Hands up if you’ve ever travelled home from work, only to realise you can’t remember a single thing about your surroundings. Or noticed you’re bursting for the toilet because you’ve been so caught up in thinking about the presentation you have to deliver tomorrow?

Stress is good at keeping us stuck in our heads: when you’ve got a million and one thoughts swirling around up there, it’s hard to pay attention to anything but the spiral of panic.

Not only does the pressure feel 10 times worse when you’re surrounded by it but not having a single moment to breathe or exist outside of the here and now can make your stress feel more relentless and inescapable – and this will ultimately diminish your ability to deal with it in the long term.  

This is what makes mindfulness such an effective tool for stress relief. Many people think mindfulness is just another word for meditation, but it doesn’t have to look anything like sitting still in a silent room for hours on end. Meditation is just one form of mindfulness, and while it can be incredibly effective (and easier than you might think), there are other ways to practise it which are just as good.

As someone who has struggled with meditation in the past, I often thought mindfulness wasn’t for me – until I discovered the brilliant 5-4-3-2-1 method.  

At its core, mindfulness is simply about being in the moment; while ‘worry mode’ tends to see us reflecting on the past or thinking about the future, being in the present makes it a lot harder to feel stressed, because we only have to deal with what’s going on right in front of us. And one of the best ways to do that is by tuning into your senses.

The 5-4-3-2-1 method involves using your senses to help bring your attention back to the present moment. It’s great for when you’re stuck in a worry spiral (we’ve all been there) or need to calm yourself down in a stressful situation – for example, when you’re walking to a job interview or in the last couple of minutes before an important meeting.

To practise the 5-4-3-2-1 method, you simply need to note the following:

• Five things you can see
• Four things you can hear
• Three things you can feel (as well as things you can touch, this could include the temperature, wind, texture of your clothes on your skin etc)
• Two things you can smell
• One thing you can taste (if you can’t taste anything right now, think about your favourite taste or flavour)

While it might be hard to think of things to begin with, it should get easier as you become more attuned to the world around you. If you’re finding it particularly challenging to get started, spend a couple of moments sitting still, simply observing the world around you but not trying to identify anything specific. You should start to become more aware of what’s going on. 

By bringing your attention back to the present moment, the 5-4-3-2-1 method stops you from engaging in a worry cycle and brings you out of that ‘fight or flight’ response. It also helps you to become more aware of how your body is feeling, which in turn can give you the chance to take care of yourself – for example, by doing some deep breathing or doing some tension-relieving exercises.

Personally, I’ve found that practising the 5-4-3-2-1 method pre-emptively – for example, when I’m on my way into the office – can really help me to start the day with a clearer mind. It’s so easy to get swept up in your thoughts, but by having that small period at the start of my day where I pay attention to the world around me, I’m more likely to take a step back when I’m feeling stressed and not get so caught up in everything that’s going on throughout the day. 

The 5-4-3-2-1 method is so effective because it can be done anywhere – whether you’re feeling stressed on the Tube, in a work meeting or sat on the sofa at home, it’s a short, effective tool you can use to help calm yourself down. Experts like Dr Zoe Williams are fans of the method because it’s so simple and so useful.

Practising mindfulness techniques like this on a regular basis can also offer huge benefits for our mental wellbeing and brain health. It’s been shown to reduce anxiety and depression, improve emotional regulation and boost creativity while also building cognitive reserve – the brain’s ability to withstand decline and damage.

Studies have even shown that mindfulness can change the structure of your brain when it’s practised regularly, leading to better executive function and memory. 

Images: Getty