Stress and anxiety affect both your mind and body. To calm your body and mind, it helps to understand what happens when your brain perceives stress or a threat: it activates your nervous system and releases cortisol and adrenaline, the hormones responsible for your fight-or-flight response.
The good news is anxiety can be reduced by calming either the body or the mind, since the two work in tandem. When you slow down your body, your mind often begins to quiet. And when you shift anxious thought patterns, your body begins to experience more ease.
Here are some evidence-based strategies to support you in feeling more peaceful and relaxed.
Calm Your Body
1. MINDFUL MOVEMENT
Physical movement is an effective way to regulate your nervous system and reduce anxiety. When paired with mindful awareness, movement becomes even more grounding.
Rather than mentally replaying your to-do list while you are on a walk or bike ride, try fully engaging with the experience — notice the sounds around you, the rhythm of your breath or the sensation of your moving body.
2. PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE RELAXATION
Anxiety can cause chronic muscle tension. Progressive muscle relaxation involves a sequence of tensing your muscles for 10 seconds and then immediately releasing them.
You’ll compare the difference between the tense and relaxed states, which increases your awareness of where and when you’re holding stress in your body and induces a physiological release.
3. LENGTHEN YOUR EXHALE
Deep breathing can calm your body. The key is not simply breathing deeply, but exhaling longer than you inhale, which activates your body’s relaxation response.
Practice inhaling for four seconds, holding for seven and exhaling for eight. Continue for at least three minutes to allow the body time enough time to slow your breathing and heart rate.
Calm Your Mind
1. CHALLENGE YOUR THOUGHTS
Our thoughts are powerful and impact our mood, behavior and physiology. Thoughts are not facts, and it’s helpful to identify which of your thoughts make you feel worse. Next, flip the negative thought to its exact opposite: “I am a failure” becomes “I am not a failure.”
Next, find supporting evidence for this new, alternative viewpoint. This exercise helps the brain shift from the worse-case scenario to recognizing that an alternative perspective exists.
2. NAME THE CHAPTER
Label recurring, distressing thoughts as a book chapter title. For example: “The I’m Unlovable Chapter” or “The Something Bad Will Happen Chapter.”
When your negative thoughts return, simply notice and name that you’ve entered that chapter again, rather than engaging with the repetitive thoughts themselves.
This creates psychological distance from your thoughts and reduces your tendency to get stuck in them.
3. WORRY TIME
Worrying can last all day if you let it. Instead, set aside a daily 15-minute “worry time” appointment. When intrusive, unhelpful thoughts appear outside of worry time, gently remind yourself: “It’s not worry time, I’ll think about that later,” and redirect your attention to another activity.
During worry time, you can think about your stressors, and once the timer goes off, you will shift to a pre-planned activity. With time, you learn you are able to shift your mind’s focus, rather than allowing the worry to dominate your entire day.
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