90-second rule, all emotions under control: Harvard neuroscientist's method helps manage daily life problems in just 2 minutes

Getting angry at a colleague, feeling hurt by something a partner says or replaying an unpleasant conversation in your head can easily affect the rest of the day. But a simple technique known as the 90-second rule may help people create a pause between an emotional trigger and their response. The method is linked to Harvard-trained neuroscientist Dr Jill Bolte Taylor and has also been discussed by happiness researcher and former Google executive Mo Gawdat.

The basic idea is simple: allow the initial emotional reaction to pass, then decide what you want to do next instead of repeatedly feeding the same thought.

What is the 90-second rule?

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor first introduced and thoroughly broke down this concept in her bestselling 2008 memoir, My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey.


According to Taylor, when something triggers an emotion, the body goes through a short-lived chemical response. Stress-related chemicals enter the bloodstream and produce familiar physical reactions such as a racing heart, tense muscles and changes in breathing.

Taylor has explained that the initial chemical response takes less than 90 seconds to clear from the bloodstream.

“If we have a thought that is going to eventually stimulate an emotion like anger then we have a physical response where noradrenaline gets dumped into the bloodstream. It floods through us and flushed out of us,” she said during a broadcast interview with a Washington, D.C. television station, which was later cited by Inc. Magazine.

She later added, “From the first thought to the time your blood is completely clean takes less than 90 seconds.”

That does not mean anger or anxiety automatically disappears after a minute and a half. The important part is what happens next.

Why emotions can keep coming back

People can continue feeling angry or upset for much longer because they keep replaying the incident mentally. Each time the same thought is brought back, it can restart the emotional response.

Taylor explained, “But that’s because we’re actually rerunning that loop. We’re rethinking the thought that’s restimulating the emotional circuit and then here we go again on that ride.”

Gawdat has used the same idea while talking about happiness and emotional control. He suggests giving yourself those 90 seconds to experience the reaction, then shifting your attention towards what can actually be done about the situation.

Mo Gawdat's three questions

After the initial reaction has settled, Gawdat recommends asking three questions:

• Is it true?
• Can I do something about it?
• Can I accept it and do something despite its presence?

The questions can help separate an actual problem from assumptions made in the heat of the moment. For example, a badly worded message may feel like a personal attack, while a disagreement at work may seem much bigger when emotions are running high.

If something can be changed, take action. If it cannot, accepting the situation can help prevent hours of unnecessary rumination.

How to use the rule in daily life

The next time anger, fear or frustration rises, notice what is happening in your body rather than immediately reacting. Take slow breaths and allow the emotion to be present without acting on it.

Once the 90-second period passes, look at the situation again. You can also ground yourself by focusing on your surroundings, feeling your feet against the floor or naming things you can see and hear.