Protocols for recovering from exhaustion or burnout stress

For recovery from exhaustion or burnout stress, Andrew Huberman recommends utilizing down-regulation breathing techniques. These can be especially helpful after intense physical or mental exertion. He suggests doing three to five minutes of breathing that emphasizes exhales to quickly induce a calm state and to facilitate recovery and adaptation. This could involve slow deliberate breathing, physiological sighs (double inhale through the nose followed by a long exhale through the mouth), or simply focusing on making your exhales longer and more vigorous than your inhales. This type of focused breathing should not be confused with more active breath work methods and should be done in an environment conducive to relaxation, such as sitting still in a vehicle, to smoothly transition from a state of stress to one of recovery 1.