To answer your question, I first want to distinguish top-down vs. bottom-up approaches to emotion regulation. A top-down approach tries to address the emotion with the top part of the brain, the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for logic and reason. When you try to logic your way out of feeling stressed, you’re taking a top-down approach. A bottom-up approach tries to address the emotion by focusing on the body first, such as doing a breathing exercise to calm down. When we’re in a state of stress, anxiety, or panic, our prefrontal cortex goes offline and our “fight or flight” response takes over, putting us into survival mode. When we’re in this state, it often makes the most sense to take a bottom-up approach, since the logical part of our brain has taken a backseat. Breathing, yoga, walking, running, meditating, dancing, or any other kind of movement that connect you with your body can help!