Behaviors

Use shorter-duration goals to reduce the motivational slump in the middle of goal pursuit; weekly goals are often better than annual goals because the 'middle' is much shorter.

Pair an unpleasant but beneficial activity with an immediately rewarding one to make the task easier to sustain; examples include chores with podcasts or music, or listening to podcasts only while walking for morning sunlight. To preserve the effect, reserve the rewarding media for the paired task.

For unpleasant but useful activities, add a few minutes at the end that are still part of the task but less intense, so the memory of the experience is more favorable and you're more likely to repeat it; applies to hard workouts via a less intense cooldown.

Gently rub just inside the ear canal opening, right outside the ear canal, or behind the ears with light pressure to activate a sensory branch of the vagus nerve. Described as mildly calming, but not sufficient for severe stress or panic.

Use exercise involving the large muscles of the body, especially the legs and trunk, to stimulate adrenaline release and vagal signaling that increases alertness, motivation, and readiness for physical or cognitive work. Examples given include light calisthenics, a few minutes of treadmill walking progressing a bit faster, jumping, resistance training, and running. Exercise is also framed as a way to improve brain function and plasticity.

Organize bouts of learning, especially cognitive learning, to occur in the 1–2 hours after exercise, and possibly up to 2–3 or even 4 hours after, provided the exercise leaves you energized rather than exhausted. Do not take the exercise to exhaustion, because that leaves you depleted and increases parasympathetic activity rather than supporting alertness and focus.

Sit or lie down, place palms down with elbows at the edge of a table, push elbows down and away from the ears, then turn the head up and to the right and then to the left. Presented as a mechanical way to activate vagal fibers along the neck and promote calm.

Use gargling as another way to activate the calming parasympathetic aspects of the vagus nerve via the back of the throat.

Do not pretend trauma did not happen or that treatment is unnecessary; avoidance worsens PTSD and can lead to complications like substance abuse and self-injury.

Use stimulant treatment as first-line intervention for correctly diagnosed ADHD; emphasized as effective when the diagnosis is accurate.

Use psychosocial intervention as the first-line treatment for children with acute or chronic PTSD rather than stimulant medication.

Identify the sensory cues that trigger symptoms; knowing cues helps people understand symptoms are not coming out of nowhere and can improve recovery.

Build a customized toolbox of stress-regulation tools; the individual decides what cues to watch for and which tools help. Examples mentioned include positive thoughts, deep breathing, mindfulness, muscle relaxation, music, sports, teammates, coaches, friends, and sleepovers.

Examine a stress response by mapping four corners: thoughts, emotions, physical feelings, and actions. Start with whichever corner is most accessible for the person; changing one corner can shift the others and produce a new response.

Rate stress from 0 or 1 to 10 before intervening. If stress is very high, around 8–10 out of 10, use a toolbox tool first rather than the square exercise; wait until stress drops to around 5–3 before engaging cognitively.

Build dedicated space and time for mindfulness or decompression, especially in overstimulating environments like social media; this should be personalized.

Create explicit family boundaries for social media use. One example given was putting all phones in a basket at dinner and leaving them there during the meal.

Train classroom teachers to deliver yoga and mindfulness rather than relying only on outside instructors, because teachers know classroom management.

Even if not sleeping, lie quietly with eyes closed and stay in bed a bit longer; in the cited Stanford athlete study, resting or sleeping more improved performance. Avoid being on the phone during this time.

If you are sneezing, coughing, or still experiencing cold symptoms, avoid work, the gym, and contact with others as much as possible because you are still contagious.

Log sleep quality, workout intensity, travel, interactions, and other life events daily in a calendar, then when you get sick look back at the days before symptom onset and recovery to identify patterns that may have contributed.

When actively trying to avoid getting a cold or flu, think twice before hugging someone or kissing them on the cheek.

After shaking someone's hand, sanitize your hands to reduce the chance of transferring viruses to your face.

Short bouts of stress can enhance immune function provided they do not impair sleep; cortisol is beneficial when elevated early in the day rather than late in the day or evening.

Upon waking, before brushing teeth, take a sip of clean water, swish it around in your mouth, and swallow it to potentially support the oral and gut microbiome.

If you feel unusual whole-body heaviness, fatigue, or a throat tickle, go home and rest rather than pushing activity; get into bed early, and even if you cannot fall asleep, remain as still and relaxed as possible.

Long-duration endurance efforts like marathon training can severely compromise innate immune function and increase vulnerability to colds and flus.

After warming up, keep most workouts to about 50 to 60 minutes, be very careful about exceeding 75 minutes in a single bout, avoid stacking two hard workouts in one day if you are prone to getting sick, and take one full rest day from exercise each week.

If you trained fasted and especially if the session exceeded 60 to 75 minutes, ingest complex carbohydrates and perhaps fruit within about 45 minutes to 1 hour after exercise.

Use sauna regularly to help keep colds and flus at bay: examples given include 3 rounds of 15 minutes with 2-minute cool-off periods between rounds, or a single 20- to 30-minute session. During breaks, you can take a cool or cool-ish shower or simply stand outside the sauna. Avoid sauna when already feeling really run down, heavy in the body, or starting to get sniffles.