The perfect way to switch off from work: the secret to a daily de-stress routine | Life and style

Mr.Arilyn Monroe once said, “A career is wonderful, but you can’t curl up in it on a cold night.” » Only these days you can. Evolution of technology, the rise of hybrid and remote working, and a growing culture of presenteeism (working longer than contractually agreed or when sick) have blurred the lines between work and play.

Research by Business in the Community (BITC), a UK-based responsible business network, shows that 55% of employees feel pressured to answer calls or check emails outside of work, while high workloads push two in five to work overtime. Yet taking time out when you’re not working (psychological detachment, to give it its scientific name) is vital not only for your health, but also for your productivity.

“Empirical studies have identified a positive relationship between psychological detachment – ​​which includes abstention from work-related tasks as well as mental disconnection outside of working hours – and job performance,” explains Sabine Sonnentag, professor of work and organizational psychology at the University of Mannheim, Germany. “Conversely, a lack of psychological detachment is associated with negative mood and impaired well-being.”

The irony is that the higher the level of stressors at work – including excessive workload, time pressures or conflicts with colleagues – the more difficult it is to achieve psychological detachment, which increases the likelihood of spending an evening ruminating, or even sneaking off to open your laptop. Sonnentag calls this the recovery paradox: “Greater exposure to occupational stressors simultaneously calls for but prevents recovery,” she explains.

Claire Ashley, former GP and author of The Burnout Doctor, recommends ending each working day with the same specific act or routine. “Practicing a daily ritual serves as a signal to turn off the stress response system,” she says. “I like to do movement, other people might want to put on loud music and jump, or do Wordle. Over time, it becomes like a Pavlovian response, signaling to your body that the work day is over.”

Creating a clear division between work and play is particularly important if, like 40% of Brits, you now work entirely or partially from home. While there are benefits to hybrid or home working – avoiding the time, expense and stress of traveling, packing your own lunch, greater flexibility around work schedules – people working remotely often put in longer hours than office workers (although the researchers in this US study note that this could be due to a greater number of breaks and interruptions). In a survey of more than 8,000 people transitioning to remote work due to the pandemic, 52% said they were regularly working more hours than before.

“It can be very difficult when your home also serves as a workplace,” says Ashley. “You need physical separation, but also mental separation. Without a designated workspace that you can close the door to, it’s even more important to ‘clear your desk’ and put work items out of sight.”

Before you do that, though, it might be worth ironing out the details. A study from Ball State University, Indiana, found that leaving work tasks unfinished, especially important ones, is associated with low psychological detachment in the evening. It’s not about pulling an all-nighter: “Taking a few minutes before you leave to jot down some thoughts about how you’re going to approach the unfinished task the next day allows you to unplug,” says Sonnentag.

Planning activities after work is a good ploy for those who struggle to finish their workday. Arrangements that involve a financial or social commitment – ​​such as booking a fitness class, spending time in a pottery studio or meeting friends – are particularly helpful. But don’t disrupt your downtime by logging on to work, Ashley warns. If turning off notifications isn’t enough, delete relevant apps from your phone when you’re not at work. Better yet, have a separate work phone, with a voice greeting of your work hours or next time you’ll check on it.

Being active is a good way to unplug after work. It was one of three effective strategies identified in a 2023 study on post-work recovery conducted at the Center for Work, Organization and Wellbeing at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. The other two spent time with friends and family and engaged in hobbies like sewing or gardening.

Sonnentag, however, believes that what we think and feel (the experience of recovery) during a given activity, whether knitting, cooking, or meditating) is more important than the activity itself, when it comes to how effectively it helps us recover from work. “Our research identified four recovery experiences that are important for recovery and relaxation,” she says. It is psychological detachment – ​​such as forgetting about work (relaxation, mastery) and successfully completing tasks or challenges that reinforces feelings of self-esteem and autonomy, that is, a feeling of control over how you spend your free time.

Having options is especially important if you’re trying to resolve the recovery paradox, because “an activity that provides a recovery experience for one person may not be helpful for another,” says Sonnentag. The often suggested long candlelit bath might be the last thing you need.

Whether you work from home or not, the connectivity of the digital age ensures work is never far from our fingers, says Louise Cashman, a corporate psychologist and head of wellbeing at a major consultancy. “Constantly bombarded with notifications, we feel an ever-increasing demand for our time and attention, a need to always be available. » This can have harmful consequences. A recent study from the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University found that using email at work during leisure time was associated with poorer physical and psychological health.

However, the requirement to be on the end of the “electronic leash” when not at work is not a personal failure. This is often driven by workplace culture. In the Manchester study, more than a third of workers said their boss regularly sent them emails outside of normal working hours and a quarter said they expected to respond to emails in their spare time.

“We have a big problem with presenteeism in this country,” says Ashley. “It’s counterproductive. Being terminally ill prevents employees from getting the physical and mental rest they need and can trigger burnout.” While the prevalence of burnout in the UK peaked during and immediately after the pandemic, she says, “data shows that one in five people remain at high risk”.

Cashman suffered from burnout in his previous job as a GP. That’s what led her to pursue a career focused on workplace wellness (a role, she says, that barely existed before the pandemic). She champions the Dramma model for workplace well-being – an acronym that stands for detachment, relaxation, autonomy, mastery, meaning and affiliation (perfectly reflecting Sonnentag’s findings on recovery experiences).

I couldn’t help but notice, while writing this piece, that Sonnentag and I communicated outside of business hours. When I point it out to her, she says “work on weekends in itself isn’t necessarily a problem, it’s about setting the boundaries that work for you.

Cashman agrees. “With technology and workplace culture blurring the lines between work and free time, we are tasked with creating our own response. This might include sending an out-of-office response outside of work hours. I even put one out if I’m having a particularly busy day or week – it helps reduce pressure and manage other people’s expectations.”

“Boundaries should not be seen as a way to get around or make life difficult for others,” says Ashley. “In fact, clearly communicating your boundaries not only makes your life easier, but also the lives of others, because they know what they can expect from you.”

Once you have established your professional boundaries, you must respect them. “It can be a challenge,” says Ashley, “especially if you like to please people, but it gets easier with time.”

It’s tempting to think of work as a stress that saps our energy – something we do because we have to. But that doesn’t take into account that many people love their jobs. In a 2023 Workmonitor report from Randstad, surveying more than 35,000 people across 15 countries, 48% of people said they would “quit their job if it stopped them from enjoying their life”, implying that the demands of the 21st century workplace are not necessarily viewed negatively.

If you live and breathe through your work, is it really necessary to impose a boundary between work and play? Ashley thinks so. “Most cases of burnout start with people loving their jobs,” she says. “Everyone needs some downtime.”

Sonnentag’s research shows that when we think positively about work during the evening – about our role in general, or about specific accomplishments or successes – it improves “affective well-being” (positive mood and thoughts); a benefit carried over to the next working day.

“However, even positive thoughts about one’s work can ultimately be exhausting,” she says.