����vlog

Quick bursts of movement are great if your stress is making you feel jittery or like your heart is beating faster than normal. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a set of 20 jumping jacks, 10 pushups or sit-ups or running in place for 30 seconds — a burst of activity gets your heart rate up, and even if brief, will activate several neurotransmitters, including dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine that enhance your mood and help cushion some of that anxiety and stress,” says Dr. Guillem Gonzalez-Lomas, an orthopedic surgeon at NYU Langone Sports Health.

Getting out of your head and into your senses (in this case, your sense of touch) can bring you back to the here and now, says Kissen. Whether that’s popping bubble wrap, sorting your change jar to cash in at the bank or making with the little ones, it brings you back into your body. Or you can try this quickie exercise. “Ask yourself: What’s one thing I can smell, one thing I can taste, one thing I can touch, etc.,” says Kissen. “Activating all the senses is a good grounded technique.”

If there’s no one willing or able to work out the tension in your muscles, you can do it yourself. “There are sensory receptors in the skin that send messages to our brain, signaling that it’s safe to relax,” says Kiera Nagle, the at . It also makes you more aware of where in your body you’re feeling tense, so you can consciously relax those areas, she adds.

If the stress is more mental than physical and you feel your mind looping around itself, give yourself a discrete task, such as organizing your shoes or doing a word puzzle. “When you’re stressed, your brain may be saying, ‘We’ve got a problem to solve,’ so it keeps spinning. That’s a good time to engage your mind,” says Kissen. If you give it a task to focus on, you’ll feel calmer and be better able to deal with what’s actually stressing you out.

Putting on your favorite playlist and letting loose is, of course, good exercise, which is a . “It also engages the mind and brings on feelings of inspiration,” says Kissen. Dancing to music from a happy time and place in your life can trigger positive memories, as well, taking your mind off your stress. One caveat: Not everyone feels comfortable dancing, even solo, and that’s fine. “Some people get stressed out when they feel pressured to dance,” so do what feels right to you.

Run a bath and sink on in. “By changing the body temperature, it’s the full sensory slowing down — it’s kind of like rebooting a computer that has all these windows open doing too much processing,” says Kissen. “By turning it off and staring again, it’ll help to get unstuck.” If you like, add in some other calming sensory stimulators, like fragrant soap or some music.

Assuming you like crafting, that the repetitive action of clicking your needles can be meditative and calming.

Baking checks so many stress-reduction boxes: It can be a sensory experience (smushing the dough, the smell of baked goods and of course the taste); it is a project that requires planning, concentration and mindfulness, which activates your brain; and if you enjoy it, it’s fun.

There’s a ton of research about yoga’s role in stress reduction, and even taking 10 minutes to breathe and stretch in any way that feels good to you can be incredibly soothing, says NYU’s Dr. Gonzalez-Loman.

This is another stress-relieving practice that is super simple and really effective. Forget about the clearing your mind thing and focus on breathing. Slow breathing has been shown in research to have calming effects on the central nervous and cardiovascular systems.

Giving the inside of your pantry a good wipe-down or really getting into the sofa cushions with a vacuum attachment has multiple stress reducing benefits. It’s a project that requires a little planning, but some physical activity — both of which Kissen says can reduce stress —and is likely to result in a sense of achievement that lifts your mood. And working mindfully at it can reduce stress even more: found that people who were told to stay gently focused on what they were doing while washing dishes boosted their affect (although being mindful while you do most any activity may show similar benefits.)

You don’t have to have any skill at art to just let your pen have its way with the page, or even easier, pick up an . “Anything that can get you out of your head, if you enjoy it, can be a stress reliever,” says Kissen. If you’re not focused on how good the drawing is, then the stakes are blissfully low.

It may be hard for some people to dig into a good book when they’re feeling stressed, but binging on a or TV series that transports you out of your life is a positive distraction. “Whether it’s a podcast or a really dumb series, mindfully attending to a target is a great anchor,” says Kissen. In other words, the point isn’t simply to distract yourself, but to make an active choice to place your attention elsewhere, she says. The mind, says Kissen, thinks, “If only I keep thinking and thinking I’ll solve the problem and get out of it,” and choosing to anchor it elsewhere can stop this stress response.