Mental
Protocols for sleep, stress, focus and mood — wind-down routines, breathing practices, worry windows — each with the mechanism and the research summarised.
Cold Splash + 5-4-3-2-1 Senses
Splash cold water on the face, then name five things you see, four you hear, three you touch, two you smell and one you taste — a two-minute reset that pairs a physical trigger with a grounding exercise.
Acts of Kindness — Weekly Batch
Pick one day a week and do three deliberate, small things for other people on that day — batching them into one day is what makes the effect noticeable.
Coherent Breathing — 6 Breaths a Minute
Five seconds in, five seconds out, no pause — six breaths a minute for five to ten minutes. A daily dose, not a rescue technique.
No Clock-Watching at Night
Turn the clock away from the bed, and if you wake and cannot fall back asleep within about twenty minutes, get up and do something dull in dim light until you are sleepy again.
Quiet the Bedroom
Audit the bedroom for sound the way you would for light, then remove what can be removed and mask what cannot with steady broadband sound.
Body Scan — 15 min
Lie down and move attention slowly from the toes to the crown, pausing a few breaths at each region without trying to change anything — the instruction that makes it work is the one people skip: noticing sensation, not relaxing on command.
Evening Brain Dump
Ten minutes before wind-down, write every open loop onto one page — tasks, worries, half-decisions — then close the notebook and leave it out of the bedroom.
Screen-Free First Hour
No phone, mail or feed for the first hour after waking. Get light, water and movement before any screen — or the day's most important task, before anyone else sets the agenda.
Eye Break — the 20-20-20 Rule
Every 20 minutes at a screen, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds — the one rule that resets the eye's focusing muscle before fatigue sets in.
Savoring — One No-Screen Meal
Eat one meal per day without screens — phone face-down, attention on flavour, texture, and company. Slower eating improves satiety; the attentional rest carries into the afternoon.
Morning Sunlight 10 min — Mood Anchor
Within 60 minutes of waking, get outside for 10 minutes facing the sun — sets the cortisol awakening response, primes alertness, and is associated with better mood through the day.
Name the Emotion (Affect Labeling)
When stress rises, name it out loud or on paper: "I am noticing anxiety about the deadline." Labelling the emotion lowers amygdala activity and restores prefrontal control in under a minute.