There are days when you’d surely want just to enjoy your much-needed peace and quiet at home. When this mood hits you, especially on weekends when everyone’s out and about, you don’t have to drown yourself in the guilt of wasting your precious time doing nothing because there are a lot of meaningful things you can accomplish inside your own dwelling place.

Here are five activities that are sure to give you a well-spent weekend even if you stay indoors—alone or with the company of family or friends:

1. Exercising

A weekend workout at home is never a bad idea. When you’re too tired to commute around the metro for one more day, create your own workout program and do the recommended 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise inside your own sanctuary instead.

This can include aerobic dancing and jumping rope; exercises like body squats, crunches, push-ups, and sit-ups; and if you live in a community with facilities that allow you to jog, jogging is another vigorous activity that can keep you in good shape.

Exercise with your sibling or best buddy to make the activity more worthwhile.

2. Doing yoga

Unwinding doesn’t necessarily need to equate to empty pleasure. Instead of spending unhealthy extended time in bed, an excellent way to slow down and calmly eliminate all the stress that built up in your system the past week is to meditate through yoga.

We all know yoga is good for the body, the mind, and the soul. But just to remind you why it makes a great addition to your list of activities-to-do-at-home, yoga leaves you with a more flexible, much healthier, and strengthened body after each session.

But not only does it make your muscles toned and your metabolism better, but it also helps your mind relax and have better concentration. It brings you an inner peace that can only be achieved by being well-connected to your core. All these lead to reduced anxiety and better sleep.

So if you’ve been hesitating for a long time whether you should consider yoga or not, the answer is clear. Buy your yoga mat now.

3. Cooking healthy recipes

We want to eat healthy at all times. But when you’re working, and you have the Philippine rush hour to brave each morning, you’re left with no choice but to buy breakfast and lunch somewhere near your workplace every day of your life.

This setup may seem okay since you pretty much don’t have a choice, but soon you’ll realize it’s not once your health starts speaking for itself.

If you want to stay in shape, make it a point that you spend some of your weekends learning healthy meals that you can prepare in 15 minutes or less.

Research recipes and buy ingredients beforehand; learn cooking these recipes during weekends; keep practicing until you can cook them faster than your first try; and then when you’re successful, prepare these meals on weekday mornings like a boss and eat healthy every day of your life.

4. Coloring

Coloring isn’t just for kids. Its therapeutic properties may actually be more beneficial for stressed adults because it helps reduce anxiety.

Coloring drives out stress from our system by making us focus on producing aesthetically pleasing output. You experience a relaxed state of mind because you don’t get to think of anything else when you’re too preoccupied choosing the best colors for your canvass.

It has also been found to invoke nostalgia, especially among adults who did coloring a lot during their childhood, and this may just be the most-fitting slow down for a worn out adulting soul.

5. Connecting with loved-ones

Online entertainment can be so addicting to the point that we almost prefer it over the company of our loved-ones. But this shouldn’t be the case.

No matter how much you’re craving to binge-watch your favorite series or to catch up with your much-loved comics if a family or friend asks if they could come by over the weekend to be with you, choose it. Choose to be with them. It may disrupt your plan of having a laidback two-day vacay but remember that spending time with your loved-ones is still the most meaningful thing you can do at home during weekends.

Weekends spent at home can be just as productive as your average work days. But it won’t deplete your energy to the last drop when you choose wisely how to spend it.

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Enjoy every weekend you spend at home at the Mango Tree Residences by Empire East. This two-tower community located at M. Paterno corner Ledesma St. in San Juan City is the ideal place for urban dwellers that prefer to have it easy during their downtime. The Mango Tree Residences is near central business districts, must-visit hangout hubs and shopping malls, renowned educational institutions, and world-class health service providers, but it’s also serene enough to offer a soothing lifestyle to its residents. It’s the place to be for families who love to work out together and for individuals who need to have their weekly dose of yoga rain or shine. These residences also boast a maximum of only 10 suites per floor, giving a supreme enjoyment of privacy with less density in common areas.

For more information about Empire East and its homes across Metro Manila visit www.empire-east.com; or call 810-3333 or 0917-8-EMPIRE. You may also follow @empireeast on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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