Sensory techniques are one of the easiest, quickest approaches to reset your nervous system, especially after weeks of disruption, snow chaos, school breaks, and more.
At a Glance:
- Calming down your nervous system isn’t a want, but a need. Moms need a reset. Luckily, you can (and should) start making small changes in your routine.
- It’s not only about reclaiming your identity while being a mom. It’s about physical, emotional, and mental health.
- Motherhood requires an enormous amount of output—physical, emotional, cognitive. Without intentional input that soothes and restores, the nervous system simply keeps running.
- Easy sensory techniques, like breathing slowly, being aware of your needs, or simply, feeling anything and everything, helps you regulate your body and mind, even if you only have five minutes a day.
If you’ve felt more reactive than usual lately—quicker to snap, harder to settle at night, more exhausted but somehow still wired—you are not alone. And more importantly, you are not failing. After midwinter break, back-to-back snowstorms, school closures, and the general emotional weight of keeping a household afloat through winter, many moms are not simply “tired.” We are overstimulated at a nervous system level.
There’s a difference between being busy and being dysregulated. Stress can live in the mind. Dysregulation lives in the body. It shows up as tight shoulders you didn’t notice until bedtime. A shorter fuse during homework. Waking at 3 am with your mind racing through logistics. Feeling “touched out” by the end of the day but still unable to fully relax once the house is quiet.
Calming your nervous system isn’t indulgent. It’s maintenance. And it’s especially necessary right now. Moms need a reset. The good news? You don’t need a weekend away or a silent retreat. You need consistent sensory techniques and soothing approaches that tell your body it is safe.
Psst… Check Out Feeling Burned Out? What Every Mom Should Know About Mental Load
Sensory Techniques to Calm Your Body & Mind: Why Winter Hits Moms Differently
Winter compresses everything. There’s less sunlight, which directly affects mood and circadian rhythm. There’s more time indoors, which increases noise, touch, and overall sensory input. There’s the unpredictability of weather—snow days announced at 5 am, delayed school starts, canceled activities. The structure that usually supports you quietly dissolves, and as moms, we absorb the shock of those changes.
Even if nothing dramatic has happened, your body may still feel like it’s been sprinting. That feeling of being “on” all day, making decisions, answering questions, solving micro-problems, accumulates. The nervous system doesn’t differentiate between a true emergency and chronic low-level overload. It simply registers activation—in other words, we get fed up!
Sensory Techniques That Gently Calm Your Nervous System
The nervous system responds to what it feels more than what it thinks. That’s why pep talks or affirmations rarely work when you’re dysregulated, a.k.a. going crazy. Instead, focus on sensory cues—temperature, light, scent, touch, breath—to shift the body first and hopefully, the mind will follow.
The Low-Light Night Shower Reset
One of the simplest, most powerful resets happens at the end of the day. After bedtime, step into the shower and turn off the overhead lights. Leave the room dim, maybe illuminated only by a hallway lamp, flameless candles, or a small nightlight. The darkness softens visual stimulation immediately. Your body begins to register that the day is winding down.
Warm water hitting your shoulders helps release muscular tension you may not even realize you’re carrying. As you stand there, try inhaling slowly through your nose for a count of four, then exhaling for a count of six or seven. The longer exhale is key; it activates the parasympathetic nervous system, the part responsible for rest and restoration.
If you use a body wash with lavender, sandalwood, or eucalyptus, let the scent become your guide. Over time, your brain begins to associate that specific smell with exhale; softening and giving closure to any nervous thoughts and feelings.
This isn’t about creating a spa moment. It’s about telling your body that the day is complete.
Gentle Cold Exposure to Recalibrate
If anxiety has been buzzing under your skin, try ending your shower with a brief cool rinse on your arms or legs. You don’t need an ice bath. Thirty to sixty seconds is enough. Cold exposure stimulates the vagus nerve, which plays a central role in regulating stress response.
Many women describe stepping out of that rinse feeling clearer, steadier, and more present. It’s not about toughness. It’s about signaling reset.
Scent as a Daily Anchor
Our sense of smell connects directly to the limbic system—the emotional center of the brain. That’s why certain scents can instantly shift mood or transport you to a memory.
Choose one calming scent and make it your daily anchor. A lavender roller applied to your wrists before school pickup. A subtle rose hand cream at your desk. A eucalyptus shower steamer you use only at night. A soft perfume worn just for yourself, even if you’re not leaving the house. Heck, even your children’s clothes when they were newborns or babies!
Each time you catch the scent, pause for one intentional breath. You are creating a neural shortcut between that smell and regulation. It becomes a portable Pavlova effect every time you go back to it.
Five-Minute Nervous System Resets for Real Life
You don’t need an uninterrupted hour. You need small, repeatable moments.
Slow Touch Through Skincare
Instead of rushing through your nighttime routine, turn it into sensory regulation. Notice the temperature of the water when you cleanse. Feel the texture of serum as you press it into your skin rather than rubbing quickly. Massage your temples with moisturizer using slow, circular motions.
Touch—especially slow, intentional touch—lowers cortisol levels. The goal isn’t anti-aging or perfection. It’s communication. You are quite literally telling your body it is cared for.
Hair Brushing Before Bed
There is something surprisingly regulating about brushing your hair slowly before sleep. The repetitive motion, the gentle scalp stimulation (and Heavens know we need it for hair growth!), the rhythm of it, all of it grounds the body in the present moment. It is a small ritual, but rituals build safety.
The Floor Reset
Lie flat on your back on the floor with your feet elevated on the couch. Place one hand on your chest and one on your belly. Close your eyes and stay there for three to five minutes. This position gently counteracts the subtle forward-leaning posture of stress. It allows your diaphragm to expand more fully. It signals to your brain that you are not under threat.
Many of us move through the day in a mild state of bracing. The floor reset interrupts that pattern. Sometimes, I’d go as far as stretching myself as if I were a butterfly. While I’m not a yoga expert, this type of movement helps me “reset” my heart and my soul, from an emotional perspective, and instantly relax.
Resetting After Snowstorms and Midwinter Burnout
The recent stretch of snowstorms and school closures likely disrupted more than your calendar. It disrupted predictability, and predictability is one of the nervous system’s favorite forms of safety.
You may have noticed shorter patience, difficulty sleeping, feeling touched out or burned out, or craving silence in a way that feels almost urgent. These are not character flaws; they are physiological signals. When the external world has been loud and chaotic, the internal world needs quiet.
Maybe that means dimming the lights an hour earlier tonight. Maybe it means stepping outside alone for two minutes of cold winter air before dinner. Maybe it’s drinking tea from a real mug instead of finishing your child’s leftovers over the sink. These are not frivolous gestures. It’s about giving yourself what you deserve.
Calming your nervous system as a mom is not about escaping your family or adding another item to your to-do list. It’s about integrating moments of safety into your existing life. It’s about remembering that your body is not meant to live in constant vigilance. And when your body feels safe, everything else—patience, clarity, steadiness—becomes more accessible. The result? Happy mom, happy life!
Psst… Check Out Struggling with Conflicting Feelings About Motherhood? A Peek Into Maternal Ambivalence
