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Coming up out of numbness usually feels worse before it feels better. Restlessness, irritation and a jumpy stomach are often the way up rather than a relapse.
The route out of collapse tends to run through activation instead of around it. That is why a short walk, some tidying or an errand often works better than trying to relax your way back. Expect the middle part to feel unpleasant, and give it somewhere to go.
Qur’an and Sunnah
'Lord, lift up my heart' (Quran 20:25). Moses asked for this before walking towards the thing he was dreading, not after it was over.
قَالَ رَبِّ ٱشۡرَحۡ لِي صَدۡرِي
Moses said, ‘Lord, lift up my heart
Qur’an 20:25read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
A meta-review of exercise across mental and substance use disorders reports benefit for a wide range of conditions, with the strength of the evidence varying considerably by condition. None of that work was about climbing out of a shutdown state specifically. Take it as solid general support for movement, and treat the advice about the order of things as clinical experience rather than a proven sequence.
Ashdown-Franks G, Firth J, Carney R, Carvalho AF, Hallgren M, Koyanagi A, Rosenbaum S, Schuch FB, Smith L, Solmi M, Vancampfort D, Stubbs B. (2020). Exercise as Medicine for Mental and Substance Use Disorders: A Meta-review of the Benefits for Neuropsychiatric and Cognitive Outcomes.. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
Movement gives the rising energy a use, so it can pass through you instead of stalling.
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.
Near this one
Keep the explanation short when you offer this to someone. It is a way of breathing that gets your heart to send your brain a message to settle. Would you like to try it?
If your usual trouble is a racing heart, a crowded head and never quite coming down, slow paced breathing with a feedback device is the one to try first.
A better definition of resilience than never being knocked over: how quickly you come back once you have been.