How to Stop Overthinking and Worrying: 6 Steps You Can Use Today

Updated 6 November 2026

To stop overthinking and worrying, give your mind a job and your body a signal of safety. Write the thought down, set a short "worry time" for later, slow your out-breath, and move. These steps do not remove every thought. They loosen its grip so you can get on with your day.

How do I stop overthinking right now?

Name what is happening, then change what your body is doing. Say to yourself, "I am overthinking," and breathe out slowly. Your mind needs a different task, and your body can give it one.

1. Name it. Say "This is a worry thought." You step back from it instead of inside it.
2. Write it down. Put the worry on paper in one or two lines. A thought on paper stops looping in your head.
3. Breathe out longer than you breathe in. Try in for 4, out for 6. Do this for one minute.
4. Move. Stand up, walk, or shake out your arms and legs. Even two minutes helps your body settle.
5. Feel your feet. Notice the floor under you and the weight of your body. This pulls your attention out of your head.

How do I stop worrying when I cannot switch it off?

Do not fight the worry. Give it a time and place instead. Tell yourself, "I will think about this at 6 pm for 15 minutes." Then come back to what you were doing.

This is called worry postponement or scheduled worry time. Here is how it works:

1. Pick the same 15 minutes each day. Not near bedtime.
2. When a worry shows up earlier, jot a few words in a notebook.
3. Tell the worry, "Not now. I have a date with you later."
4. At worry time, read your list. Think it through, or write one small next step for each item.
5. When the time is up, close the notebook.

Many worries feel small or silly by the time worry time arrives. Others turn into a clear to-do. Both are a win.

Which quick tools work best, and when?

Why does worry show up in my stomach?

In Chinese medicine, worry belongs to the Spleen and the Earth element. The Spleen is also the organ of digestion. So in our teaching, too much worry and overthinking weaken the Spleen, and worry often shows up as a tense or unsettled stomach.

Chinese medicine links each emotion to an organ and an element:

The elements also affect each other. Stuck Liver qi (Wood) can press on the Spleen (Earth). That is why anger and frustration can feed worry, and worry can make you feel more tense. You do not need to believe in qi to try the practice below. Students tell us it gives them something to do with the feeling.

What is a simple Qigong practice for overthinking?

Try the Earth breath for the Spleen. It uses the Earth healing sound, Hu (sounds like "hoo"), made softly on a slow out-breath. It takes about three minutes.

1. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and knees soft. You can also sit.
2. Rest both hands on your belly.
3. Breathe in slowly through your nose. Picture an earthy brown or golden-brown colour filling your belly.
4. Breathe out slowly and softly with "hoo."
5. Repeat for 6 rounds.
6. Rest your hands over your lower belly for five easy breaths.

Qigong is a complementary practice. Use it alongside regular medical care, never instead of it.

Why does Qigong help a busy mind?

Qigong joins three things: body, breath and focus. Movement only becomes qigong when all three work together. That is why it gives a busy mind somewhere to rest.

Your mind cannot follow a worry story and feel your belly rise and fall at the same time. When attention rests on the body and the breath, the story gets quieter. In our classes, the Snake in 5 Element Qigong works the Earth element and the Spleen. In our Five Animal system, the Bear works Earth and the Spleen.

What does the research say?

The research supports these tools, with limits. Two studies are worth knowing, and neither is about Qigong.

• Worry postponement. Krzikalla and Buhlmann (2024, Clinical Psychology in Europe) randomly assigned 82 adults, 47 with generalized anxiety disorder, to a two-session worry postponement program or a waitlist. In the GAD group, worry scores were lower after the program, with a large effect, and this held at a four-week follow-up. The authors say the effect on the hypochondriasis group looked limited, possibly because that group was small. Read the abstract on PubMed.
• Breathwork. Fincham and colleagues (2023, Scientific Reports) combined randomized trials of breathing practices. For stress, they pooled 12 trials with 785 adults and found a small-to-medium benefit. Anxiety and low mood showed similar results. The authors urge caution because most studies had a moderate risk of bias and were hard to compare. Read the abstract on PubMed.

What we do not know yet is which breathing pattern works best, or how these tools compare with each other.

When should I talk to a doctor or therapist?

See your doctor or a therapist if worry or anxiety is constant, hard to control, or getting in the way of sleep, work, relationships or daily life. Get help soon if you have panic attacks, chest pain, or thoughts of harming yourself. These tools are for everyday worry. They are not a replacement for care.

How long until I feel a difference?

You can feel calmer after one slow minute of breathing. Habits like worry time take a week or two to feel natural. Pick two tools from the table and use them daily for two weeks. Then keep what helps.

Where to go next

• Want a guided way to settle a worried mind? The Qigong for Worry and Anxiety course walks you through practices for calming worry, step by step.
• Want to work with all your emotions, not just worry? The Emotional Balance Online Course Bundle brings together our teaching on the emotions and the organs linked to them.
• Want to keep going every week? The White Tiger Qigong Membership gives you four qigong systems on one clear path, with live classes every week.

Keep reading: How to regulate your nervous system · Snake Qigong for worry and the spleen · The five elements in Chinese medicine