Wind-Down After Overstimulation Evening
Designed by Bearmore
Inspired by Dhivya @fossilisedflowersBedtime but the nervous system is still buzzing.
Bring the agitation down before sleep is asked to do it. An evening Burst inspired by Dhivya's tools for the overstimulated: slow exhale breath, gentle music, a body scan, and twenty minutes with a quiet book.
The runsheet
Slow exhale
Dhivya names long-exhale breath as the most reliable lever for a buzzy evening. Ten minutes of slow nasal breath, breathing out longer than you breathe in. Nothing fancy; the chemistry does the work.
10 min activityBearmore’s thoughts on doing breath work before listening to music (mindful)
This works well because a calm, open state can help you listen more deeply and feel music more emotionally.
Familiar music
Music as a softer kind of sensory input than scrolling. She often posts about chosen, predictable music as a way to take the edge off a buzzy evening. Fifteen minutes with something you already know.
15 min activityBearmore’s thoughts on doing listening to music (mindful) before body scan
This can be a good pairing because the sensory awareness from mindful listening can carry into tuning into the body with similar focused attention.
Release tension
Her body scan is for finding where the tension is hanging on. Fifteen minutes moving attention through the body, just naming it. Sometimes the noticing is enough; sometimes it is not, and that is also fine.
15 min activityBearmore’s thoughts on doing body scan before reading (mindful)
This works well because the relaxed, attentive state from a scan can carry into reading and make engagement feel patient and focused.
A quiet book
Twenty minutes of reading that is not work, not improvement, not productive in any way. She names this as the practice that actually settles a hot nervous system. Fiction, poetry, something reliable enough to feel safe.
20 min activityTime well spent.
1h 12m that belonged to you — not the inbox, not anyone else.
The breakdown
Burst evaluation
Wellbeing focus
About this Burst
Dhivya is a writer, mother, and chronic-condition curator who shares practical tools for the overstimulated nervous system. Her content draws on lived experience of chronic illness and the daily practices that help when the system is already running hot. Posts on regulation, rest as practice, and the realism of small interventions. 193K+ followers on @fossilisedflowers.