There’s a lot going on the world right now, on top of the usual daily life stressors, and we all could use some extra support.
Below are quick-and-easy strategies you can use anytime you find yourself feeling a little nervous, anxious or stressed, or simply needing a tiny pause during your busy day.
6 quick tools to use in an anxious moment:
#1: Try 4-square breathing
- Inhale slowly while counting to 4 in your head.
- Pause for an additional count of 4.
- Exhale slowly for a count of 4.
- Pause for another count of 4.
- Repeat. You can visualize this like a square with each inhale, pause, exhale, pause moving along each of the 4 sides of the square.
- Research published in 2023 in Cell Reports Medicine shows that practicing this for 5 minutes can be even more impactful than mindful meditation. Even if you only employ the technique for 30-60 seconds, you can still feel benefits.
#2: Practice slow + present breathing
- Place your hand over your heart and slowly inhale, filling up your belly.
- Then slowly exhale for even longer.
- Repeat.
#3: The 5-4-3-2-1 senses
- The 5: Look around and name 5 things you see.
- The 4: Name 4 things you can touch (examples: your clothing, a table, your jewelry, an object, the wall, grass, a tree, etc.).
- The 3: Listen and name 3 sounds you hear.
- The 2: Find 2 things you can smell and name them.
- The 1: Name the taste you have in your mouth, or take a sip or nibble of drink/food and notice the flavor.
#4: Hug yourself
- Gently wrap your arms around yourself and hold, giving yourself a hug.
- A 2021 randomized controlled trial published in Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology found that: “These results…suggest that self-soothing touch and receiving hugs are simple and yet potentially powerful means for buffering individuals’ resilience against stress.”
#5: Shoulder taps
- Touch your fingers to your opposite shoulder on both sides and gently tap.
- This is an example of therapeutic tapping, like EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), which has been shown to have well-being benefits.
#6: Essential oil
- Keep an essential oil you love with you and pop it open to inhale a few breaths.
- If you don’t have a favorite, try a citrus blend as orange, lemon and lime aromas can be uplifting.
A few other tools:
(This is not a comprehensive list by any means.)
Choose balanced eating
- Keeping your nutrition and blood sugar balanced provides for a healthier mental/emotional state.
Call someone
- The weight of anxiety lessens when you can talk about it with a loved one or therapist.
Do something that’s NOT watching the news
- Watching, or even reading, the news can exacerbate feelings of stress and anxiety.
- Choose more relaxing activities like reading for pleasure, journaling, coloring, gardening, cooking, writing, etc.
Go for a walk, exercise or dance around your living room
- Physical movement helps shift us more into the present physical moment. It also generates feel-good chemicals like endorphins.
Practice HeartMath strategies
- Research-backed tools for improving your physiological stress response, so you can feel better quicker and be healthier.
- Learn more here .
Use these self-soothing strategies anytime to help calm anxiety and your nervous system. Try them and see what works best for you. These are also great self-soothing strategies to teach kids!
If you’re struggling with anxiety, check in with your own naturopathic/integrative doctor for additional support.
Resources include:
doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100895
doi: 10.1016/j.cpnec.2021.100091
doi: 10.1177/2515690X18823691
University of Rochester Medical Center
HeartMath Institute
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