Guide · calm · 3 min read
Using your body to come down after something stressful — a gentle, practical guide, when you need to stop thinking about work
After a stress response, the body is left with fuel it did not use. Some of the recovery is physical, not mental.
Start here
A short explanation first, because knowing why makes the doing easier.
Work thoughts are allowed to be there. They just do not get to drive.
If you only do one thing from this page, do the first point below. It is first because it removes the most friction for the least effort.
What helps
Do not go straight into problem-solving while your heart is still going. Your judgement is genuinely worse in the first twenty minutes.
Shake out your hands and shoulders. Animals do this after a fright, and it works on the same system in people.
Tell someone what happened, briefly. Saying it out loud closes the loop in a way that thinking it does not.
What to do when it does not work
Give yourself a fixed amount of time to be angry or upset about it. Then move to the next thing. The time limit matters more than the amount.
Eat something if it has been a long time. Low blood sugar feels almost exactly like anxiety.
Move first, think later. A brisk ten-minute walk uses up some of what the stress response prepared your body to do.
Questions people ask
Does venting help?
Once, to one person, yes. Repeatedly to everyone, no — it tends to keep the feeling active rather than discharge it.
Written for people who want the practical version. No accounts, no tracking, no newsletter wall.
If this is not the angle you need, try How to study when you cannot concentrate — a short read, when you have more time than usual, Why your weekend does not feel like rest — the short version, when you want to finish something or How to study when you cannot concentrate, for people who have tried everything, when you are on your own.