Press pause to re-set

Stress shows up in different ways for different people.

It's a natural brain and body response to pressure, change, and uncertainty.

It might feel like overwhelm, anxiety, being grumpy and short tempered, or being hyper and 'wired'. Or it might show up as poor sleep, heart palpitations, headaches, or exhaustion.

Stress is also not all bad: short moments of adrenaline and stress, such as before an interview, can help us do something that might be challenging or a bit scary.

See my blog post on the good and bad types of stress, and what stress does in the body short and long term.

Usually after these short stress episodes our brain and body completes the stress cycle and all our bodily systems return to normal.

With chronic (ongoing) stress, the brain and body don't get a chance to re-set, and the body is forever primed in the 'fight, flight, or freeze' mode, with the knock-on consequences.

How to re-set

The good news is that we can re-set our body's systems so that we switch out of the stress response, and into our relaxation response.

We can do this throughout the day with a range of simple techniques.

Building in short micro de-stress moments also helps us prevent our 'stress bucket' from getting too full.

I talk more about the stress bucket in my free e-booklet on stress and how to manage it. Basically imagine your small and big stresses building up in a bucket, all day long. By the end of the day the bucket might be overflowing if you've had a particularly stressful day. You might feel unable to do much because you're exhausted and worn out, or you might snap at colleagues or friends and family. Or you might reach for the chocolate and alcohol to 'unwind'.

If there were holes in the stress bucket, then it would be less likely to overflow and you wouldn't feel constantly at breaking point.

The little holes in the bucket our the things we do when we press pause. The more micro breaks we can take during the day the better.

What things can we do to press pause and re-set?

You can do whatever feels good to you!

Pressing pause on your daily schedule might be:

• 1 minute of long, slow, deep breaths

• a walk in nature

• hugging a tree

• dancing for 3 minutes to your favourite song

• doing a bit of a jigsaw

• craft activities like knitting, art or making jewellery

• putting your legs on a chair seat or up the wall for 5 minutes

• standing outside with your eyes closed and absorbing sounds and scents

• a 20 minute yoga nidra practice

• playing a computer game to escape

It doesn't really matter what it is, as long as it dials down your stress response (fight, flight or freeze), and activates your relaxation response.

In yoga we can do this through slow breathing practices, extending the exhalation, and humming practices like bramari. All of these activate the vagus nerve which is essential to help us de-stress.

Movement also is great: yoga, tai chi, walking, dancing etc.

Yoga nidra, or deep restorative relaxation is great if you want a slightly longer re-set.

Try my spring yoga nidra audio track which is 18 minutes long. Yoga nidra is a guided form of deep relaxation. All you need to do is lie down and be comfy and listen to the sound of my voice. (Falling asleep in yoga nidra is normal.)

Free e-booklet on stress and how to de-stress

This blog post is only a brief introduction into stress and how to manage it. I've written an e-booklet with more information which is also linked to free audio and video resources on my website.

Find out more about the e-booklet and access the pdf and supporting files in my online library.

(Note you have to create an account on my website in order to access this, for which I'm sorry! This is how the platform operates unfortunately. If, like me, you don't want to create accounts here, there and everywhere, email me via the contact form in the footer of my website and I will email you the pdf. I can't email the recordings I'm afraid.)

April is stress awareness month / Be the change

For 2026 the Stress Management Society are promoting stress awareness month with the tag #BeTheChange.

They say: "You do not need to remove stress from your life. You just need enough moments of calm to balance it out."

They have several useful resources on their website

• 30 day 'bingo' card calendar to pick a different de-stressing activity each day

• information pack for individuals

• practical tips on a one page sheet called 'Starting with You: Simple Ways to Reduce Stress'