Quick Fixes for Stress and Anxiety That Actually Work (Kind Of)

Whether it’s the “physiological sigh” popularized by podcaster Andrew Huberman or the New York Times advising people to “plunge your face into a bowl with ice water for 15 to 30 seconds,” quick and concrete tactics for managing stress and anxiety are all over the internet. And the truth is, they work.

Plenty of research shows that modulating your breathing and extreme cold water on your face can help reset your nervous system.

But, then again, as performance coach Steve Magness recently pointed out on Twitter, lots of things work:

It’s hard to go shopping every day, and few would suggest that doing so promotes a highly fulfilled life. It’s also hard (and unrealistic) to physiologically sigh ninety times a day or repeatedly dunk your head in an ice bucket. At best, these are short-term interventions for extremely high-stress situations. At worst, they get in the way of what we’re really after: calm, equanimity, and the ability to perform well under distress.

Decades of research shows that there are two primary ways to manage stress and anxiety, which tend to be most effective when undertaken…