Yahoo Lifestyle 
Can't sleep? 5 steps to calm your wandering mind
Stress affects everyone differently. One common experience of stress is having a wandering mind.
A wandering mind can distract you from what you’re doing and might be the reason you’re spending hours lying awake at night.
When your mind is racing and caught in stressful thinking, it can be difficult to calm down.
Stress can cause racing thoughts
When something stressful happens, your body activates a survival process called the ‘Fight, Flight, Freeze’ response.
This response is designed to get you out of danger by helping your body to make a quick decision - whether to run from or to fight the source of stress.
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This response triggers the release of stress hormones and can leave you feeling wired (like the accelerator is pushed all the way down).
Speaking with Yahoo Lifestyle, Clinical psychologist and Medibank Live Better ambassador, Emily Toner shares that in order to calm the mind, we first have to calm our breath.
She explains that “whatever the breath does, the mind tends to follow”.
Whether you have a couple of minutes to spare, or an evening to process, Emily shares her easy to follow five-step breath routine to calm your wandering thoughts.
Calm your racing thoughts with these 5 simple steps
Step 1
“Pause and take three conscious breaths to fill your tummy and chest. Being conscious involves paying attention to the full duration of each in-breath and out-breath and in turn, encourages us to think in the present moment,” says Emily.
Step 2
“Lengthen your out-breath, so it is twice as long as your in-breath. Becoming increasingly more conscious of our breath, I recommend using a rhythm to guide your breath’s length.
“Choose a rhythm that feels natural to you, I tend to breathe in for 4 counts and out for 8 counts, for at least 10 breaths. This exercise can help calm our nervous system into rest and digest. It’s the length of the out-breath that really matters.”
Step 3
“For the third step, add a breath and hold. The pattern should follow breathing in for 4 counts, out for 8, and then holding for 4 counts. After repeating this rhythm for another 10 breaths you might start to yawn or feel a sense of calm begin to come over you.”
Step 4
“Now, breathe as you would normally and observe any tension you might be holding in the rest of your body – you may feel this manifesting in your jaw, brow or in a clenched tummy. See if you can use your breath to let go of this, releasing tension with each out-breath.”
Step 5
“For the final step, check in with your mind once again. Ask yourself if it feels as cluttered as it did before this exercise? If it does, repeat these steps again. Sometimes it can take a decent amount of time to switch into a calmed state if you’ve been particularly wound up or upset.”
Alongside breath work, Emily also finds guided meditations to be beneficial in calming the mind.
As part of the Medibank Live Better program, Emily recently conducted a Puppy Meditation class, comparing our busy minds to that of high-energy puppies. You can find it here.
Please note - this is general information. It is not health advice and it is not tailored to meet your individual health needs. You should consult a trusted health professional before determining whether this activity is suitable for you.
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