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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   1320 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for April 22, 2026

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

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Any tips on relaxation/decompression activities that I can do in the evening to help me prepare for bed/do during the work day to help manage stress? Thinking my marathon training wasn't as effective as it could have been because of poor stress management, but not sure how to do a better job.

when I am too wired, I use theanine to calm me down. I have started sleeping naked with eye-covers and I make sure that there's no light peeping in the room while I am sleeping. I cannot cut back on my daily caffeine intake, unfortunately, due to a multitude of reasons and I am not proud of it. I have however found ways to counter it's deleterious effects, high dosages of L-theanine on the weekends so I can sleep peacefully with minimal interference, warm showers help too. I would also look into training practice times, make sure it's earlier in the day and not later because exercise does charge you up in a way, I do know quite a few runners who use energy chews and honey stingers, make sure you aren't inducing any of these in your system and are eating adequately, inappropriate nutrition can lead to poor sleep too but most of these things are likely obvious to you.

I don't agree with the people in here who think meditation or reading will help, when the body is too stressed or wired, none of those things really help, I do have a weird hunch that it's some other obligation/life stress that is eating at you and is needlessly stressing you out, do attend to it if this indeed is the case. The quickest fix is probably a joint (I know, sorry!!!) and 1000mg of L-theanine, which is a lot but I have resorted to it on a few occasions, because the fatigue was more dangerous for me

Basic focus meditation using your breath as a focus.

Your mind will distract you, you focus back on your breath, your mind distracts you, breath etc etc

Eventually your mind distracts you less and less and you relax.

Its a technique you can do to relieve stress. Really. Nothing religious about it. I use it against high stress situations and it speeds up sleep.

We used to have a poster back on the subreddit (was it jhanic manifold?) who meditated a crazy amount, like HOURS a day. He said he wouldn't trade his mind's state for any amount of money in the world. He claimed to be able to synthesize intense happiness and contentment at will. Big claims!

Personally, I bought The Mind Illuminated and found the author's ability to articulate pure thoughts to be uncanny. I never got past level 1 though; it's a tough curriculum.

Outside of meditation retreats I never did more than 1 hour per day. Still, I remember when I was really into it I had a great experience. I meditated at night and then sat on a bench at a local park watching the moon. I have a vivid memory of being incredibly happy to be alive (because life was wonderful) and ultimately content. I literally could feel no desire for anything.

Happy experiences like that aren't the norm though and shouldn't be expected from the practice.

Before I make my suggestions - what have you tried so far?

Stretching, warm shower, reading.

This is the ideal bedtime routine I'm working towards, and it doesn't even work great?!

You don't meditate? 🤔

What's the nature of the stress? Why have those three things not helped much?

I really should meditate, but I constantly avoid it for some reason.

Those things help relax the body but they rarely seem to relax the mind, which is the real problem. Lots of racing thoughts.

Then stop avoiding it. The aversion and avoidance is a sign that you could make important changes to the mind. Where there's friction, there's potential for liberation.

Just do it. 30-45+ minutes every evening.

You're 100% right and I will. Time to add it to the new years check in.

sleep naked

Explain

Read a book that you've already read before. You already know where the plot leads, so your mind can relax a little and take the body with it.

There's this exercise you can do, progressive relaxation of muscles. You lie in bed, intentionally relax the smaller muscles in your periphery, and work your way up to the big ones outward-in. Never tried it, but it's in my textbooks and exam syllabus so it might work?

Masturbation.

+1

A mortal sin though...

Yeah, but he’s a J Dizzler though.

Knitting/crochet has been good for me. There's something satisfying about making something tangible that you plan out, execute, and then use. I can knit without anything else going on, and it becomes somewhat meditative. Or I can put on a podcast and it's like listening to a friend talk while working on something.

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