I was taught the 5-4-3-2-1 method by my ADHD coach yesterday. It is effective for grounding yourself and reducing anxiety/stress in the moment.

Whether you are ADHD or not you probably have times where your nervous system is overreacting to a perceived threat in the same way it did in times when you had to run or fight predators and real threats to life. Your pulse races, muscles tighten and the adrenaline rushes through your body getting you ready but the catalyst for what is often normally not a threat to your safety less your life.

It may be something you have come to fear doing or a conversation you’ve been putting off, you’ve lost something and fear not finding it, and so on.

So a way to get back into the moment and reclaim control of your nervous system is to engage with it and calm it down by super-focusing on the here and now – away from the source of the initial response.

Known biologically as vagal stimulation this grounding method using your sense to get from your troubled mind into the moment:

How to stop the spiraling:

5 – Notice 5 things you can SEE, describe the texture, colours etc

4 – Name 4 things you can FEEL, the jeans you’re wearing, feeling on the carpet under your feet

3 – Three SOUNDS which may be a car alarm, emergency services roaring past with sirens going, someone next to you eating or breathing, ticking of a clock etc

2 – Identify 2 SMELLS. It may be that you can smell your deodorant and a  familiar aroma coming off an item (eg leather) or something else.

1 – One TASTE. What can you taste? The lunch or snack you had in the last hour? A familiar metallic sensation?

At first this may feel silly and unecessary but give it a chance, it’s a deliberate effort to get back to the here and now.

So much of what we worry about never actually happens and for some of us we are hyper vigilant just in case.

If I’m honest, if someone had sent me this 10 years ago I’d have scoffed and laughed it off as new age hippy sh*t, now I think they were onto something!

If you can feel yourself tensing up try out the 5-4-3-2-1 and let us know how it goes. If nothing else it serves as a distraction from the tough place you were in.