How to relax after work: give your day an end point first

To relax after work, start by ending the day on purpose. At a set point, write down what's unfinished and when you'll do it, then close work: the laptop shut, messages left for the next set time. Then step into something that's yours, something that pulls you in. The writing is what lets your mind put work down, and the activity gives it somewhere else to go.

"'Just switch off after work' is terrible advice," writes Tröster (KLU, 2026). The instinct is right, Tröster says. The trouble is that it asks for the hardest part of rest, mentally clocking out, and offers nothing in its place. In Tröster's words, the standard advice is "subtraction in a situation that calls for substitution."

A word on scope. This article is about everyday stress from the load of work, home and caring. In the words of the 1h Protocol to Manage Everyday Stress: "This is a wellness program about everyday stress from the load you carry at work, at home and in caring for others, not health care. It doesn't give medical advice, and it doesn't diagnose or treat anything. It isn't for burnout, anxiety disorders, depression or trauma."

Why you can't switch off after work

1. The day has no edge

On a loaded day, the end often never comes. The last task is done, then a message lands, and it only takes a minute. Then another. Nothing big happens, but the day keeps reopening, so nothing gets the chance to fill you back up. The stress program calls this the Always-On Day.

You don't even have to be answering messages for it to cost you. In a study that followed employees over time, being expected to stay available outside working hours went with more emotional exhaustion (Dettmers, 2017). Derks and Bakker, who studied employees with work smartphones, put the daily habit plainly: answering emails outside office hours "may seem trivial" (Derks and Bakker, 2014). Day after day, it adds up.

2. The heavier the day, the harder it gets

Sabine Sonnentag, a work psychologist at the University of Mannheim, studies how employees recover. Sonnentag's review of that research found a cruel twist. When people face a lot of pressure at work, "they tend to detach less from their jobs during nonwork time", they move less, and they sleep worse (Sonnentag, 2018). Sonnentag calls it the recovery paradox: the people who most need to switch off are the least able to.

Supporting recovery, Sonnentag concludes, "is always only the second-best option." The first is keeping the load within limits. So if your evenings never feel like yours, the evening may not be where the problem starts. Our guide to how to manage stress looks at the load itself.

3. The unfinished keeps pulling

Much of what follows you home is unfinished. In lab experiments, an unfinished task kept intruding on people's minds during an unrelated task (Masicampo and Baumeister, 2011). In a study of employees, unfinished work goals were harder to let go of later in the day than finished ones, especially goals that mattered to them (Smit, 2016).

4. Stopping can feel like it costs you

Tröster names two more reasons. Your boss is unlikely to tell you to stop, and Tröster cites a 2025 study in which evaluators praised switching off in principle but rated actual "detachers" as less committed, even with the same output. So, Tröster writes, "set a boundary" isn't cost free. And for many people, switching off brings guilt instead of relief. Neither goes away with a tip, so build the end of the day so it doesn't depend on willpower.

"'Just switch off after work' is terrible advice." Christian Tröster

Give the day an end point

5. Write what's unfinished, and when you'll do it

This is the step with the most research behind it. In the same lab experiments, letting people make a specific plan for an unfinished task stopped it from intruding, even though the task wasn't done (Masicampo and Baumeister, 2011). In Smit's study, an end-of-day plan for where, when and how to finish open goals helped employees switch off, mostly the ones who usually find it hard (Smit, 2016). Tröster's own trick is the same: "before you stop, write down where you will pick up each unfinished thread tomorrow."

In practice, it's a short list. Each open item gets a few words and a when: "Reply to the supplier, Tuesday 10:00." "Budget slides, Wednesday morning." Late finish? Two lines is enough. The program calls this the end point, and it's the first step for the Always-On Day.

A note on honesty: the experiments tested plans for unfinished goals, not this exact routine at the end of a working day. The program labels its end-point note a starting point, and so do we.

6. Close, and let messages wait for set times

Once the list is written, close. If you work from home, make it physical: laptop shut, the room left.

Checking less often during the day helps the evening too. In a study where adults limited themselves to checking email at a few set times a day for a week, they felt less stressed day to day than in a week of checking freely. Their other measures of well-being didn't change directly (Kushlev and Dunn, 2015). After your end point, the set times stop, and whatever arrives waits for the next one.

If you're on call, the rule changes shape: calls come through, and everything else waits for your next working day. If you work shifts, your end point is when your last task is done. The phone settings are covered in our guides to turning off notifications and staying reachable without them.

Switching off alone is hard when everyone around you stays on, so agree with your team who covers what's urgent, and when. If you work for clients, agree contact hours and what counts as urgent. Employers can help too: see workplace stress.

Step into something of your own

7. Pick what refills you, and make it pull

Here is Tröster's substitution: "attach to something outside work: a real goal with pull and direction, ideally with other people. Sport, a choir, a team, a craft, a project." The test is whether it pulls you toward it. "That pull closes the laptop."

Malissa Clark, a psychologist at the University of Georgia who studies workaholism, made a similar point on the American Psychological Association's podcast. Switching off doesn't mean sitting idle, Clark said: anything absorbing and unrelated to work, like learning a language or teaching yourself guitar, gives your mind something else to hold (APA Speaking of Psychology, 2026). In the stress program, the options are switching off from the day's demands, something that relaxes you, something absorbing, or time with people you like. Pick the one you'd actually do. Ten minutes is a start.

Across a large body of studies of employees, those who switched off in their free time reported less exhaustion and better sleep. The links were small to medium, and most of the studies were correlational (Wendsche and Lohmann-Haislah, 2017). A diary study by Sonnentag's team in Mannheim found that on mornings after a better-than-usual evening of recovery, employees started work more awake, calmer and more content. The researchers add that the lift was short-lived and faded through the working day, which is an argument for doing it daily (Universität Mannheim, 2023).

8. Know what doesn't refill much

You'll hear that a drink helps you unwind. The stress program leaves it out of the evening on purpose, and our guide to replacing the evening drink explains why.

Scrolling feels like rest, but it keeps you half on. In a Danish trial, 89 families, including 164 adults, were asked to cut their leisure screen time to under three hours a week each. After two weeks, the adults reported better well-being and mood than those who carried on as usual (Pedersen et al., 2022). That was a very deep cut, so take it as a direction, not a target. In the smartphone diary study, on evenings when employees with work phones switched off and relaxed, work spilled into home life less (Derks and Bakker, 2014).

And the holiday you're saving up for won't reset it. A review of holiday studies found the benefits tend to "soon fade out after work" (de Bloom et al., 2009). In a study of 131 teachers, relaxing in their free time after returning slowed that fade (Kühnel and Sonnentag, 2011). Recovery is built day by day.

9. Keep small breaks inside the day

An evening can't make up for a day with no pauses. A review of 22 studies of employees and students, 2,335 people in all, found that short breaks gave a little more energy and a little less tiredness, though they didn't reliably change how much people got done (Albulescu et al., 2022). Put them where the day already pauses: after a call, between two tasks, when you get a drink of water. For sleep, meals and movement on heavy days, see no time for yourself.

Do you have a right to disconnect?

It depends on where you work, and the rules differ in what they cover. As far as we've checked them:

• In France, the law has given employees a right to disconnect since 2016. Each company sets how it works, by collective agreement or a charter written by the employer (INRS).
• In Spain, employees have a right to digital disconnection outside working time, to protect their rest, leave and personal and family life, and employers must set an internal policy on it (BOE, art. 88).
• In Portugal, since 2021, employers must not contact employees in their rest time, except in force majeure (Diário da República).
• In Italy, a right to disconnect covers smart workers (lavoro agile) only (Gazzetta Ufficiale).
• In Ireland, since 2021, a Code of Practice covers the right to disconnect (gov.ie). It's a code, not a statute.
• For the UK, the US, Germany and Australia, we haven't checked their rules on a right to disconnect yet.

When it's your mind that won't stop

Sometimes the laptop is shut and the thinking goes on. If it's the same worry going round, our worry library covers it: worry at work, a guide for employers on work worries that follow employees home, and worry time, a short daily slot that gives worries a place of their own.

Build your end point into a plan

To fit this to your own days, try the 1h Protocol to Manage Everyday Stress, a program of practical education for adults 18 and over. Its free first chapter finds your stress pattern, out of five patterns or the Tune-up, with one first step to try. The full program takes about an hour: it follows a loaded day to its end with you, sets your end point and the time that's yours after it, and works on your pattern. You leave with a plan built from your own answers, a calendar file with your end point each day, and fourteen days to try it, with a log and reviews on days 7, 14 and 30. Short check-ins follow by email on days 1, 7, 14 and 30. It's new, so there's no outcome data on it yet. If stress doesn't ease, or it starts getting in the way of your daily life, or what you're trying yourself isn't helping, see a doctor.

Frequently asked questions

Why can't I switch off after work?

Usually because the day has no clear end and something is still unfinished. On heavy days it gets harder, which researchers call the recovery paradox (Sonnentag, 2018). Writing down what's open and when you'll do it, then closing work, gives your mind permission to let go.

How do I stop checking work messages in the evening?

Check at a few set times during the day, and none after your end point. Turn work notifications off at the end point, and agree with your team who covers what's urgent. In one study, checking email at a few set times a day lowered daily stress (Kushlev and Dunn, 2015).

Do I have a right to disconnect?

In some countries. France, Spain and Portugal have it in law, Italy for smart workers only, and Ireland through a Code of Practice. We haven't checked the UK, the US, Germany or Australia yet.

Will a holiday fix it?

It helps for a while, but the benefits tend to fade soon after people are back at work (de Bloom et al., 2009). Recovery is built day by day.

What if I work from home?

Make the end physical: write your list, shut the laptop and leave the room where you work. If you work at the kitchen table, put the laptop out of sight.

Sources

This article draws on Christian Tröster's essay on switching off, Sabine Sonnentag's review of the recovery paradox, a meta-analysis of employee studies on detachment, lab and field studies on unfinished goals, trials on email checking, screen time and short breaks, holiday studies, Malissa Clark's interview with the American Psychological Association, and the right-to-disconnect laws and guidance of four countries and Ireland's code.

• Christian Tröster, To reduce stress, just switch off after work (expert essay, Kühne Logistics University, 2026)
• Sonnentag, The recovery paradox (review, Research in Organizational Behavior, 2018)
• Wendsche and Lohmann-Haislah, Detachment from work (meta-analysis, 38,124 employees in 91 samples, mostly correlational, Frontiers in Psychology, 2017)
• Dettmers, How extended work availability affects well-being (longitudinal study of employees, Work & Stress, 2017; abstract read)
• Masicampo and Baumeister, Consider it done! (lab experiments, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2011; abstract read)
• Smit, Successfully leaving work at work (longitudinal study and experiment with employees, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 2016; abstract read)
• Kushlev and Dunn, Checking email less frequently reduces stress (within-person randomized study with adults, Computers in Human Behavior, 2015; abstract read)
• Albulescu et al., Micro-breaks meta-analysis (meta-analysis, 22 samples of employees and students, PLOS ONE, 2022)
• Pedersen et al., Limiting recreational screen media use (randomized trial, 89 families with 164 adults, Denmark, npj Mental Health Research, 2022)
• Derks and Bakker, Smartphone use, work-home interference and burnout (diary study, 69 employees with work smartphones, five workdays, Applied Psychology, 2014)
• Universität Mannheim, Erholung am Abend verbessert die Arbeitsstimmung am Folgetag (university press release on a diary study by Maike Arnold and Sabine Sonnentag, German, 2023)
• APA Speaking of Psychology, Are you a workaholic or just a hard worker?, with Malissa Clark (podcast episode, 2026)
• de Bloom et al., Do we recover from vacation? (meta-analysis of holiday studies, Journal of Occupational Health, 2009)
• Kühnel and Sonnentag, How long do you benefit from vacation? (longitudinal study, 131 teachers, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 2011)
• INRS, Droit à la déconnexion (French national institute's legal focus, French)
• Ley Orgánica 3/2018, art. 88 (Spanish law, Spanish, 2018)
• Lei n.º 83/2021, art. 199.º-A (Portuguese law, Portuguese, 2021)
• Legge 81/2017 and D.L. 30/2021, right to disconnect for smart workers (Italian law, Italian, 2017 and 2021)
• Government of Ireland, Code of Practice on the Right to Disconnect (government press release, 2021)