If you’re feeling stressed, these 7 ‘rescue remedies’ can help: expert

Do you sigh when you’re stressed? You’re already on your way to regulating your emotions. 

Kandi Wiens, an author and University of Pennsylvania researcher specializing in stress, resilience and burnout, shared her stress-busting tips with The Post.

“People think that when we distract ourselves from stress, that’s a bad thing, but not necessarily,” Penn’s master’s in medical education program director explained.

She has a series of stress distraction techniques, which she calls “rescue remedies,” designed to counter the effects of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. These strategies — ranging from sighing to exercising to looking at a photo of a loved one — are all outlined in her book, “Burnout Immunity: How Emotional Intelligence Can Help You Build Resilience and Heal Your Relationship with Work,” out next month.

Wiens said that the breathing technique — taking two inhalations through the nose and a long exhalation through the mouth — helps people lower their stress response. 

As an anxiety-relieving practice, sighing pops open the air sacs in the lungs called alveoli and maximizes the amount of oxygen people take into their lungs.