Stress Management 101: Supporting Your Mind & Body in a High-Stress World
Being a person is stressful. We’re balancing busy schedules, work deadlines, bills to pay, appointments to remember, texts to answer, meals to plan, dishes to do, and of course, the never-ending stream of emails and notifications. The list could go on and on!
Even if you live a relatively calm life, stress is unavoidable. It’s part of the human experience. Many of us cope by pushing through. We tell ourselves we’re “fine,” pour another cup of coffee, and keep on keepin’ on. But unmanaged stress doesn’t just disappear. Over time, chronic stress can affect nearly every system in the body.
Research shows that ongoing stress can weaken the immune system and is associated with an increased risk of coronary artery disease. It can contribute to headaches, muscle tension, digestive difficulties, and sleep disruption.
Stress also influences behavior. The American Psychological Association has reported that many individuals respond to stress by overeating, skipping meals, or lying awake at night, unable to sleep. In other words, stress affects both how we feel and how we function.
To manage it well, we first need to understand what’s happening inside the body.
What is a stress response?
Long before modern life, our bodies developed an efficient survival system designed to protect us in moments of danger. We call this the fight-or-flight response.
When your brain perceives something as threatening, especially something unexpected or outside of your control, the sympathetic nervous system activates. Your brain then sends signals that trigger the release of stress hormones. Your breathing speeds up. Your heart rate increases. Your body prepares itself for action.
Sometimes this response is helpful! We evolved with it for a reason. If a lion were actually chasing you, you would want this system to be firing on all cylinders!
The challenge is that modern stressors are usually not quick, physical threats like they were for our ancestors. They are chronic pressures like work demands, financial concerns, caregiving responsibilities, and constant digital input. These are the kinds of stressors that don’t t resolve quickly, and your brain doesn’t always get the memo that the “danger” has passed.
When stress becomes chronic, the nervous system can remain activated for long periods. The body may struggle to return fully to baseline. That’s when symptoms like elevated blood pressure, difficulty sleeping, irritability, muscle tension, and feeling constantly on edge can develop. Under healthy circumstances, once a threat is resolved, heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure settle back to normal. With chronic stress, that reset doesn’t always happen efficiently.
Luckily, with the right tools, we can help guide the nervous system back toward balance.
Exercise
Okay, we may be a little biased, but the research is clear: exercise is one of the most effective ways to shift your body out of fight-or-flight mode.
When you move your body, you’re directly influencing your nervous system and brain chemistry. Physical activity increases the release of endorphins, which are natural chemicals that help reduce pain perception and promote a sense of well-being. After exercise, many people report feeling calmer, clearer, and more positive, and that’s not just psychological—it’s physiological.
Exercise also increases the availability of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, which play key roles in mood regulation. In addition, physical activity influences adrenaline and other stress hormones, helping the body handle stress more efficiently over time. Even short bouts of moderate to higher-intensity aerobic exercise have been shown to lower heart rate and blood pressure following stressful events. In other words, a single workout can help your body recover more quickly from stress.
Exercise also acts as a structured “time-out” from stressors. When you focus on your breathing, your stride, your form, or the rhythm of movement, your attention shifts away from rumination. That mental reset can improve mood and make daily irritations feel more manageable.
So what types of exercise are best for stress relief?
Aerobic exercise like walking, jogging, cycling, or swimming is especially effective at reducing stress hormone levels. And mind-body practices like yoga and tai chi combine movement with breath control and mindfulness, offering both physical and neurological benefits.
Breathe
When we’re stressed, we are often told to “just breathe.”
It sounds simple (and it is!), but there’s a difference between automatic breathing and intentional breathwork. If you want to effectively influence your nervous system, how you breathe matters.
For thousands of years, Eastern traditions such as Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine have used structured breathing techniques to calm both body and mind. Today, modern physiology explains why these practices are so effective.
When we’re under stress, breathing tends to become shallow and shift higher into the chest. This pattern reinforces the sympathetic (fight-or-flight) response. However, slow, controlled breathing from the diaphragm—the large muscle beneath your lungs—stimulates the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve plays a central role in regulating heart rate, digestion, and the balance between stress activation and relaxation.
When you breathe slowly and deeply from the abdomen, you activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which we could call the body’s “rest and restore” mode. This signals safety to the brain, helping to lower heart rate, reduce blood pressure, and de-escalate the stress response. Over time, intentional breathwork can help restore healthier stress patterns and improve resilience.
There are many breathwork techniques, but here are two simple and effective options from Renew director and expert breathwork practitioner Ana Kat:
One Hand on Chest, One Hand on Belly
It really is that simple.
Place one hand on your chest and one on your abdomen.
Inhale through your nose, allowing your belly to expand first.
Exhale slowly.
Take 5–10 steady, controlled breaths.
The physical touch of your hands increases body awareness, which further reinforces a sense of safety and brings your “thinking brain” back online. The goal isn’t to relax perfectly. It’s simply to slow the system down.
The 4-7-8 Breath
The 4-7-8 technique, popularized by Andrew Weil and rooted in yogic pranayama practices, is sometimes described as a natural tranquilizer for the nervous system because of how effectively it activates the parasympathetic response.
Here’s how to practice it:
Sit upright.
Place the tip of your tongue just behind your upper front teeth and keep it there.
Exhale completely through your mouth with a soft “whoosh.”
Inhale quietly through your nose for 4 seconds.
Hold the breath for 7 seconds.
Exhale fully through your mouth for 8 seconds, making the same “whoosh” sound.
That completes one cycle. Start with four cycles.
A few helpful notes about this method:
The 4:7:8 ratio matters more than how quickly you count.
Practice twice daily for best results.
Stay at four cycles for the first month, then increase to eight if comfortable.
Mild lightheadedness can happen at first as your body adjusts.
This technique is especially helpful before sleep, before a presentation, or before responding to a message you might regret sending. The extended exhale is where much of the nervous system regulation happens.
Ana’s Pro Tips for Getting Started
Start practicing when you’re calm, not only when you’re overwhelmed.
Breathing is automatic. Regulating it is learned. Practice!
You don’t need intensity. You need consistency. 1-2 minutes a day!
And if a few minutes shifts how you feel, imagine what happens when you train it intentionally in class.
It’s not mystical. It’s physiology, and yes, it works!
If you’d like more guidance, join one of our breathwork and meditation workshops with Ana (Mondays at 6:15pm and Tuesdays at 11:00am), or book a private or group session in our Renew wellness center. Structured practice can make these tools even more powerful.
Meditate
Meditation has been practiced for thousands of years as a way to calm the mind and regulate the body. Today, modern research continues to support its benefits.
Regular meditation has been associated with:
Lower resting heart rate
Reduced blood pressure
Improved sleep quality
Greater emotional regulation and patience
Increased self-awareness
Reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression
Improvements in chronic pain, IBS, and headache frequency
Meditation works in part by shifting how we relate to stress. Instead of automatically reacting to thoughts and emotions, we learn to observe them. That shift in perspective alone can reduce the intensity of stress responses. If you’ve never tried meditation before, it can sound intimidating, but it’s actually very low-pressure. You don’t need special equipment, a specific posture, or a perfectly quiet house. You can practice at home, outdoors, on a lunch break, or even on the bus. There is no single “right” way to do it.
Here’s a simple five-minute meditation body scan you can try:
Find a relatively quiet space where you won’t be interrupted.
Sit or lie down comfortably and close your eyes.
Take a few slow breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.
Bring your attention to your breath—notice the sensation of air moving in and out.
Gently shift your awareness to your face. Soften your forehead, jaw, and cheeks.
Move down to your neck and shoulders. Let them drop and relax.
Bring awareness to your arms and hands. Allow them to feel heavy and supported.
Notice your chest and abdomen rising and falling with each breath.
Slowly scan down your back, hips, legs, and feet, releasing tension where you find it.
Take a moment to notice your whole body at rest.
When you’re ready, gently open your eyes and return to your surroundings.
Even a few minutes of intentional stillness can activate the relaxation response and help your nervous system reset.
If you’d like to explore more techniques and styles, check out the Western blog’s meditation series for additional guidance and ideas.
Get Creative
Research consistently shows that engaging in creative activities can increase happiness and reduce stress levels. Creativity shifts your attention away from rumination and toward exploration. It invites presence.
Creating doesn’t have to be for an audience. It doesn’t need to be productive or profitable. Creating is a way of showing ourselves to ourselves. It’s about expressing the things that make us human.
Art, music, writing, crafting, cooking, gardening—any of these can help you access a “flow state,” that deeply focused mental space where time softens and your attention anchors in the present moment. In this state, stress hormones decrease, mental chatter quiets, and your nervous system gets a break.
And remember: you don’t have to be “good” at it. Creativity is about process, not product. The benefit comes from engaging, not performing.
The goal isn’t mastery. It’s expression.
Head outside
Even small doses of nature make a measurable difference. Research shows that just 30 minutes outside can lower stress hormone levels and ease mental fatigue. Our minds and bodies tend to relax in natural settings in ways that are harder to replicate indoors.
Being in nature has been shown to:
Reduce cortisol (a primary stress hormone)
Lower heart rate and blood pressure
Decrease muscle tension
Reduce demands on the cardiovascular system
Potentially lower long-term risk of heart disease
Spending time outdoors can also boost creativity and improve problem-solving. Many people report clearer thinking after time outside. Natural environments gently engage our attention without overwhelming it, giving our brains a chance to recover.
So head outside for a walk in the woods, a stroll through a park, time by the river, or even just a quiet moment under a tree in your backyard.
Pro Tip: Try Forest Bathing
According to the Global Wellness Institute, forest therapy means taking in the forest atmosphere through all of your senses. It is not simply a walk in the woods—it’s a conscious, contemplative practice of immersing yourself in the sights, sounds, and smells of the natural world.
Forest therapy originated from the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku (“forest bathing”), developed in the 1980s to promote physical and mental health. The focus is on slowing down, being present, and appreciating the environment.
Laugh
Laughter really is medicine. It’s part of a universal language of emotion that all humans recognize. When we laugh, multiple systems in the body activate in ways that counteract stress.
In simple terms, laughter:
Lowers stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline
Activates the brain’s reward system, releasing feel-good chemicals like dopamine
Relaxes physical tension in the muscles
Can temporarily lower blood pressure
Boosts immune function by supporting infection-fighting antibodies
Provides a healthy distraction from rumination
Improves mood and resilience
When you laugh, your body quite literally shifts out of stress mode and into a more regulated state. So whatever makes you genuinely laugh—do more of it. Watch a funny movie. Follow a meme account. Spend time playing with pets. Host a game night. Or call that friend who’s got all the best jokes.
And remember: Joy is not frivolous. It’s restorative.
Learn to Say No
For many people, especially people-pleasers, this may be one of the most important stress-reduction practices of all. Modern life is full of obligations. When we automatically say “yes” to every request, we often sacrifice our mental well-being.
Learning to say no isn’t simply a communication skill; it’s an act of self-preservation and empowerment. It reflects an understanding that your energy is finite. But saying no can feel difficult for many of us. We may fear conflict, worry about disappointing others, feel socially pressured, or struggle with unclear personal boundaries.
But saying no is a declaration of self-worth. It acknowledges that your mental, emotional, and physical resources deserve protection. Boundaries are not selfish; they are necessary for health. By developing discernment—knowing when to say yes and when to say no—you create a life guided more by authenticity and intention rather than obligation and exhaustion.
Keep a Journal
Journaling helps slow the mind. When thoughts feel tangled, writing helps untangle them.
Research suggests journaling can:
Help prioritize problems, fears, and concerns
Increase awareness of thinking patterns and triggers
Support emotional processing
Identify negative behaviors or recurring stressors
Improve clarity and decision-making
Never journaled before? It doesn’t have to be complicated.
Set aside even 5–10 minutes a day.
Write without editing.
Doodle.
Make lists.
Free-write whatever is on your mind.
You can use a notebook, your phone, your computer, or whatever works for you. There’s no required structure. The act of externalizing your thoughts is what creates the benefit.
Try Massage or Bodywork
There is growing evidence that massage and therapeutic bodywork can help regulate the nervous system and reduce symptoms of stress.
Massage therapy has been associated with:
Lower cortisol levels
Increased serotonin and dopamine
Improved sleep quality
Reduced muscle tension
Enhanced overall relaxation response
Visit our Massage Therapy page to learn more about the massage options at Western.
Forms of bodywork, such as craniosacral therapy and myofascial release, focus on releasing stored tension patterns in the body. Stress is not only psychological, it is also physiological. It accumulates in muscles, posture, and breathing patterns.
By working directly with the body, these therapies can help interrupt chronic stress loops and support nervous system recalibration.
Practice the 5-4-3-2-1 Method
When stress feels acute, like your thoughts are racing or your body feels overwhelmed, the 5-4-3-2-1 method is a simple and highly effective grounding tool.
It works by shifting your focus away from anxious thoughts and back into your senses. Grounding techniques help interrupt the stress cycle and bring your nervous system back into the present moment. Before starting, pause and pay attention to your breathing. Take slow, deep, steady breaths. Longer exhales can help signal safety to your nervous system. Once you’ve settled into a few calm breaths, move through the following steps:
5: Acknowledge FIVE things you see.
Look around you. It could be a water bottle, a light fixture, a tree outside, your cat—anything in your environment.
4: Acknowledge FOUR things you can touch.
Your clothing against your skin. The chair beneath you. The floor under your feet. The temperature of the air.
3: Acknowledge THREE things you hear.
Focus on external sounds: traffic, birds, a fan humming, distant conversation.
2: Acknowledge TWO things you can smell.
Maybe it’s coffee, soap, fresh air, or your own deodorant.
1: Acknowledge ONE thing you can taste.
What does the inside of your mouth taste like? Breakfast? Gum? Toothpaste?
This practice works because it gently pulls your attention away from mental spirals and back into your body and environment.
Change Your Temperature
If you need to quickly interrupt an intense stress response, changing your body temperature can be surprisingly effective. Sudden temperature shifts stimulate the nervous system and can help “reset” your stress response. This is particularly helpful during acute stress, panic, or emotional overwhelm.
You might try:
Taking a cold shower
Stepping outside into the winter air
Holding an ice cube in your hand
Placing a frozen gel mask on your face
Cold exposure in particular can activate the body’s dive reflex, which slows heart rate and can rapidly calm the nervous system. Heat exposure, such as infrared sauna or steam, promotes muscle relaxation and can reduce tension stored in the body. Even brief exposure can help interrupt stress patterns and bring you back to center.
Supplement
Cortisol is your body’s primary stress hormone. In healthy patterns, cortisol is highest in the morning to help you wake up and gradually declines throughout the day. When chronic stress disrupts that rhythm, sleep, mood, and energy levels often suffer. Supporting balanced cortisol patterns can help improve stress resilience and overall well-being.
We recommend Cortisol Manager by Integrative Therapeutics. This formula is designed to promote healthy cortisol regulation and support relaxation using ingredients such as Sensoril Ashwagandha, L-Theanine, Magnolia and Epimedium extracts, and Phosphatidylserine.
Clinical research suggests that Sensoril ashwagandha may significantly reduce cortisol levels in individuals experiencing high stress. Combined, these ingredients help promote relaxation, improve stress resilience, and support better sleep quality.
If you’re interested in learning more about why we chose Integrative Therapeutics as our supplement provider, and about the supplements we carry and how they may support your health, check out our recent blog breaking it down.
(As always, consult with a qualified healthcare provider before starting any new supplement, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or managing a medical condition.)
What if you need more support?
If self-care tools aren’t enough, that doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It simply means you may benefit from additional support.
Counseling or therapy can provide:
A safe, confidential space to process stressors
Tools for managing anxiety and emotional regulation
Support in building healthy boundaries
Guidance in navigating life transitions
Trauma-informed care when needed
Seeking therapy is not a last resort. It is a proactive step toward long-term mental and emotional health.
We’re here to help you de-stress
Stress may be part of being human, but staying stuck in it doesn’t have to be. You don’t have to figure it all out alone. Explore Western’s services, ask questions, try something new, and take the next step toward feeling better and living better.
