Guide · calm · 3 min read
Using your body to come down after something stressful — what works and what does not, when you only have a few minutes
After a stress response, the body is left with fuel it did not use. Some of the recovery is physical, not mental.
Start here
Here is what tends to work, in the order that helps most.
A few minutes is the whole requirement.
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
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.
Shake out your hands and shoulders. Animals do this after a fright, and it works on the same system in people.
What to do when it does not work
Move first, think later. A brisk ten-minute walk uses up some of what the stress response prepared your body to do.
Do not go straight into problem-solving while your heart is still going. Your judgement is genuinely worse in the first twenty minutes.
Tell someone what happened, briefly. Saying it out loud closes the loop in a way that thinking it does not.
Questions people ask
What if I cannot exercise?
Then slow breathing with a long exhale, cold water on the wrists, and a change of room do a smaller version of the same job.
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