If you follow these habits, you'll not only be released from the daily stress or anxiety, but will also be able to relax and sleep happily.

At the same time, you can wake up super fresh in the morning, so please look forward to it.

Here we go!

First, take a bath.

Japanese love to take a bath.

Normally, Japanese people take a bath every day at night, and I take this habit as the best event before ending the day.

"Awwww... I'm so happy!"

I really love the happy moments when I soak in the bath after working hard.

Apparently, some studies have shown that there are lots of health advantages [in] taking a bath.

Firstly, your tiredness goes away by improving blood circulation.

Secondly, your muscles and joints will relax by being free of gravity.

And lastly, the moderately good water pressure massages your whole body.

That's why I call it "the best meditation", as your everyday stress and tiredness get removed by taking a bath.

But actually, [there's] one more thing.

It'll improve the quality of your sleep as well.

It relates to the core body temperature very deeply.

What does it mean?

It's said that people can have a good sleep by decreasing their core body temperature when they're asleep.

The habit of soaking in the bath helps you bring down this core body temperature.

"Wait, doesn't the bath make it higher?" You might think so.

Yes, the core body temperature actually goes up when you take a bath.

But as you take a bath, your blood vessels open, releasing heat, and as a result, your core body temperature becomes lower than usual.

If I show that in a graph, it looks like this:

Let me explain.

Let't say around 90 minutes before going to bed, you soak in a bath at 40°C for 15 minutes.

Your core body temperature will go up 0.5℃, and it'll go down to the normal temperature after 90 minutes.

The core body temperature tends to go down for the amount it went up, so it'll go down even more after all.

Because of this higher temperature drop, it has a greater relaxing effect on your body and therefore encourages good quality sleep.

By the way, if you don't take a bath, your body temperature will only decrease gradually.

Depending on where you live, it might be difficult to soak in the bath every day.

But even a hot shower can have a great relaxing effect on your body, so please give it a try if possible.

Second, do some stretching after taking a bath.

After taking a bath comes my other favorite time.

Because your muscles loosen after the bath, it'll be a perfect time to do some stretching!

I do understand that you just wanna head straight to bed after a bath or shower, but you'll be able to sleep even better after stretching and making your body more relaxed.

Okay, let me briefly introduce you to some of the stretches I recently do:

First, stretch muscle of shoulder blades.

Second, stretch your hips.

Third, stretch iliopsoas muscles.

Fourth, stretch your hip joint.

Fifth, stand up and stretch your hamstrings.

Sixth, sit down and stretch your neck.

Seventh, do zazen and corpse pose.

So like this, normally, I stretch the muscles or shoulder blades and hips, neck and hamstring.

I'll go into more detail in a future video

You might have noticed already, but I use some aroma or incense when I do stretches.

And incredibly, they work well for relaxing as well.

Third, aroma and incense

Have you ever had a moment when a particular scent triggered your memories from your past?

For example, when I smell the scent of mosquito coils, memories of the time when I used to do fireworks at home with my family come rushing back.

This phenomenon is known as the 'Proust effect,' where the sense of smell, being one of the most primitive senses among the five, has a direct and powerful impact on the brain.

This proves that smell has a great impact on our brains.

That's why things like aroma and incense relieve our daily anxiety or frustration and make us relax deeply.

So if you do stretch at the same time, it's like feeding two birds with one scone and is highly recommended.

Fourth, daydreaming.

All right, I took a bath and did some stretching, so it's time to sleep.

There's a little tip to feel the happiness a bit more.

It's to daydream before going to bed.

Well, we all face something bad that happens during the day, right?

For example, I'm a YouTuber who shares information to public, and I sometimes get some comments like,

"Your statement seems superficial,"

"Your pronunciation is wrong,"

"I don't like Japanese."

I try not to let it bother me, but it still gets to me sometimes.

The problem is, our brains tend to go over those bad events while asleep, if you think about it before you sleep.

"I was rejected; I'm so useless."

Isn't it so sad if you keep thinking about it while you sleep?

You can never be happy and recover from tiredness if you think such things.

But good thing is we can use this structure in a different way.

Try thinking about the bright side before going to bed, even if your day wasn't that great.

For example, I imagine a scene where lots of people are smiling with my future book in their hands.

I find that engaging in exciting daydreams like that helps alleviate anxiety, allowing me to sleep deeply.

And when I wake up in the morning, I can think to myself, "I've got this."

Tonight, too, I find myself grinning.

Fifth, express gratitude to your heart before going to bed.

After grinning, there's one more thing I'd like you to do.

This is a method I heard from my friend, and thought it was a great way.

First, rub your hands together to warm them up.

Second, place those warm hands on your heart.

Feel the warmth of your hands on your chest .

Third, speak to your heart

Like "Thank you for tirelessly working today as well."

And take a deep breath.

By doing this, even if there were unpleasant moments, you can express gratitude for the very fact that you're alive.

Well, thank you for always watching my videos

Good night.

Oops, good night again.