Vitamins and first aid.

Small things you do regularly to build capacity, and quick tools for when you start to overflow.

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Vitamins

Proactive coping

When: Regularly, on good days and hard days.

What it does: Calms your baseline and widens your window, so stress has more room.

Regular exercise
Mindfulness
Meditation
Body scans
Sleep routine
Regular meals and water
Time outdoors
Safe people
Special interests
Stimming
Unmasking time

Best when regular: a little most days builds more than a lot once in a while.

First aid

Reactive coping

When: In the moment, as distress starts rising.

What it does: Interrupts the spiral and brings your nervous system back into your window.

Cold water or ice
Sour or spicy taste
Intense movement
Paced breathing
Tense and release muscles
5-4-3-2-1 grounding
Deep pressure
Less input
Stimming or rocking

From DBT, TIPP: Temperature, Intense exercise, Paced breathing, Paired muscle relaxation.

Your window of tolerance

Where you can think, feel and respond without flooding or shutting down.

A band diagram: a line rises above the window and dips below it.

Too much: Flooded, panicky, meltdown

Your window

Shut down: Numb, frozen, far away

First aid brings you back into your window. Vitamins widen your window over time.

How this can look for ND brains

The cup fills faster.

Sensory, masking and social load add up, so vitamins matter even more.

Meltdowns are not choices.

They are nervous-system responses. Plan first aid that is sensory and needs few words.

Signals can arrive late.

Many ND people notice distress late. Mapping early body cues helps.

Your coping can look different.

Stimming, special interests and alone time are coping. Common advice may not fit.

Try this week:

pick one easy vitamin to build in, and plan one first-aid tool on a calm day.

Build your kit.

Take these slowly: on your own, in a session, or with someone you trust. There are no wrong answers, and "I'm not sure yet" counts.

Which vitamins already help me, even a little? When do I tend to let them slide?
What would make one vitamin easier to keep: more visible, predictable or fun?
What are my earliest signs that my cup is filling up, in my body, thoughts or behaviour?
When I am overwhelmed, which first-aid tools help most? Which ones need no words?
What do I want the people around me to do, or not do, when I am flooded?
Plan your first aid on a calm day. When you are flooded, words and choices can go offline, so a ready list on your phone or a card in your bag does the thinking for you. And yes: stims, special interests and alone time all count as coping.

For reflection and practice, not diagnosis. Bring it to your next session if you'd like to talk it through. In crisis in the US? Call or text 988.

Sources and credits. Brain Library · Coping. SOLA · Neurodivergent education & community