Friday 5 - Tiny Habits That Can Calm Your Nervous System This Week

So let's dive in.

Number one is to take one slow breath before your next task, and this is probably the simplest habit you can build into your day.

Before you pick up your phone, reply to an email, make a cup of tea, or move on to your next task, simply just pause.

Breathe in gently through your nose for a count of four, and then breathe out slowly through your mouth for a count of six.

And that's it.

And the reason this works is because a longer exhale gently stimulates the vagus nerve, one of the key communication pathways of the parasympathetic nervous system, sometimes referred to our rest and digest response.

Now, one breath isn't going to eliminate all your stress, of course, but what it does do is interrupt that automatic cycle of rushing from one thing to the next.

Instead of your day becoming one long stream of reacting, you create tiny moments where you've chosen to respond.

If you'd like a little more guidance with breathing exercises, one app a client of mine has been enjoying is the BreathPod app.

It has a range of guided breathing practices depending on how you're feeling, whether you're looking to feel calmer, improve your focus, or simply just take a mindful pause.

If you'd like to dive deeper into the science and pr- the practical side of breathing, I also recorded a wonderful podcast episode with breathwork expert Dan Brulé, where we explore how our breath can influence stress, our resilience, our overall health, and our recovery, and I'll link to that in the show notes as well.

Number two is to get everything out of your head.

And this second habit is something I use myself all the time, because when life feels busy, our brain is trying to hold on to a dozen different things, whether that's the appointments that I've got, the emails I need to respond to, shopping lists, the things I need to remember, conversations I might need to have with clients.

It might be worries that I've got about what's coming up.

And our brains are brilliant at thinking, but they're actually not designed to store endless amounts of information.

So spend two minutes writing down everything, and it doesn't need to be organized.

Don't worry about making a beautiful list.

Just get it out of your head and onto paper or into the notes app on your phone.

I might sometimes think of things, and I'll just get my notes out and put a note in there of something that I've thought about.

And then ask yourself one simple question when you've written everything down, and that's, "What's the next thing I need to do?" Not the next 10 things, just the next one thing that you are going to do.

And one of the biggest drivers of overwhelm isn't always the amount we have to do, it's trying to mentally juggle everything at once.

And, and writing these things down can reduce that mental load and create a sense of clarity.

Sometimes our nervous system doesn't need fewer responsibilities.

It simply needs fewer open loops so that you can concentrate on one thing at a time.

Number three is one of my favorites, and it's to create a feel-good playlist.