Back to basics
After a challenging experience, emotional, and/or cognitive fatigue can be felt for a few days. When emotions are high, we take in memories through our visual and sensory systems. We can “see” and “feel” the memories when we are asleep or awake.
Resetting your system
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Calm: Breathe, imagine a calming image, or listen to music. Our tools can help
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Soothe: Repetitive movement, such as walking, rocking, colouring, even washing dishes, helps reset our system
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Rest: Watching TV, listening to music, sitting or walking in nature can help. It releases BDNF, which balances what cortisol (stress) does to the body.
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Then: When you can, do something you love
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Overview
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Hydration, eating, and sleeping helps
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Blocking rest helps. It doesn’t have to be long, but we do need to protect it. Put away technology for a little while. Technology increases a part of dopamine, which keeps our system engaged. Emails and texts coming through also keeps us in a reactive state. We want to shift to a rest state so that the system can re-boot. Try for 10 minutes without getting on the phone or iPad.
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Other strategies that can help bring us down:
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Relaxation – breathe, imagine a calming image, or listen to music
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Repetitive movement (walking, rocking, even washing dishes) helps re-sets our system
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Quick Links & Tools