Feeling Stressed? This Cool Trick Can Instantly Calm You Down

Creators on TikTok and Instagram claim that applying ice to the back of your neck can stopanxietyin its tracks. We spoke to mental health experts to find out whether this viral hack holds up.

The truth is touching ice, or anything cold, can feel like a shock to the system, but when applied strategically, it does trigger physiological changes that help regulate stress.

“When you put ice in this lateral part of your back neck, it prompts thisvagal nervestimulation, and that in turn really kind of drives down the body’s fight or flight mechanism— the key part being that cold exposure on the back of your neck or even your chest,” saidAshwini Nadkarni, MD, associate medical director of Brigham Psychiatric Specialties at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.

Coping With the Everyday Struggles of High-Functioning Anxiety

Why Does Cold Help With Anxiety?

The vagus nerve is the longestcranial nervein the body, extending from the bottom of the brain down through the neck and into the chest and stomach. It forms a part of theparasympathetic nervous system.The parasympathetic nervous system controls nonvoluntary functions like heart rate and digestion and helps the body relax and recover.“You can think of it as an opposing force to your sympathetic nervous system and that fight or flight mechanism. It’s that ‘rest and digest’ force in your body,” Nadkarni said. While thesympathetic autonomic nervous systemgoverns our fight or flight response and prepares the body for potential physical exertion, the parasympathetic essentially acts like a brake.“It’s like a gas pedal and a brake, back and forth. Sometimes you may floor it, other times it may be much more gentle, but you’re always kind of switching back and forth between these two systems,”Emily Casanova, PhD, an assistant professor of neuroscience in psychology at Loyola University, told Verywell.When your body is in fight or flight, ice touching the back of your neck stimulates the vagus nerve and parasympathetic nervous system all the way down the body and up to the brain. Once activated, it begins to counter the fight-or-flight response.

This stimulation can create feedback loops in the body and brain, said Casanova. While the cold can help reduce the body’s heart rate, the brain’s close monitoring of the body can actually help decrease anxiety as it picks up the feedback.

Can Stimulating the Vagus Nerve Actually Transform Your Health?

What Are Other Ways To Stop Anxiety?

Try Humming, Laughing or Gargling

Humming, laughing, and gargling water are other effective ways to stimulate the vagal nerve in a way that really disrupts a panic attack, Nadkarni said.Because the vagus nerve runs through both the larynx and pharynx, as our vocal cords vibrate, sections of the vagus nerve are stimulated, effectively moving the body out of fight-or-flight mode.

Take Long, Deep Breaths

“Breathing through a straw can actually stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system,” said Casanova. Even just pursing the lips andtaking slow breathscan help put on the brakes. As your brain continues to monitor your body, taking deep breaths can help your body regulate its heart rate and create a feedback loop that calls for relaxation and calm.

Sit Down and Put Your Feet Up

Sitting down and elevating your legs can help your heart take it easy, promoting relaxation and effectively taking the foot off the gas. “You wanna make your heart not have to work as hard,” Casanova said.

What Is Severe Anxiety?

What This Means For YouAs the winter season gears up, the holidays can often feel stressful or overwhelming. If you find yourself tense at the dinner table and feel anxiety creeping in, some ice to the neck or a tall glass of ice-cold water can kickstart your body’s “rest and digest” response and help you calm down quickly.

What This Means For You

As the winter season gears up, the holidays can often feel stressful or overwhelming. If you find yourself tense at the dinner table and feel anxiety creeping in, some ice to the neck or a tall glass of ice-cold water can kickstart your body’s “rest and digest” response and help you calm down quickly.

6 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Kenny BJ, Bordoni B.Neuroanatomy, Cranial Nerve 10 (Vagus Nerve). In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024.Tindle J, Tadi P.Neuroanatomy, Parasympathetic Nervous System. In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024.Alshak MN, Das JM.Neuroanatomy, Sympathetic Nervous System. In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024.Trivedi G, Sharma K, Saboo B, et al.Humming (simple Bhramari Pranayama) as a stress buster: a Holter-based study to analyze heart rate variability (HRV) parameters during Bhramari, physical activity, emotional stress, and sleep.Cureus. 2023;15(4):e37527. doi:10.7759/cureus.37527Kramer CK, Leitao CB.Laughter as medicine: a systematic review and meta-analysis of interventional studies evaluating the impact of spontaneous laughter on cortisol levels.PLoS One. 2023;18(5):e0286260. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0286260Banushi B, Brendle M, Ragnhildstveit A, et al.Breathwork interventions for adults with clinically diagnosed anxiety disorders: a scoping review.Brain Sci. 2023;13(2):256. doi:10.3390/brainsci13020256

6 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Kenny BJ, Bordoni B.Neuroanatomy, Cranial Nerve 10 (Vagus Nerve). In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024.Tindle J, Tadi P.Neuroanatomy, Parasympathetic Nervous System. In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024.Alshak MN, Das JM.Neuroanatomy, Sympathetic Nervous System. In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024.Trivedi G, Sharma K, Saboo B, et al.Humming (simple Bhramari Pranayama) as a stress buster: a Holter-based study to analyze heart rate variability (HRV) parameters during Bhramari, physical activity, emotional stress, and sleep.Cureus. 2023;15(4):e37527. doi:10.7759/cureus.37527Kramer CK, Leitao CB.Laughter as medicine: a systematic review and meta-analysis of interventional studies evaluating the impact of spontaneous laughter on cortisol levels.PLoS One. 2023;18(5):e0286260. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0286260Banushi B, Brendle M, Ragnhildstveit A, et al.Breathwork interventions for adults with clinically diagnosed anxiety disorders: a scoping review.Brain Sci. 2023;13(2):256. doi:10.3390/brainsci13020256

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Kenny BJ, Bordoni B.Neuroanatomy, Cranial Nerve 10 (Vagus Nerve). In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024.Tindle J, Tadi P.Neuroanatomy, Parasympathetic Nervous System. In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024.Alshak MN, Das JM.Neuroanatomy, Sympathetic Nervous System. In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024.Trivedi G, Sharma K, Saboo B, et al.Humming (simple Bhramari Pranayama) as a stress buster: a Holter-based study to analyze heart rate variability (HRV) parameters during Bhramari, physical activity, emotional stress, and sleep.Cureus. 2023;15(4):e37527. doi:10.7759/cureus.37527Kramer CK, Leitao CB.Laughter as medicine: a systematic review and meta-analysis of interventional studies evaluating the impact of spontaneous laughter on cortisol levels.PLoS One. 2023;18(5):e0286260. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0286260Banushi B, Brendle M, Ragnhildstveit A, et al.Breathwork interventions for adults with clinically diagnosed anxiety disorders: a scoping review.Brain Sci. 2023;13(2):256. doi:10.3390/brainsci13020256

Kenny BJ, Bordoni B.Neuroanatomy, Cranial Nerve 10 (Vagus Nerve). In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024.

Tindle J, Tadi P.Neuroanatomy, Parasympathetic Nervous System. In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024.

Alshak MN, Das JM.Neuroanatomy, Sympathetic Nervous System. In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024.

Trivedi G, Sharma K, Saboo B, et al.Humming (simple Bhramari Pranayama) as a stress buster: a Holter-based study to analyze heart rate variability (HRV) parameters during Bhramari, physical activity, emotional stress, and sleep.Cureus. 2023;15(4):e37527. doi:10.7759/cureus.37527

Kramer CK, Leitao CB.Laughter as medicine: a systematic review and meta-analysis of interventional studies evaluating the impact of spontaneous laughter on cortisol levels.PLoS One. 2023;18(5):e0286260. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0286260

Banushi B, Brendle M, Ragnhildstveit A, et al.Breathwork interventions for adults with clinically diagnosed anxiety disorders: a scoping review.Brain Sci. 2023;13(2):256. doi:10.3390/brainsci13020256

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