Reset Your Body Fast with the DBT Tip skills: Tip the Temperature & Intense Exercise

 

When emotions take over, your body goes into full survival mode—your heart races, your thoughts spiral, and it feels impossible to calm down. Thinking your way out of distress isn’t an option in those moments.

That’s because when emotions get this high, DBT TIP skills can help more than thinking alone. Your body is in full-on crisis mode, and you need a way to shut it down fast.

That’s where the DBT TIP skills come in.

TIP stands for:

✔ T – Tip the Temperature (use cold to rapidly lower emotional arousal)

✔ I – Intense Exercise (burn off adrenaline and reset your system)

✔ P – Paced Breathing (slow your breath to signal safety to your nervous system)

✔ P – Paired Muscle Relaxation (tense and release muscles to reduce physical tension)

All four of the DBT TIP skills change your body chemistry fast—within seconds to minutes—by activating the parasympathetic nervous system (which calms you down) and reducing activity in the sympathetic nervous system (which triggers fight-or-flight).

They work as effectively as dysfunctional coping behaviors—like drinking, self-harm, or emotional eating—at reducing emotional pain, but without the negative consequences. Think of them as fast-acting medication for distress without cost or side effects.

These skills are simple, require very little thinking, and work best when:

✔ Your emotions are so intense that you feel completely out of control

✔ You have an urge to engage in destructive behavior and can’t distract yourself

✔ You’re in a crisis and need to lower emotional intensity immediately

In this blog I am going to break down the T – Tip the Temperature and the I – Intense Exercise skills.   I will cover P – Paced Breathing and Paired Muscle Relaxation in the next blog.

If you missed my first skill in the series, check out the STOP skill here.

T – Tip the Temperature (DBT TIP skills)

Cool Down Fast—Literally

When emotions are boiling over, one of the fastest ways to lower the intensity is to shock your system with cold.

This skill works by triggering your mammalian dive reflex—a natural response that slows your heart rate lowers stress hormones, and shifts your body out of crisis mode almost instantly.

How to Do It:

1️⃣ Fill a bowl with ice water and submerge your face for no more than 30 seconds while holding your breath.

2️⃣ Keep your head below your heart (bending over helps).

3️⃣ Make sure your eyes, cheeks, and mouth are fully in the water, activating the dive reflex.

⚠️ Important Warning: If you have low blood pressure, a heart condition, or any medical concerns, check with your doctor before using this skill—it can cause a sudden drop in heart rate.

Real-Life Example: When You Feel on the Edge of Losing Control

You’re drowning in emotions, completely overwhelmed, and the urge to self-harm, lash out, or escape in any way possible is hitting hard. It feels like you’re about to snap.

✅ You head straight for the kitchen, grab a bowl, and fill it with ice water.

✅ Then, bend forward, take a deep breath, and submerge your face for 30 seconds.

✅ As soon as your face hits the water, your body’s automatic survival response kicks in.  Your heart rate slows, your breath steadies, and something shifts for the first time in hours (or days).

The result? You’re still in distress, but now you have a moment of clarity—a break in the intensity. That brief pause might be enough to stop you from doing something you can’t take back. From here, you can reach out for support, distract yourself, or choose a different skill to keep going.

Learn how the body’s stress response works and how physical techniques can help manage it.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response

I – Intense Exercise (DBT TIP skills)

Burn off emotional energy—fast.

When emotions are out of control, your body is flooded with adrenaline. Your heart is racing, your muscles are tense, and you feel like you have to do something. If you don’t release that energy, it builds up, making everything feel worse.

Intense Exercise helps by burning off that adrenaline quickly, forcing your body into a calmer state afterward.

How to Do It:

1️⃣ Do 30 seconds to 2 minutes of high-energy movement, like:

• Sprinting up stairs
• Jumping jacks
• Burpees (if you’re feeling ambitious!)
• Running in place
• Hitting a punching bag

2️⃣ Stop and notice how your body naturally shifts into recovery mode afterward.

💡 Try this: Once you’ve burned off the adrenaline, follow up with Paced Breathing (covered in the next blog) to help your body settle even more.

Real-Life Example: When You’re About to Snap in Anger

You feel the rage building inside you. Your fists are clenched, your face is hot, and you’re seconds away from screaming, slamming a door, or saying something you’ll regret.

✅ Instead of reacting, you pause and start doing 30 seconds of jumping jacks.

✅ Your heart is pounding even harder, but this time, it’s from movement, not anger.

✅ By the time you stop, your body is physically tired, and the urge to explode has lost its edge. Your body then naturally calms down.

The result? Your anger isn’t gone, but now it’s manageable. You can talk instead of shout and respond instead of react.

Why These TIP Skills Work

When emotions take over, your body’s nervous system is in full fight-or-flight mode. These skills work by interrupting that response and shifting your body back toward a calmer state.

✔ Tip the Temperature immediately decreases heart rate and stress hormones.

✔ Intense Exercise burns off excess adrenaline so your body can reset.

✔ Both work in seconds to minutes, making them some of the fastest distress tolerance skills.

They don’t erase emotions but bring them down to a level where you can think again.

Your Challenge This Week

Next time emotions feel unbearable, try one of these TIP skills:

✔ Feeling completely overwhelmed, stuck in distress, or fighting an urge to do something harmful? Try the ice-water face dive and notice how quickly your body reacts. Does it shift the intensity even a little?

✔ Feel like you’re about to explode? Try 30 seconds of intense movement and see if it burns off the adrenaline enough to regain control.

🔹 Pay attention: Do you feel more in control afterward? Even if the emotion is still there, does it give you a little more space to make a better choice?

🔹 If one skill doesn’t work, try the other. These are emergency tools—use them like you would a fire extinguisher when distress is out of control.

And if you forget to use them? No worries—try again next time. The more you practice, the easier it gets.

What was the hardest part? What worked best for you? Drop a comment or share your experience.

You can find more DBT tools and future posts by heading to my DBT Skills Blog Series

Looking for DBT therapy in Las Vegas, Torrance, or online in California, Nevada, or Oregon? Reach out to learn how we can work together.