Instead of viewing emotions as mere labels (e.g., happy, sad), conceptualize them as dynamic elements of the brain and body encompassing levels of alertness, interaction with the external world, and perception of your internal state, to better understand and regulate your emotional life.
Understand your emotional state by assessing three axes: your level of autonomic arousal (alert to calm), your emotional valence (how good or bad you feel), and your attentional bias (how much you are focused internally vs. externally).
Deliberately practice shifting your attention between internal (interoception) and external (exteroception) focus, or splitting it, to gain control over your attentional bias and manage emotional responses in different environments.
Close your eyes and concentrate on internal bodily sensations, such as points of contact, gut feelings, heart rate, and breathing cadence, to develop a heightened awareness of your internal state.
Focus your attention purely on external stimuli in your immediate environment, such as a specific object across the room, to develop a heightened awareness of the outside world.
Consider regular therapy as an important component of overall health, on par with regular exercise, to gain support, guidance, and useful insights.
To form good social bonds, actively pay attention to the emotional states of others and evaluate for synchrony or a match between your states, rather than solely focusing on your own feelings.
Cultivate healthy emotional bonds by balancing calm, soothing, touch-oriented, and eye-gazing interactions (driving serotonin, oxytocin) with exciting, adventurous activities (driving dopamine).
Utilize the Mood Meter app (developed at Yale) to add nuance to your emotional language, track your feelings, and predict future emotional states, helping you understand what you’re feeling and why.
Dissolve one packet of Element (electrolytes) in 16-32 ounces of water and drink it first thing in the morning, and also during physical exercise, especially on hot days, to ensure proper hydration and electrolyte balance.
Program your mattress cover’s temperature to be cool at the beginning, even colder in the middle, and warm as you wake up to enhance slow-wave and REM sleep.
Use a mattress cover with snoring detection that automatically lifts your head a few degrees to improve airflow and stop snoring.