8 Evidence-Based Relaxation Techniques for Calming Your Nervous System
The modern world can be a tough place for our nervous systems! We're constantly bombarded with information and sensory input, and we may feel overwhelmed by work, school, finances, and the general demands of daily life. On top of that, many of us worry about the future of our health, country, and planet. All of this input can activate the nervous system and put us in a state of stress.
Given the demands of modern living, we all benefit from incorporating mini “nervous system breaks” into our daily rhythm. This is particularly important for neurodivergent individuals, who are particularly vulnerable to shifting into a stressed state (you can read more about that here).
Before I became a psychologist and learned about the biological foundations of the nervous system, my body was constantly in a stressed state. Learning how to down-regulate and calm my nervous system through science-based exercises has been one of the ways I've been able to heal my body over the years. So, while there are many strategies out there for calming the nervous system, here are eight evidence-based relaxation techniques that research shows can help you increase calm, reduce anxiety, and down-regulate your nervous system.
1. Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Progressive muscle relaxation is one technique that can help reduce stress. Progressive muscle relaxation activates the relaxation response and helps the nervous system to calm down and enter a deeply relaxed state. When using progressive muscle relaxation, you intentionally create tension in your muscles and release it (starting at the feet and moving to your head). We tend to release extra tension by first creating tension, which is what helps activate the relaxation response. Go through one set of muscles at a time so that each muscle group gets tensed and then relaxed a few times.
One study found that 20 minutes of progressive muscle relaxation on Monday through Friday for six months led to significant reductions in cortisol, an indicator of stress. So progressive muscle relaxation may be an effective way to decrease stress.
How to do Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Start with your feet and create tension by clutching your toes. Hold the tension for 5 seconds, then release. Repeat once more, then move to the next muscle group (calves, thighs, stomach, chest, arms, shoulders/neck, face, and then the whole body).
I recommend listening to a recording that will walk you through the exercise the first time you do this. Such as Darmouth’s Progressive Muscle Relaxation recording.
2. Adult Coloring
There has been a lot of interest in adult coloring in the last few years. Well, it turns out that coloring can actually be an effective relaxation technique.
One study showed that using adult coloring books can reduce anxiety as long as the shapes that are being colored in are sufficiently complex. So if you’re looking to color for calm, try grabbing a coloring book with complex mandalas or details to get the calming benefit.
3. Breathing Deep
Another way we calm the nervous system and boost relaxation is by activating the parasympathetic nervous system—our "rest and digest" system. There are several ways to do this, but one of the quickest may be to take a few deep breaths.
The simplest breathing technique to learn is the rectangle box breath:
Rectangular Breathing
Breath naturally for a few breaths, then exhale all of your air
To begin, breathe in for a count of four
At the top, hold your breath for one count
Exhale through your nose for another count of four
Hold again for one count
Repeat as many times as feels comfortable
As you breathe in and out, you can picture yourself drawing a rectangle (up on the inhale, to the right on the hold, down on the exhale, and to the left on the hold)
Resource: You can find a free, recorded audio deep breathing and relaxation guide here at Dartmouth’s wellness center.
Alternatively, if you’re struggling with depression and looking to awaken (up-regulate) the nervous system, you may consider different breathing strategies such as SKY breathing. This breathing technique involves doing slow breathing (two to four breaths per minute) followed by fast breathing (30 breaths per minute), followed by “Oms." SKY breathing has been shown to reduce depression and anxiety.
4. Yoga
Like some of the other relaxation techniques discussed here, yoga has been found to reduce cortisol. One study asked participants to do yoga for 3 months. The participants who practiced yoga 50 or more times during that time period had lower cortisol at the end of the study. This suggests that doing four yoga sessions per week could be an effective strategy for relaxation.
If picking up a yoga practice feels daunting just focus on one or two key poses. Focus on yoga poses that involve bringing your head below your heart. These include yoga poses such as downward-facing dog or child’s pose.
Poses that bring our head below our heart are helpful for activating the parasympathetic nervous system which helps to down-regulate and calm the nervous system. When we bring our head below our heart, it can stimulate the vagus nerve, which is a key component of the parasympathetic nervous system.
Activating the parasympathetic nervous system can help us relax and feel more grounded, as it helps to balance out the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the "fight or flight" response. So next time you're feeling stressed out or overwhelmed, try incorporating some downward-facing poses into your yoga practice to help bring some balance to your nervous system. Plus, they're a great way to stretch out those muscles!
5. Taking a Break From Your Phone
We now know that spending too much time on our smartphones or the internet is associated with higher levels of depression and anxiety. But the research also suggests that this depends greatly on how we spend that time online. If we use our tech time to compare ourselves to others or read stressful news, that might not be so good for our anxiety levels (this is related to the concept of emotional contagion). But if we instead use that time to connect with others, connect with the neurodivergent community, engage our special interests, or engage in other prosocial activities, it could actually be good for us.
For those of us who are highly sensitive and hyper-empathic, we should be particularly mindful of emotional contagion when it comes to our phone use. With our phones, we can now access the suffering of the world up close and personal twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week! If you tend to get drawn into other people's stories and experiences, it's worth considering how this may be impacting your own emotional well-being. It can be tough for highly sensitive people to find a balance between being engaged and aware of the world around us and also maintaining healthy boundaries to protect ourselves from taking on too much suffering. It may take some practice, but finding this balance is important for our overall well-being.
6. Humming, Chanting, and Singing
Humming, chanting, and singing are powerful ways of activating the vagus nerve. One study even showed that chanting “om” can deactivate the limbic center of the brain, which is responsible for threat and emotion. The vagus nerve is interconnected with our vocal cords and the muscles at the back of the throat. Therefore, using your vocal cords in mindful ways directly activates this nerve.
7. Listening to Calming Music
We might intuitively feel that the soft tones of calming music help us relax. The research supports that intuition. One study found that listening to calming music helps us more quickly reduce cortisol, a key stress hormone. Given calming music is easy to find on YouTube or Spotify, this may be an easy, effective relaxation technique.
8. Incorporating Cold Therapy
One way to calm the body fast is to take a dunk in a cold body of water like a river or ocean. Research has found that spending 20 minutes in cold (about 80 degrees Fahrenheit or 26 degrees Celsius) water can increase parasympathetic activity, which is generally associated with a sense of relaxation.
One way that cold exposure may stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system is through the action of cold receptors in the skin, which can stimulate the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Acetylcholine can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, leading to a relaxation response.
You can also incorporate cold therapy by adding 20 seconds of cold water to the end of your shower or placing cold packs around your neck. So give this relaxation technique a try if you're up for a cold jolt.
It is worth noting that the effects of cold exposure on the body can vary, and that for some people, cold exposure may also stimulate the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the body's "fight or flight" response. (Note: If you have underlying health conditions, it’s always important to check with your medical provider before initiating cold therapy).
In Sum
It can be tough to relax in today's high-stress world, which can lead to our bodies constantly being in a stressed state. To help combat this, it's a good idea to take mini "nervous system breaks" throughout the day. There are plenty of strategies out there for calming the nervous system, and you don't have to try them all. Just find one or two that work for you and stick with those. Don't feel overwhelmed by all the options out there – just choose one or two that work for you and give them a try!
Note: If you’re neurodivergent and want to learn more about the neurodivergent nervous system, you can read my deep dive article on it here or check out the Neurodivergent Nervous System Workbook.
References
● Curry, N.A. and T. Kasser, Can coloring mandalas reduce anxiety? Art Therapy, 2005. 22(2): p. 81-85.
● Fredrickson, B.L., et al., The undoing effect of positive emotions. Motivation and emotion, 2000. 24(4): p. 237-258.
● Khalfa, S., et al., Effects of relaxing music on salivary cortisol level after psychological stress. ANNALS-NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, 2003. 999: p. 374-376.
● Krajewski, J., M. Sauerland, and R. Wieland, Relaxation‐induced cortisol changes within lunch breaks–an experimental longitudinal worksite field study. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 2011. 84(2): p. 382-394.
● Mourot, L., et al., Cardiovascular autonomic control during short-term thermoneutral and cool head-out immersion. Aviation, space, and environmental medicine, 2008. 79(1): p. 14-20.
● Thirthalli, J., et al., Cortisol and antidepressant effects of yoga. Indian journal of psychiatry, 2013. 55(Suppl 3): p. S405.
● Zope, S.A. and R.A. Zope, Sudarshan kriya yoga: Breathing for health. International journal of yoga, 2013. 6(1): p. 4.
