigue will not produce restful sleep, but some form of physical activity is often a necessity to help you stick to a daily sleep schedule. As mentioned above, your body slows down as it starts to sleep, including your metabolism. If you eat a heavy meal before bedtime, your slowed metabolism could keep you uncomfortably full – or return to "active mode" and produce unwanted energy.

SUMMARY:
Use your bed only for bedtime. Have a bedtime ritual. Exercise earlier in the day. Finish the day with a light meal.