Is This The Easiest Way to De-Stress?

If you’ve been feeling more stressed than you even have before, you’re not alone. The days of 9-5 are gone, there are more distractions, less free time, and thousands of decisions each day, ranging from overwhelming social feeds and too many food options. And the worst part is that all that stress makes it harder to figure out how to decompress when you do get a moment to yourself.

Combatting The Stress Wall We’ve All Hit

Ok, so we’re all totally burnt out and stressed. But it’s not good enough to say we need to find time for stress reduction — we already know this. To help you de-stress more effectively, we’re sharing a simple model that may be exactly what you need to decompress, plus 6 additional ways to completely recharge on your next day off.

The DRAMMA Model: The Easiest Way to De-Stress

The DRAMMA Model stands for detachment, relaxation, autonomy, mastery, meaning, and affiliation. This model is known for being the key to helping us recharge from work and overall stress. By using this approach to de-stressing, you are involving yourself in other things that are going to demand your full involvement and attention and thus allow you to detach from work and ultimately recharge your batteries.

Here’s how the DRAMMA Model works and how it may drastically improve how you de-stress on your next day off.

Detachment-Recovery

For this step, it’s important to completely detach from work and focus on something completely different. This will look different for everyone, but some ideas include getting outside in nature, taking up a hobby, spending time with friends, or simply lounging on the couch watching your favorite TV series.

Autonomy

This part of the DRAMMA Model involves doing your own thing and actually enjoying it. It’s less about doing the things we feel obligated to do and more about being in charge of deciding on the things we enjoy doing.

To put this into practice, block off an hour (or however long you would like) on your calendar to be time dedicated to you. This will put you in charge of filling this time with something you choose to do for yourself.

Mastery

The Mastery component of the DRAMMA Model is about using your skills to overcome a certain challenge. To integrate this into your time off, consider trying something new or learning a new skill. Think: cooking or an art class.

Meaning

To really de-stress and recover from the stressors of life and work, meaning is also extremely important. On your next day off, try to do something that really has a lot of meaning to you. This is thought to help support self-growth and also reduce feelings of negative emotions.

Affiliation

Lastly, the affiliation component to this model is all about connecting with others. Consider spending your time off with friends and family. Connection may give you that recharge you need.

6 Others Ways to De-Stress & Recharge On Your Days Off

While we can’t completely avoid the stress in our lives, how we spend our time off needs to be restorative. This is essential to self-preservation and giving us that recharge we need to get through the stressful parts of our week.

In addition to the DRAMMA Model, here are six other ways to de-stress, hit the reset button, and fill your cup.

#1 Scale Back Your Social Media Use

We all could benefit from a bit of a digital detox, but if we’re being honest, it’s pretty darn hard to completely avoid all sources of technology. Instead of putting pressure on yourself to take your entire day off away from technology, try setting some boundaries around it.

Maybe you set a rule around not checking your phone first thing when you wake up and not scrolling through social media before bed. A research study from 2018 found that limiting social media use to 30 minutes per day may lead to improvements in well-being. If that’s not possible every single day, a good place to start is by striving for this on the days where you are trying to recharge from the burnout of everyday stress.

#2 Give Yourself Permission to Rest

Yes, seriously. So many of us could benefit from extra sleep, but aside from sleeping in or going to be earlier on the days where you can, give yourself permission to just lounge around and rest.

Getting more sleep and resting isn’t lazy — in fact, there’s lots going on inside the body during sleep, like memory consolidation and supporting daytime brain function. But, even if you aren’t able to get a nap in on your days off, just taking some time to relax gives your body the time to recharge, refuel, and your mind a break from the constant go, go, go.

#3 Upgrade Your Loungewear

You know how you’re told to ‘dress for success?’ You should do the same with your relaxation time. It’s not enough to simply relax. What you wear will affect your mindset. Research even shows how wearing casual clothes to work can make you more friendly and creative. So, if you’re going to hit reset, then make sure you’re comfortable.

We had the chance to try out one of ThirdLoves’s Lounge Kits — The Essential Cotton PJ Set in Sedona Stripe. This set completely blew me away when it came to what my prior expectations were when it came to comfortable loungewear. I have tried dozens of PJs before, but this set was different. Not only was it extremely comfortable for sleepwear, but it doubled as the perfect loungewear set. It has quickly become my go-to lazy day staple.

ThirdLove offers a number of different Lounge Kits that are equally as comfortable as they are stylish. If you’re looking to upgrade your current lazy day loungewear attire, look no further than ThirdLove’s Lounge Kits — from top and bottom sets to shorts and joggers, there’s a set no matter what your rest day style is.

#4 Nourish Your Body

While rest and recharging away from social media are huge when it comes to de-stressing, if you aren’t nourishing yourself, your body is under stress! The body needs nourishment for every single body function, and if you are under a large amount of stress each day, here’s one more reason to make high-quality nourishment a priority.

As a starting point, honor your hunger cues by eating when you’re hungry! Drink a glass of water before you reach for your morning cup of coffee, and opt for balanced meals and snacks with a complex carb, healthy fat, and protein to keep blood sugar stable throughout the day.

For example, start your day with a veggie omelet and a side of your favorite whole grain or gluten-free toast topped with mashed avocado. For an easy lunch, try a protein shake made with berries, a handful of dark leafy greens, a scoop of protein powder, and a dollop of almond butter. For dinner, try a salmon filet with quinoa and steamed broccoli or ground turkey tacos topped with veggies. Nourishing snacks could be anything from a handful of nuts and seeds with a cup of fruit or chia pudding topped with fresh berries.

#5 Do One Thing You Love

This could be as simple as reading a book or getting together with a friend for lunch. Just do something that brings you joy. This is extremely important when it comes to de-stressing. We have to be able to find time for the things that bring us joy or the stress of everyday life will be a recipe for burnout.

#6 Take 5 Minutes For Gratitude

Take just five minutes of your day off and practice gratitude. This could look like gratitude journaling or just sitting in silence and adding some gratitude into a meditation practice. Research shows that gratitude helps us feel more positive and even helps improve our health. So, try to fit a gratitude practice into your next day off. You may enjoy it so much you start weaving it into your morning or evening routine. Consider trying this gratitude meditation to get started.

The Bottom Line

Whether it’s everyday life stress, stress from your job, or a combo of both, you deserve time to de-stress and rest! Pamper yourself a bit more than you usually would, give yourself permission to unplug and recharge, and consider giving the DRAMMA model a try on your next day off. It’s another stress reduction tool to add to your toolkit to give yourself that recharge you deserve.