Vision is the dominant sense we use to navigate and survive the world. The eyes are the only external part of the brain, so it makes sense to use them to help decrease stress. When stressed, your pupils dilate, changes take place in the eye's optics to bring the “threat” into sharp focus - think portrait mode on your phone.

You have probably heard of tunnel vision, but did you know you can also get tunnel hearing when stressed? Hormones released during stress can reduce or even stop blood circulation in the ear affecting your hearing.

You may experience a dry mouth or clenched jaw when stressed but generally it’s not the area of your body you think of to help you relieve stress. Here’s how you can use your mouth to influence your stress.

We have all heard about taking a deep breath when we are feeling stressed. It’s true that deepening your breath into fuller, belly breaths can help activate a calming response but being told to “take a deep breath” when you are stressed can be downright annoying.

Understanding that stress shifts your breathing helps us recognize that you can use breathing or the area of your nose to shift stress. Breathing bypasses the stressful thoughts swirling around in your head and impacts the body directly.

Touch.

Most of us take our sense of touch for granted. Our hands for example, an appendage we use on a daily basis to conduct our lives — to cook, clean, work, show affection, play, text, channel surf, eat and more — are often not give a second thought.

Sure, you could summon a feeling of gratitude for your hands or sense of touch in the moment that could result in shifting your stress response. But today, I am going to share less cognitive ways to use your hands and sense of touch to calm yourself when you are activated in a stress response.