Anxiety and stress: something to do about it every day
Most advice about anxiety tells you what it is. Less of it tells you what to do at 7am, or at the moment your chest tightens in a meeting.
These are the practices Thriving uses for it: short, specific exercises you can do today, and the studies each one is built on.
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The free account has a starter version of each of these: a minute or two, and a place to keep track.
One Breath
Close your eyes and bring your focus to your breath.
Mindful Eating
Zero extra time required — you're already eating.
Find Your Level
Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and observe yourself impartially and compassionately.
A Wee Bit Grateful
Write down one thing that you are grateful for.
The practices, and the research behind each one
Inside the app these run as a twelve-week Program, one practice a week, with All-Access. Here they are with their sources.
Deep Nasal Breathing Journal
Your 6-BPM Baseline
Thirty seconds is enough to begin changing your nervous system.
Zaccaro et al. (2018). How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
Ma et al. (2017). The effect of diaphragmatic breathing on attention, negative affect and stress in healthy adults. Frontiers in Psychology.
Breath Awareness — Mindfulness 101
Anchor the Attention
Breath awareness is the foundation of mindfulness practice across nearly every contemplative tradition.
Levinson, Stoll, Kindy, Merry, & Davidson (2014). A mind you can count on: validating breath counting as a behavioral measure of mindfulness. Frontiers in Psychology.
Zaccaro et al. (2018). How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
Breaking Emotional Patterns
Map Your Worry Loops
Identify inherited emotional patterns and automatic reactions.
David, Cristea, Hofmann (2018). Why cognitive behavioral therapy is the current gold standard of psychotherapy. Frontiers in Psychiatry.
Hofmann, Asnaani, Vonk, Sawyer, Fang (2012). The efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Cognitive Therapy and Research.
Schaeuffele, Schulz, Knaevelsrud et al. (2024). A systematic review and meta-analysis of transdiagnostic cognitive behavioral therapies for emotional disorders in adults. Nature Human Behaviour.
Emotional Check-In and Limiting Damage
Daily Check-in + Damage Limits
When you can't change a feeling, you can still limit its damage.
Hofmann, Asnaani, Vonk, Sawyer, Fang (2012). The efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Cognitive Therapy and Research.
Hayes, Luoma, Bond, Masuda, Lillis (2006). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Model, processes and outcomes. Behaviour Research and Therapy.
Berking et al. (2008). Emotion-regulation skills as a treatment target in psychotherapy. Behaviour Research and Therapy.
Thoughts Are Not Facts
Thoughts Are Not Facts
Cognitive defusion: learning to notice thoughts as mental events rather than truths about reality.
Hayes, Luoma, Bond, Masuda, Lillis (2006). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Model, processes and outcomes. Behaviour Research and Therapy.
Larsson, Hooper, Osborne, Bennett, McHugh (2016). A systematic review of cognitive defusion techniques on negative thinking. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science.
Beck (1979). Cognitive Therapy of Depression. Foundational text.
Cognitive Distortions
Catch Catastrophizing
Learn the common cognitive distortions: all-or-nothing thinking, catastrophizing, mind-reading, personalization, etc.
Rnic, Dozois, Martin (2016). Cognitive Distortions, Humor Styles, and Depression. Europe's Journal of Psychology.
Hofmann, Asnaani, Vonk, Sawyer, Fang (2012). The efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Cognitive Therapy and Research.
Beck, Rush, Shaw, Emery (1979). Cognitive Therapy of Depression. Foundational text.
Make Room for the Feeling
Make Room for the Feeling
Acceptance practice from ACT — making room for difficult emotions rather than fighting or fleeing them.
A-Tjak, Davis, Morina, Powers, Smits, Emmelkamp (2015). A meta-analysis of the efficacy of acceptance and commitment therapy for clinically relevant mental and physical health problems. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.
Hayes, Luoma, Bond, Masuda, Lillis (2006). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Model, processes and outcomes. Behaviour Research and Therapy.
Campbell-Sills, Barlow, Brown, Hofmann (2006). Effects of suppression and acceptance on emotional responses of individuals with anxiety and mood disorders. Behaviour Research and Therapy.
A study finding a benefit in the people it tested is not a promise of that result for you. Follow the links and judge for yourself. All the sources.
It's rarely just one thing
Anxiety rarely lives in one place. Sleep, movement, the people you're close to and whether the week is going anywhere all feed it. That's why Thriving covers four spheres — physical, mental, emotional and purpose — and why one or two practices from each is enough.
Everyone tells you what matters. Thriving gives you the exact exercises, somewhere to organize them into a routine that's yours, and the tools to keep going once the novelty wears off.
If this is affecting your ability to work, sleep or look after the people around you, talk to a doctor or a therapist. Many people do both.
Also on Thriving: Sleep · Anger · Procrastination · Habits