10 simple ways to slow down and unwind

The next email. The next meeting. The next load of washing. The next episode (even though you definitely said the last one was the last one).

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Our days have a habit of filling themselves, and before you know it, you've gone from first thing in the morning to finally sitting down in the evening without really noticing much of what happened in between.

But slowing down doesn't have to mean clearing your diary, switching off your phone for a week or completely rethinking your life. Sometimes, it's much smaller than that, simpler even.

Ten minutes with nowhere else to be. A walk without trying to get your steps in. Making something just because you enjoy it. Actually drinking your tea while it's still hot.

Little moments that give you a chance to stop doing one thing before starting the next.

Here are ten simple ways to make a little more room for them.

A close-up lifestyle shot of a person holding a ribbed sage green ceramic mug, wearing a beige collared shirt and a delicate gold necklace.

1) Put your phone down for a bit

How many times have you picked up your phone to answer an email or check a message, and before you know it you’ve lost half an hour doomscrolling?

Rather than declaring a complete digital detox, try creating a few small screen-free pockets in your day.

Leave your phone in another room while you eat. Read a few pages of a book before bed instead of scrolling. Take your tea outside without bringing your notifications along for the ride.

Ten minutes counts, so does an entire evening. Find what feels doable for you and notice how you feel without it for a while.

2) Move, without making it a workout

Not every bit of movement needs a goal attached to it or an app to track it.

Take a walk around the block. Stretch between meetings. Roll out your yoga mat. Put on some music while you're making dinner and dance around the kitchen.

Move because it feels good to move, rather than because your watch told you to. Make these movement breaks a part of your day.

3) Take A Proper Break

Not the kind where you leave one screen only to immediately look at another one, but a break from doing all the time.

Step away from your desk. Put the kettle on. Sit somewhere different. Look out of the window for a bit. Take your tea into the garden if the weather's playing nicely. Put it in your calendar if you need to.

It doesn't need to take long; the point is simply to let the break actually be a break.

4) Take a Breath

Your breath does its thing all day, and most of the time we don’t even know it’s doing it. But every now and then, it can be nice to actually notice it.

Take a few slower breaths and notice each inhale and exhale. No special set-up required; just a minute or two where your attention has nowhere else it needs to be.

Want to try something more structured? Explore our Four Breathing Exercises to Slow Down and Reset.

5) Do something you're not trying to be good at

Remember when you were younger and you did something just for the fun of it? Somewhere along the way, hobbies became things we're supposed to optimise, monetise or share online.

Paint badly. Bake something you've never made before. Grow something. Knit. Take photographs. Attempt the piano. Try a recipe because it looks delicious, not because it hits your macros.

Do something simply because you like doing it.

6) Make yourself somewhere nice to be

You don't need an entire spare room or a Pinterest-styled reading nook.

Your favourite chair will do. Add a blanket, move a lamp, light a candle, bring over the book that's been sitting on your bedside table for three months.

And make a cup of tea.

Sometimes making a little more of the space you're already in is enough to make you want to spend some time there. Just make more of everything you already have.

A woman in a rust-red athletic crop top and matching bottoms poses outdoors with her arms raised against a blue sky with clouds and a mountain in the background.

7) Have a stretch

If you've been sitting at a desk, driving, standing all day or somehow folded yourself into a questionable position on the sofa, a few stretches can feel rather lovely.

Nothing elaborate. Reach up. Roll your shoulders. Stretch your legs. Pretend to yawn until you actually yawn. Take a few minutes to move your body differently before you carry on with your day.

8) Make a playlist

There's the song you play while getting ready. The one that makes a drive infinitely better. The tracks that accompany dinner prep. The album that belongs to Sunday mornings.

Music has a lovely way of giving ordinary moments their own atmosphere.

Make a playlist for slow mornings, cooking dinner, weekend walks, or evenings at home. And don't rush the making of it either. Half the fun is remembering songs you'd completely forgotten about.

9) Give Your Attention to one thing

We're rather used to doing several things at once. Watching something while scrolling. Eating lunch while answering emails. Listening to a podcast while walking while mentally writing tomorrow's to-do list.

Every now and then, try choosing just one thing.

Drink your tea without doing anything else. Listen to the song that's playing. Look around while you're walking. Eat lunch away from your laptop.

Nothing revolutionary. Just one thing at a time.

10) Leave a little space

Perhaps slowing down isn't always about finding something else to do. Sometimes, it's about resisting the urge to fill every spare five minutes.

No scrolling. No quick job while you're waiting. No squeezing something productive into the gap.

Let the kettle boil. Stare out the window for a few moments before you unpack the shopping. Arrive early and don't immediately reach for your phone.

Whatever comes next can wait for a moment.

A smiling woman with voluminous curly hair stands in a bright kitchen, holding a white mug. A box of Twaynges Sipped Lavender tea is visible in the bottom-left corner.

Find your own way to slow down

There isn't one perfect slow-down routine. And you certainly don't need to do all ten things on this list at once. Maybe you're a walk-without-your-phone person. Maybe it's music, a book or ten minutes doing absolutely nothing. Maybe the only pause you manage today is the time it takes your tea to brew, or to just notice your breath for a few moments.

That's enough.

Because slowing down doesn't have to mean changing the pace of your entire life, sometimes, it's simply noticing the little moments you already have—and resisting the urge to rush straight through them.

Whatever comes next will still be there.

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1) Put your phone down for a bit

2) Move, without making it a workout

3) Take A Proper Break

4) Take a Breath

5) Do something you're not trying to be good at

6) Make yourself somewhere nice to be

7) Have a stretch

8) Make a playlist

9) Give Your Attention to one thing

10) Leave a little space

Find your own way to slow down

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