How to Use your Body to Calm Your Mind.
Stress is a part of life we all have to deal with, but sometimes it can feel like too much — triggering anxiety, panic, low moods, burnout and other difficult emotions. It during these moments of high stress that you might find yourself wondering, "Why can't I just figure it out?" .
It can be incredibly frustrating when distress make it hard think clearly and solve problems.
But here's the thing: trying to use your problem solving mind (AKA your prefrontal cortex) to navigate stress when you’re stressed is like trying to run on a broken leg.
Before you can think clearly and solve anything, you need to use your body to calm your mind, so that you can use your mind, to navigate the problem! In other words, you can use your body to turn your prefrontal cortex (problem solving brain) back on in the face to stress.
Why do we struggle to regain a sense of control when distressed?
When you're stressed, your body goes into survival mode. This sets off the amygdala, your brain’s alarm system, which pushes you into fight (attack), flight (avoid), freeze (shut down), or fawn (people please) mode. This response can be helpful in response to genuine and immediate threats to our own, or our loved ones health and safety. But more often then not, we experience this response even when our lives are not at risk. And when we don’t have ways to turn off that stress response, we can end up in a real pickle!
For example, distress also impairs the prefrontal cortex, which is our problem solving mind. This part of brain is compromised during stress, which makes it hard to think clearly and be rational.
You might notice during times of stress, you may resort to behaving like a child, or falling back on old habits. This is because your ‘evolved mature’ part of your brain is no longer online.
So that is why it's crucial to have strategies to help your body and brain reset so that you can use your prefrontal cortex to help you navigate whatever challenge your facing.
Using The Body to Calm The Mind — A Bottom-Up Approach
Luckily, our bodies are equipped to reset themselves.
The vagus nerve is key in this process. It’s like your body’s main route to calm, extending from your gut to your brain. Activating this nerve helps slow your heart rate and breathing, making it easier to ground yourself and navigate stress.
Here are some practical techniques to activate your vagus nerve, and get your nervous system back on track:
1. Control Your Breathing
Deep diaphragmatic breathing can help calm your stress response and activate the vagus nerve. Here are a few techniques:
Box Breathing: Breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, exhale for 6 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, and repeat.
Finger Tracing: Trace your finger in a square shape with your breath—inhale as you move up, hold across, exhale down, and hold across.
Physiological Sigh: Listen here to neuroscientist (Huberman) on physiological sigh breathing for stress & anxiety in real time
Breathing tips:
Your exhale should be long and drawn out, like you’re blowing out birthday candles in slow motion.
Notice if you are breathing shallow into your chest and try to deepen the breath 'into the belly. Although you aren't literally breathing O2 into the tummy (rather the low part of your lungs) the belly should rise as you inhale (ribs expanding) as you fill your lungs with air all the way from the bottom up. If you find this hard, it’s easier to do it lying down.
If you’re feeling stressed, upset or physically tired before doing the breathing exercise you may find it hard to slow the breathing down. Start from where you’re at and slowly build into it.
Add an element of mindfulness to bring your attention back to your breath by repeating in your mind as you inhale: "I am aware of my in breath" and as you exhale:" and, “I am aware of my out breath” as you exhale.
2. Sing it!
Making sounds like humming or singing can stimulate the vagus nerve and help you relax. It’s not just about the sound; it’s about the vibrations and the way they help regulate your body and mind.
3. Cold Exposure
Exposing your body to cold water triggers an inborn physiological response known as the mammalian diving reflex or response (water contact on the forehead, cheek, eyes, and nose).
While it might not be most comfortable, research shows cold exposure can activate the vagus nerve, slow down your heart rate, and promote a sense of calm. Try:
A cold shower
Submerging your face in cold water
Holding an ice pack on your neck
Tip: Cold stimulation on the neck region, face, and head is the most effective way to increase vagal tone and calm yourself under stress. While doing this, see if you can slow and deepen your breath (especially your exhale!).
4. Self-Soothing Touch
Physical touch, even self-administered, can have a calming effect, especially around the head, and the back of the neck.
Hug: embrace yourself tightly for at least 5 seconds to stimulate oxytocin release and calm your nervous system. Or better yet, have a cuddle with someone you love.
Self massage (or a massage from someone else): research suggests that massaging the head and neck area can stimulate vagal sensory neuron’s and activate the parasympathetic nervous system’s rest and digest mode.
5. Move Your Body - Shake it Off!
The vagus nerve is an ancient pathway of our nervous system, found in most animals. And when animals are in trouble, they are most likely to move away from threat! This is not just a logical function but also a way that the body shakes off and expends any hormones, neurotransmitters, and other biochemicals that cause us to feel distressed. Moving the body helps get such chemicals “used up” as a way to restore calm.
Gentle Shaking: Shake it out! Try gently shaking your arms and legs, or dancing, or both!
Exercise: Whether it’s interval training or a long run (or cardio), exercise helps stimulate the vagus nerve and releases feel-good chemicals like endorphins and serotonin.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation: as you breathe in, tense a certain muscle group (like your hands or jaw), as you breathe out, release. Work your way through different parts of your body.
6. Have a Cry
It might seem odd, but crying is a natural stress reliever and can help activate your relaxation response.
Studies have shown that crying is associated with an increase in sympathetic nervous system activity, and the resolution of crying may also be associated with increases in parasympathetic nervous system activity.
This suggests a “recovery process” (both physiologically and psychologically) that is associated with the resolution of crying. Another study found that crying correlates with an increase in oxytocin (calming neurotransmitter). So don’t hold back those tears.
If you have a person you trust and who is comforting, you may like to consider crying in their company. Numerous studies have suggested that social responses to crying promote empathy and prosocial behaviour, facilitate social bonding and helping the release of oxytocin which has calming effects.
When we use the body to calm the mind, our prefrontal cortex becomes more effective at doing it’s job — problem solving. So when stress hits, before trying to problem solve, you might want to consider first using your body to calm your mind so that you can use your mind to navigate the problem!