Stress can build up quietly, so that sometimes you don’t even notice it until your shoulders are hunching around your ears and you suddenly realise you are on edge and possibly even anxious too.
To help unwind, you could try an approach called “progressive muscle relaxation”, where you tense and relax the muscles of the limbs, torso and face sequentially while focusing on relaxation.
A 2011 analysis of the literature, published in Health Science Journal, lists long-term benefits linked with PMR, including reduction of salivary cortisol levels and generalised anxiety, decreased blood pressure and heart rate, decreased headaches and better management of cardiac rehabilitation.
Recruit a trainer, audio guide or app to guide you through the sequence of tensing and relaxing your muscles, which can be particularly helpful to shake off the day before sleep.