Five ways to trigger the opposite of stress and master your calmness system

The best way to deal with stress isn’t to avoid it. Unless you live in a monastery, that’s impossible anyway.

A much better way is working with our autonomic nervous system. Like a car, this system has a throttle and a brake. 

Our throttle is located in the so-called “sympathetic nervous system”, or alertness system. It makes us alert – or even stressed when it is highly active. This is also known as the "fight-or-flight" response. 

Our brake is located in the “parasympathetic nervous system”, or calmness system. When active, this system makes us calm – or even sleepy when it is highly active. This is also known as the "rest-and-digest" response.

Today, I provide an overview of the best practices for mastering that brake throughout the day. Like in my earlier wrap-up posts, I limit these tips to the essentials. You can find links to the respective posts if you want to delve deeper into the specifics.

1) When stressed, activate the calmness response by exhale-emphasized breathing without anyone else noticing
When we exhale more than we inhale, we slow down our heart and trigger the calmness response in real-time. So when you're feeling stressed, try changing the ratio of your inhale to exhale.

One practice of exhale-emphasized breathing is extremely simple and takes less than a minute. Here's how to do it: First, inhale through the nose until a count of four. Second, exhale through the mouth until a count of eight. Third, repeat this cycle at least four or five times – for a total of 48 to 60 seconds.

The best part of that technique is that, with a bit of practice, you’ll be able to do it without anyone else noticing, even during meetings or calls.

2) If you have 30 seconds for yourself when very stressed, activate the calmness response with the “physiological sigh”
The best way for de-stressing in real-time involves a double-inhale followed by an extended exhale. Scientists call that breathing pattern the “physiological sigh”. It combines exhale-emphasized breathing with getting rid of the carbon dioxide in our body, which calms us down instantly and thus works as a one-two punch to our stress system.

Here’s how to do it: First, inhale as deeply as you can through the nose for a count of two. Second, do another deep inhale on top of the first one through the nose for a count of one (inhaling as fully as possible is crucial!). Third, exhale as fully as possible through the mouth for a count of six. 

The "physiological sigh" is more noticeable for others than the first practice, but is undoubtedly worth taking 30 seconds for yourself – both at the office or home – when you feel very stressed.

Here's the best part about physiological sighs and other exhale-emphasized breathing techniques: By using them regularly, we can increase what researchers call “autonomic tone” – our ability to switch quickly between stress mode and rest mode. This, it turns out, is a true superpower in today’s always-on world.

3) When you’re tired in the afternoon, take a brief nap
Feeling a bit tired in the afternoon is perfectly normal. As it turns out, we evolved to experience a dip in alertness during that time of day. However, there is a simple fix: take a siesta.

According to research by NASA, brief naps improve alertness in the afternoon by a whopping 54% – and job-related performance by 34%. That’s why they offer a great remedy when the afternoon trough hits.

However, both duration and timing matter. Go for naps of 26 minutes or shorter. Take them no later than 8 hours before bedtime. And avoid them entirely if falling asleep at night is challenging for you.

4) If napping is not for you, use the Google CEO’s favorite "non-sleep deep rest" variant when you feel tired or exhausted during the day
Sundar Pichai’s favorite "non-sleep deep rest" (NSDR) variant is “Yoga Nidra”, also called yogic sleep. It puts us into a state between being awake and falling asleep. Unlike traditional Yoga, it doesn't involve movement but merely listening to a script, making it easy to integrate into a busy day.

It’s a simple and excellent technique to do whenever you feel tired or exhausted. In the morning, Yoga Nidra can give us a fresh start whenever we feel tired after waking up. In the afternoon, Yoga Nidra is another great way to cope with the trough. You'll surely recoup the time spent doing it in gained productivity many times over. 

So the next time you feel more tired or exhausted than you'd like during the day, try this script offered by MadeFor. It's freely available on YouTube and focuses on the essentials of Yoga Nidra – without the language typically associated with Yoga. 

5) If you struggle with stress or focus during the day or with falling (back) asleep at night, try one of the most effective NSDR variants
Unlike stage hypnosis, which is about a hypnotist making people do things they normally wouldn't do, self-hypnosis is about getting our brain into a state that we want. 

As it turns out, self-hypnosis is the most effective NSDR variant for promoting deep relaxation and deep focus at the same time. That's why it lets us guide our brain towards particular outcomes, including relieving stress, enhancing focus and falling (back) asleep. 

Get started with self-hypnosis by using the resources offered by Prof. David Spiegel and Michael Sealy. Spiegel offers scripts over four to 13 minutes on relieving stress, enhancing focus and falling (back) asleep in the Reveri app. 

Sealey provides free hypnosis scripts on a wide array of topics on his YouTube channel. While most of them tend to be longer, there is one on sleep that takes only 15 minutes. If you have problems falling (back) asleep at night, I highly recommend giving it a shot.

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Until next week,
Christian