Feeling overwhelmed? First, you aren’t alone in that. A 2025 national survey from the Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center confirmed that 45% of American adults report feeling stressed “because of the news or what’s happening on social media” at least once per week—and 16% say it’s a daily occurrence.
Well, recent research suggests how you react to stress may not be built on yoga retreats or flashy mindfulness apps—but it could actually be something much simpler.
In fact, a 2025 study published in the Journal of American College Health found that a handful of everyday habits may shape how your brain (and body) handles stress. Researchers followed 401 college students, looking at their stress resilience and routines.
They found that a range of behaviors don’t just offer short-term relief—but they may help build psychological flexibility, an underlying skill that allows your brain to adapt and recover under pressure and stress. Other research backs this up and even suggests psychological flexibility is associated with a more positive response to stress throughout the body. That means that when stress becomes physical, people with psychological flexibility are more like to be able to control their cardiovascular, nervous, and inflammatory response.
Because chronic stress is a known contributor to inflammation and long-term disease risk, strengthening this skill may also have implications for overall health and longevity.
Defining psychological flexibility
“Psychological flexibility is basically the ability to keep moving toward your values and goals even when you’re experiencing difficult thoughts, emotions, or circumstances, rather than being derailed by them,” says Lina Begdache, PhD, registered dietitian nutritionist, an associate professor at Binghamton University, State University of New York, and the lead author of the 2025 study. “It matters for mental health because it’s essentially the opposite of rigidity,” she adds.
Rigid thinking could include thoughts like, I must feel calm before I can function or this situation is unbearable, I can’t cope, which tend to amplify distress. She explains, “Flexibility allows you to acknowledge ‘this is hard’ while still choosing how to respond.”
Strong vs. poor psychological flexibility
Dr. Begdache—whose research often focuses on the intersection of nutrition and neurobehaviors, mood, and mental health—points to a simple scenario to illustrate what this looks like in real life: a student who fails an important exam.
Someone with low psychological flexibility might spiral into negative thoughts after failing. They might think, I’m terrible at this, I’m going to fail the course, I’m not good enough for this degree and “These thoughts feel like absolute truth,” Dr. Begdache explains. “They avoid studying because it triggers anxiety, they ruminate about the past exam instead of staying in the present, their identity feels shattered, [and] they may stop going to class.”
Someone with greater flexibility responds differently. They may notice the same thoughts and feel just as disappointed, but they don’t treat them as fact. Instead, they reconnect with their values, like why they chose the course in the first place. Then they take concrete steps, such as finding a tutor or adjusting study habits to improve their situation.
“The distress doesn’t disappear, but it doesn’t lead to a loss of control,” Dr. Begdache says. “The key difference isn’t the absence of negative emotion, it’s what you do with it.”
What Dr. Begdache’s research suggests is that psychological flexibility may be nurtured and shaped by a few everyday habits.
4 habits that build psychological flexibility
If you’re looking to improve how stress effects you, there are a few daily things that might help. According to the researchers, students who showed more psychological flexibility (and, in turn, stress resilience) had a few things in common. So, take a page from their (text)book.
1. Sleep comes first
When asked what to focus on fixing when you feel overwhelmed, Dr. Begdache points first to nighttime habits.
According to the study, sleeping fewer than six hours per night was linked to a significant drop in psychological flexibility. Without enough rest, Dr. Begdache says, “You can’t think flexibly, you can’t regulate emotions, and your cortisol system is dysregulated.”
Sleep is also foundational to nearly every other aspect of wellness. “If you’re chronically underslept, your brain is operating in a state of psychological vulnerability, which makes every other intervention less effective,” Dr. Begdache adds. Over time, that vulnerability doesn’t just affect mood. Poor sleep and chronic stress dysregulation are both associated with shorter lifespan and higher risk of age-related disease.
2. Don’t skip breakfast
Regularly eating breakfast was also associated with greater resilience. “The timing matters neurobiologically,” Dr. Begdache explains. “Consuming breakfast within a few hours of waking helps bring down the cortisol awakening response before it lingers too long.” This drop helps protect the neural gains made during sleep and stabilizes blood sugar, she adds—both of which are critical for stress regulation.
3. Move your body daily
In Dr. Begdache’s study, exercise didn’t just support psychological flexibility—it was linked to resilience on its own. Dr. Begdache says that physical activity boosts serotonin, dopamine, and other helpful proteins that contribute to stress resilience and adaptive brain function.
And it doesn’t take much. The 20-minute threshold used in the study aligns with broader research showing that even small amounts of daily movement can have meaningful mental health benefits.
4. Prioritize omega-3
One dietary factor also showed a notable link to resilience: omega-3.
“Fish oil was one of the strongest direct predictors of resilience in the entire model,” Dr. Begdache says, pointing to a growing body of research on its role in neuroplasticity. But this doesn’t mean supplements alone are a shortcut. In the context of the study, fish oil appeared to serve as a supporting factor, not a substitute for foundational habits like sleep, nutrition, and movement.
And while these findings are promising, Dr. Begdache notes that causation can’t be assumed, as more research is needed. “Resilient people may simply be more likely to sleep well, eat breakfast, and exercise,” she says.
What makes it harder to handle stress
When it comes to psychological resilience, Dr. Begdache lays out the big picture. She says, “Sleep lays the neurological groundwork, breakfast preserves it in the morning, and exercise keeps reinforcing it throughout the day.” She adds that each factor contributes to resilience independently, but they all add up to a brain that can adapt and flex—rather than a rigid one that collapses under pressure.
But Dr. Begdache’s research also uncovered certain patterns may work against that process:
1. Using drugs for stress relief
“The most common mistake is reaching for quick fixes that reduce symptoms without addressing the underlying stress response,” Dr. Begdache explains. For instance, the study found that marijuana use was associated with lower resilience. It may dampen the stress response without resolving it—”As if it is keeping people in a kind of numbing loop,” Dr. Begdache says.
2. Eating a poor diet
The quality of one’s diet also plays a role. “High-calorie, ultra-processed foods are linked to inflammation and oxidative stress, which undermine brain health and neuronal integrity,” Dr. Begdache explains.
A stress-inducing factor that’s out of your control
The study also pointed to gender differences. “Being female was associated with lower psychological flexibility and resilience,” notes Dr. Begdache, likely reflecting higher baseline stress loads rather than any inherent difference in capacity. The finding raises questions about whether stress-management strategies should be more tailored to account for those differences, she says.
While more research is needed, the findings point to something bigger—no matter who you are. The everyday habits that allow someone to cope with stress in the moment may also help shape your long-term health and resilience.
In that way, psychological flexibility doesn’t just make you feel better day to day, according to Dr. Begdache. It may be part of what helps the brain and body stay resilient over a lifetime.
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