How to quickly reduce stress in the moment

2023 has been a little hard for a lot of us (the word polycrisis has been thrown around a bit).

One thing we often miss is the physiology of stress as a tool to manage it.

Caveat: There are many things we can do to reduce stress that won’t be covered. This focuses on only 2 specific and acute behaviors targeted at sending immediate signals to the parasympathetic nervous system. I always suggest going to professional counselling services for a full array of resources that go beyond the scope of this post.

SO WHAT DO WE KNOW?

Stress responses are pretty primordial responses priming you to fight, flee, or freeze (the sympathetic nervous system). The problem is that it’s very hard to reason with neurotransmitters that are flooding your brain, sort of like it’s impossible to rationalize with someone who’s in the middle of a full blown tantrum.

You need to physiologically signal to your body that things are okay and it’s safe to relax (activate the parasympathetic nervous system). You can immediately activate the parasympathetic nervous system with physical signals.

Two ways to physically signal your body to relax:

Physiological sigh

• This involves 2 quick breaths in and one forceful exhale out, done 3 times. It’s the key feature in an ugly cry or a hiccup cry.
• It’s one of the fastest ways to reduce sympathetic reactivity. It works because fully filling your lungs with oxygen reduces the signal that you have too much carbon dioxide in your system and the diaphragm in the exhale signals to your brain to slow your heart rate down.
• This breathing technique done for 5 minutes daily for 1 month was shown to enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal more than box-breathing (4 sec breath in, 4 sec hold, 4 sec breath out, 4 sec hold) and mindfulness meditation (although I still recommend these as good sources of long term stress management).

Laughter

• Studies have found that laughing produces very immediate (but transient) effects on stress/parasympathetic nervous system (while weeping is more mild but has longer effects interestingly enough)
• Even just listening to people laughing can reduce sympathetic nervous system responses.
• It’s also been shown to increase physical pain tolerance!

SO WHAT…

…about me?

• Focus on your breathing. We tend to hold our breaths when we’re anxious. Potentially have a timer or a check-in (like the watch buzz I ignore that reminds me I haven’t been moving for 30 minutes), to do a physiological sigh. If you can do 5 minutes of physiological sighs, it can have longer term benefits. Other activities that focus on breathing are (but not limited to): meditation, tai chi, yoga, swimming, breathwork.
• Watch something funny. Not just mildly amusing, something closer to belly laughs. Aside from the horrible laugh tracks of the 80s, you might also consider going to a movie theater and watching a comedy — people are more likely to laugh out loud in the midst of others than when they are alone.
• Laugh with friends. Oddly enough, it’s found that people automatically laugh more quickly to the sound of laughter from their friends than from strangers.

…about work?

• Laugh with coworkers. Depending on your audience, you can laugh about the situation or something completely different, whatever truly gets your colleagues to laugh (so… know your audience). This can help them reduce stress at least momentarily.
• Use breathing to decompress. Use the physiological sigh after a tough meeting or conversation — or if your team is up for it, a collective physiological sigh before a meeting or after those first 10 minutes that usually occurs before a meeting “gets down to business.”

WANT TO LEARN MORE?

Balban, M. Y., Neri, E., Kogon, M. M., Weed, L., Nouriani, B., Jo, B., … & Huberman, A. D. (2023). Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal. Cell Reports Medicine, 100895.

Dunbar, R. I., Baron, R., Frangou, A., Pearce, E., van Leeuwen, E. J., Stow, J., Partridge, G., MacDonald, I., Barra, V., & van Vugt, M. (2012). Social laughter is correlated with an elevated pain threshold. Proceedings. Biological sciences, 279(1731), 1161–1167.

Fujiwara, Y., & Okamura, H. (2018). Hearing laughter improves the recovery process of the autonomic nervous system after a stress-loading task: a randomized controlled trial. BioPsychoSocial medicine, 12, 1–9.

Huberman, A (2021). Tools for Managing Stress & Anxiety | Huberman Lab Podcast #10.

MacCormack, H. (2020). How stress affects your brain and how to reverse it, Scope published by Stanford Medicine.

Sakuragi, S., Sugiyama, Y., & Takeuchi, K. (2002). Effects of laughing and weeping on mood and heart rate variability. Journal of physiological anthropology and applied human science, 21(3), 159–165.

Smoski, M., & Bachorowski, J. A. (2003). Antiphonal laughter between friends and strangers. Cognition and Emotion, 17(2), 327–340.

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I’m the doctor that can’t give you meds or tell you why you hate your boss. But I can talk forever about cultural and digital psychology. This blog helps me stay on top of a field I love so much, share what I’ve found, and constantly push psychology’s application to life and work in meaningful ways.