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5 quick coping strategies

To help people hit the reset button on stress and anxiety, Jenny Taitz, a psychiatrist at the University of California, Los Angeles, has offered five quick coping strategies:

  • Lower your body temperature to help regulate intense emotions and slow your heart rate. Try dipping your face into a bowl of ice water for 15 to 30 seconds.
  • Pace your breathing by consciously inhaling and exhaling, slowing your breaths to six a minute. This can help lower blood pressure, among other physiological benefits.
  • Listen to relaxing music, such as Marconi Union’s “Weightless.”
  • Practice “anchoring” by digging your heels into the floor and observing what you’re thinking and feeling. Evaluate whether those thoughts are helpful.
  • Improve your tolerance of stressful physical sensations by replicating them in quieter moments. For example, you can try hyperventilating by breathing through a coffee straw for one minute.

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