On Tuesday, November 3, voters across the country cast ballots in the 2026 midterm elections. If your jaw has felt tight all week, you have plenty of company.
In its 2024 Stress in America survey, the American Psychological Association found that 69% of adults named that year’s presidential election as a significant source of stress. Worry about the country’s future crossed party lines, with 80% of Republicans and 79% of Democrats naming it. About a third of voters in both parties said they felt strain with family members over politics.
You can feel election stress in your nervous system before you put words to it. The five practices below help you care for yourself while you vote and wait on results. Pick one and try it on November 3.
1. Notice your brain’s alarm
Your amygdala works as your brain’s alarm system. It scans for danger, and it registers an outcome you can’t predict as a possible threat. Your heart speeds up and your breath moves higher into your chest.
You can send a signal back. Breathe in through your nose for a count of four, then out through your mouth for a count of six, and repeat it five times. The longer exhale slows your heart rate and helps your nervous system settle. You can do it standing in line at your polling place, and the voter in front of you won’t notice.
Once you settle, you regain access to your prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain you use to plan and weigh options.
2. Set check-in times for results
Each time you refresh a results page, you hand your amygdala a fresh round of uncertainty. Pick two times to check tonight, like 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., and put them on your calendar.
Between check-ins, charge your phone in the kitchen and give your hands something to do. Cook dinner, turn on some music, take a walk or pull out a deck of cards. The results will be there at 10 p.m., and you’ll meet them with a steadier heart rate.
3. Pause hard conversations
You may sit down to dinner tonight with relatives who voted differently than you did. If a conversation heats up, your body reacts to raised voices the same way it reacts to uncertainty, and your heart starts to race.
You can ask for a break and keep the relationship intact. Try saying, “I want to keep talking, but I need ten minutes first.” Step outside for a few long exhales, then come back once your heart rate settles. You’ll listen better, and so will the person across the table.
4. Plan for a longer count
Election officials in some states need several days to count mail and provisional ballots, so you may not know every result by Wednesday morning. A long wait can keep you braced for days.
Build a few steady anchors into your week. Take a short walk each morning and stretch before bed. Keep your bedtime where it sat last week, since sleep gives your brain time to clear out stress chemicals. Your nervous system settles with routine, the same way a child’s does in the first weeks of a new school year.
5. Move through disappointment
Some of your neighbors will wake up Wednesday disappointed in the results, and you may be one of them. Disappointment over an election can feel like grief. You might notice it as a heavy chest or tired arms and legs.
Our longtime collaborator Bernadette Pleasant, a grief educator and somatic healer, teaches that you carry grief in your body and that movement helps you release it. Her Flawless Talk, Shake It Out: Movement, Grief, and Somatic Healing, offers gentle ways to begin.
If standing feels like too much, try a few minutes of chair yoga. Sit in a sturdy chair with your feet flat on the floor and roll your shoulders back five times. Twist toward the right for three long breaths, then repeat on the left, letting each exhale run longer than the inhale.
Check on each other this week
No matter which boxes you checked on November 3, you deserve care while the count goes on. On Wednesday, call a friend and ask how they slept. Share this blog with someone heading to the polls, and return to the practice that helped you most the next time a news alert lights up your phone.
