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A small cortisol reset before you rest

We talk a lot about reducing stress, but sometimes the body isn’t responding to what is happening now. It is responding to everything it thinks is still unfinished.

Uncertainty keeps the brain anticipating. What still needs doing? What did I forget? What happens tomorrow? Even when we physically stop working, part of us can remain mentally on duty.

There is an interesting principle used in high-stress environments, including the military: after stress, restoring predictability and a sense of control can help the nervous system move out of that heightened state. It might be preparing equipment, knowing the next steps, or completing a familiar routine.

That doesn’t literally “flush cortisol” from your body, and cortisol isn’t something we should be trying to eliminate. It is an essential hormone. But reducing uncertainty and perceived threat can reduce activation of the stress response.

So try something incredibly simple before you rest tonight.

Write down three things you finished today.

Not three things you still need to do. Three things that are done.

Then, if something important is unfinished, give it a next step: I’ll answer that email tomorrow morning. I’ll make the appointment after breakfast.

You haven’t necessarily finished everything.

But your brain no longer has to keep everything open just to make sure you remember it.

Sometimes rest begins before you lie down. It begins when your brain knows it can stop keeping watch.

See you inside