Feeling Reactive, Tired, or On Edge? This Breath Helps You Rebalance
A Micro Habit to Help You Stay Well, Steady & Sane This December and Beyond...
We’ve entered that time of year when daylight disappears by 4pm, inboxes inflate, and suddenly the “just a quick drink” calendar becomes a full-blown festive marathon.
At the same time, we’re wrapping up 2025 at work, keeping children alive, juggling socials, buying presents, avoiding the lurgy, and trying not to drown in end-of-year pressure.
In other words… it’s A LOT!
And yet many of us still try to “go go go” like it’s June. But here’s the thing your biology wishes you’d remember:
Seasonally, your nervous system is wired to wind down – not rev up.
Winter is nature’s rest phase. Long nights and cold weather cue your body to slow, restore, and conserve energy.
But when you override that and keep pushing, the effects show up fast:
Your stress tolerance drops
Your patience evaporates
Your immune system gets hit
Reactivity increases (those “snapping at nothing” moments aren’t random)
And the minute you stop… boom, you get ill
This isn’t a personal flaw. It’s simply physiology. A client said to me recently:
“Every December I tell myself I’m fine… until my body starts screaming at me to slow down.”
Another admitted:
“I’d been overriding my tiredness for weeks. The minute I sat down, I burst into tears… which told me everything I needed to know.”
When we ignore the signs - the foggy thinking, clenched jaw, restless sleep, short fuse, constant rushing - we drain the very energy reserves we need to get through the month well.
Polyvagal science explains why this happens.
When you’re stretched beyond your capacity, your nervous system shifts into survival mode. Your tolerance window narrows. You become more jumpy, impatient, or emotional - not because you’re “failing,” but because your system is depleted and trying to protect you.
The good news? You can expand your capacity and stop yourself from fizzling out - but you need tiny, frequent resets.
So here’s the micro habit I recommend to every client this month:
🫁 The Replenishing Reset Breath
(also known as the physiological sigh)
A small, powerful breath practice that resets your nervous system in under a minute.
It’s the one I use personally, and the one I teach almost daily.
Clients tell me:
“It’s the only thing that stops me spiralling.” “It saved me in a supermarket car park during the Christmas chaos.” “It’s my secret weapon when I’m about to overreact.”
What it is
A natural reflex your body already uses to offload stress - you’ve seen children do it right before they calm down after crying.
It’s simple:
Inhale through the nose
Take a second small inhale on top of the first
Long, slow exhale through the mouth
Repeat 2–5 rounds.
How it works (the science bit)
The double inhale reopens collapsed air sacs in the lungs, helping you offload carbon dioxide. The long exhale signals safety to the brain and resets your stress response almost instantly. It’s backed by research from Stanford neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman and used clinically to reduce acute stress.
What it helps you do
Calm your nervous system quickly
Reduce overwhelm and emotional reactivity
Expand your tolerance for stress
Improve clarity and decision making
Prevent those burnout-December meltdowns
Restore energy without needing a day off
It’s discreet, quick, and you can do it anywhere - the loo at a party, the car before school pick-up, at your desk, in the supermarket queue.
This month, it might just be the difference between crawling into Christmas feeling depleted… or arriving with capacity, calm, and your immune system intact.
If you’d like the guided audio version, you can download the free MP3 here: 👉Replenishing Breath Guided Practice
