Rewire Your Brain for Less Stress

I discovered The 5 Resets: Rewire Your Brain and Body for Less Stress and More Resilience by Aditi Nerurkar while reading The Let Them Theory. In The Let Them Theory, Mel Robbins cites Nerurkar’s work about how stress affects the brain and how using “Let Them” interrupts that stress response. While reading that book, I immediately put The 5 Resets on hold in my Libby app.

Personally, I think I am handling my stress pretty well nowadays, but I still do get burnt out and demotivated, usually after a period of three months of a non-stop work routine. I exercise regularly, take regular breaks, and pursue creative projects (like this one). But I still will find myself on the verge of exhaustion once in a while. So I will pursue any help I can have to manage my stress in a healthy, productive way. If you are also on the hunt for the best stress management books, let’s dive into this The 5 Resets book review, shall we?

In The 5 Resets, Aditi Nerurkar frames stress as a normal biological response that only becomes harmful when it stops cycling back down. That distinction gives the book a more grounded, realistic foundation that it builds upon when talking about the five resets. The book’s central idea is that resilience is not built through massive reinvention. Nerurkar argues that stressed brains do not respond well to huge lifestyle overhauls, even when those changes are positive.

Pointing out the fact that positive changes cause stressful responses was like a light bulb going off over my head. Of course, it makes sense, but I could look back at really drastically good moments in my life and still feel the stress levels in my body associated with those events. I liked that Nerurkar points this out because it makes the rest of the book ring true to me.

Nerurkar builds the book around five manageable resets: get clear on what matters most, find quiet in a noisy world, sync your brain and body, come up for air, and bring your best self forward. The framework is simple enough to follow but broad enough to cover the real ways stress shows up in everyday life.

Before getting into the resets, I want to mention Nerurkar’s Rule of Two. She recommends only adding two new habits into your life at any one time. That way, they are easy to manage and allow them to become established into your routine without you being overwhelmed. I have read a lot about habits and know about habit stacking and how to do habit replacement, but I feel like this is the first time I have heard of the Rule of Two. Keep that in mind as you read the rest of the review.

Get Clear on What Matters Most

This reset is about reducing overwhelm by identifying what actually deserves your energy. Along with the 5 resets, Nerurkar provides proven techniques to help you perform the resets described. For getting clear on what matters most, Nerurkar recommends uncovering your MOST goal. The MOST goal is something Motivating, Objective, Small, and Timely, which turns vague self-improvement into a manageable next step. Once you know where you want to go, you use the backward plan technique to figure out by working backwards what is the first step you should take.

Since reading this chapter, I have been thinking a lot about what my MOST goal should be. I have an optimal end-state (really it’s a dollar number) in mind for me and my family, and I have used the backward planning and pre-mortem techniques to figure out how I should get there without running into issues. But my end-state is not small or timely. It’s my North Star and the direction I am heading. What is my MOST goal in that context? Keep doing what I am doing?

Find Quiet in a Noisy World

This section focuses on overstimulation, especially from digital life. Nerurkar argues that constant notifications, scrolling, and information overload keep the brain stuck in a stressed state, so resilience requires deliberate limits and moments of quiet. She describes people suffering from popcorn brain and techniques for curing it. I have to say, this is the first time I have heard the term popcorn brain. Thankfully I don’t suffer from it. I think I rode the brink of popcorn brain for a few years (ok, maybe a decade), but I pulled myself back from the brink. Along with curing popcorn brain, she describes getting the sleep you deserve.

I feel this reset is currently all the rage in the self-help zeitgeist. Ditch your phone and get quality sleep. I have been on this bandwagon for years now. Except, I do love to fall asleep to podcasts. Humor podcasts. The sounds of friends having fun are very soothing. I do wonder if that is a net negative or benefit to my sleeping. Honestly, I am asleep within a minute of turning on a podcast, so I don’t know.

Sync Your Brain and Your Body

The third reset centers on the mind-body connection. Stress is not just mental; it shows up physically too, so Nerurkar emphasizes tools like breathing and movement to help regulate the nervous system and reconnect mental and physical states. Nerurkar recommends starting a daily walk to help you get in the habit of daily exercise.

Nerurkar also talks about how breathing is the one bodily activity that is both autonomic and somatic. Meaning we breathe without thinking, and we can control our breath. She says this is the gateway to our body, and focusing on our breath is so important. I really resonated with that idea. I practice mindful meditation daily and recently have been dabbling in breathing techniques to deal with stressful situations and improve my creativity, so this idea that breathing is the gateway to the body makes a lot of sense to me.

Come Up for Air

Here the book pushes back on the myth of multitasking. Nerurkar’s point is that constant task-switching drains focus and increases stress, while monotasking, breaks, and better boundaries give the brain room to recover and work more clearly.

I just have to say, I hate multitasking. I can feel my mood shift in real time if I am forced to multitask. I can’t say enough how much I hate it. Now, I am not saying I can’t keep multiple operations in my head at once, but there is a strict contextual limit to what that means. So if I have to cook and help with homework at the same time, I really get grumpy. Monotasking makes me happier, and I feel more productive.

Nerurkar also talks about activating your sticky feet, the ability to feel the ground and be in the moment before you move into a stressful situation. I do that from time to time, especially when I am with my family. I want to be present and feel like I am in the moment.

Bring Your Best Self Forward

The final reset is about emotional resilience. This section appears to focus on self-compassion, processing emotions, and quieting the inner critic so readers can respond to stress from a steadier, more grounded place. Nerurkar recommends using a gratitude journal technique to help with this reset. She talks about how it has changed people’s lives by documenting little moments at the end of the day that they are grateful for.

I started and then stopped a gratitude journal. I want to pick it back up. It’s just I have a 3-year-old that has the sleep schedule of a normal active adult right now. I can’t wait to move her to her own room. So I just forget to be grateful at night and just want to read and go to bed. I will pick it up again and see if it can improve my life.

It’s All About Healthy Stress

In the end, this Aditi Nerurkar book is all about having healthy stress in your life and maintaining that balance. The 5 resets allow you to not get overwhelmed by life without promising to remove your stress altogether. For me, I want healthy stress and challenging myself to improve all aspects of my life.

If you are looking to rewire your brain and body, I highly recommend this book for everybody; I think it would cause amazing transformations in people’s lives.

What stress techniques do you use to reset yourself? Let me know in the comments below.