Privacy Policy

Last updated 31 October 2026

Version 1.0. This policy explains what information Anna collects, why, and the choices you have. It covers the Anna app for iPhone and this website. Because Anna handles information about how you feel, we also publish a separate Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy.

Our promises

Your entries are private. What you record in Anna is used only to run Anna for you.
We never sell your data. Not to advertisers, not to data brokers, not to anyone.
We never use it for advertising. There are no advertising or tracking tools inside Anna.
We never use your entries to train AI models.
You can delete everything from inside the app, at any time.

Who we are

Anna is provided by Anna Grigoryan, Individual Entrepreneur, registered in Armenia (“Anna”, “we”, “us”), who is responsible for your information. For any privacy question, write to annaemotionalapp@gmail.com. We aim to reply within 30 days.

What we collect

Account details: your email address, or your Apple ID details if you use Sign in with Apple.
Your check-ins: the emotions you name, where you feel them in your body, your nervous system state, and the insights and patterns Anna builds from them.
Inner Dialogue: what you write in it. On the Free plan, conversations are not kept in your history. With Anna Pro, your saved history is stored so you can return to it.
Your Emotional Portrait, and the people you invite to witness it.
Subscription status: Apple handles every payment. We never see your card details, only whether your subscription is active.
Crash reports: only if you have chosen to share them with app developers in your iPhone settings, in which case Apple passes them to us without your name
Messages you send us, and waitlist emails given on this website.

We do not collect your location, your contacts or data from Apple Health.

How we use it

We use your information to run Anna’s features, to show your insights and patterns, to let the people you invite witness your Portrait, to answer your messages, to keep Anna secure, to meet our legal obligations and, if you joined the waitlist, to email you about the launch.

Artificial intelligence

Anna does not use AI. No feature sends your entries to an AI service, and your entries are never used to train AI models. If we ever add a feature that uses AI, we will update this policy and ask for your consent before it touches your entries.

Your consent

Before your first check-in, Anna asks for your explicit consent to process information about how you feel and where you feel it in your body. Witnessing has its own, separate consent. You can withdraw either at any time in the app, and withdrawing does not affect anything that happened before.

Witnessing

With Anna Pro, you can invite people you trust to witness your Emotional Portrait. They see your Emotional Portrait, the colour picture of the emotions you have logged, and your current nervous system state. They need their own Anna account to do so. They never see your check-in details or anything you write in Inner Dialogue. You can remove someone’s access at any time, but we cannot erase what they have already seen.

Who processes your information

We use a small number of trusted providers. Each may use your information only to provide its service to us, under a written agreement.

Provider	What for	Where
Cloud hosting provider	Storing your account and entries securely	United States
Netlify	This website and waitlist sign-ups	United States
Apple	App distribution, subscriptions, Sign in with Apple and crash reports you choose to share	United States

We share information with authorities only where the law requires it, or where it is needed to protect someone’s safety.

How long we keep it

Information	How long
Your account and entries	Until you delete them or your account
After you delete your account	Erased within 30 days, and from backups within 90 days
Crash reports	Up to 90 days
Messages you send us	Up to 12 months after the conversation ends
Waitlist emails	Until we have announced the launch, or until you ask us to remove yours

Records of your purchases are kept by Apple under its own policies.

Deleting your information

You can delete your account and everything in it from inside the app in Profile, under Delete account, or by writing to us. Deletion is permanent once the 30 days have passed.

Security

Your information is encrypted in transit and at rest, and access to it is strictly limited. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach ever affects your information, we will tell you and the relevant authorities without undue delay, and within the time limits the law sets.

Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask to see, correct, export or delete your information, withdraw your consent, and object to how we use it. We will never treat you differently for doing so. Depending on where you live, you may have further rights:

United States: residents of Washington, Nevada and other states with consumer health data laws have the rights set out in our Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy.
EU and UK: we rely on your explicit consent to process information about how you feel, and on our contract with you for everything else. You can complain to your local data protection authority. Anna is not yet offered in the EU or the UK. Before it is, we will appoint representatives there and update this policy.

International transfers

We are based in Armenia, and our providers may process information in other countries, including the United States. Where the law requires it, we protect these transfers with safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses.

Children

Anna is for adults aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If we learn that someone under 18 has an account, we will delete it.

This website

This website uses no cookies, analytics or advertising tools. If you join the waitlist, your email is stored by Netlify and used only to tell you about Anna’s launch.

Changes

We publish every version of this policy with its date. If we make a significant change, we will tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect, and ask for your consent again where the law requires it.

Contact

Write to us at annaemotionalapp@gmail.com.

Anna

Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy

Last updated 31 October 2026

Version 1.0. This policy is for people in Washington, Nevada and other US states whose laws protect consumer health data. It sits alongside our Privacy Policy, which applies to everyone.

What counts as consumer health data in Anna

Information that could reveal your mental or emotional state: the emotions you name, where you feel them in your body, your nervous system state, the insights and patterns built from them, what you write in Inner Dialogue, and your Emotional Portrait.

Where it comes from

Only from you, when you use Anna. We do not buy health data or receive it from anyone else.

Why we collect and use it

Only to provide Anna to you: to run your check-ins, show your insights and patterns, keep your Inner Dialogue history if you choose Anna Pro, and share your Portrait with the people you invite. We collect it only with your consent, and we never use it for advertising.

Who we share it with

The service providers that host and run Anna, which act only on our instructions. They are listed in our Privacy Policy.
The people you invite to witness your Portrait, only with your separate consent.
Authorities, only where the law requires it.

We never sell consumer health data.

Your rights

You can ask us to confirm whether we hold your consumer health data, to give you access to it together with a list of everyone we have shared it with, to delete it, and to withdraw your consent. To use any of these rights, write to annaemotionalapp@gmail.com or use the options in the app. We will reply within 45 days.

Appeals

If we decline your request, you can appeal by replying to our decision with the subject line “Appeal”. We will answer within 45 days and explain our reasons. If you are still not satisfied, you can contact your state Attorney General.

Anna

Terms of Service

Last updated 31 October 2026

Version 1.0. These terms are an agreement between you and Anna Grigoryan, Individual Entrepreneur, registered in Armenia (“Anna”, “we”, “us”). By using the Anna app or this website, you agree to them. Apple is not a party to this agreement.

Who can use Anna

You must be 18 or over. You are responsible for keeping your account secure and for what happens under it.

What Anna is, and what it is not

Anna is a tool for learning emotional regulation and self-reflection through daily check-ins. It is not therapy, medical advice, a medical device or a crisis service, and it does not diagnose or treat any condition. Everything in Anna is general information. Please speak to a doctor or qualified professional before making any decision about your health.

If you are in danger or in crisis, call 911 in the US, or call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Elsewhere, contact your local emergency services or visit findahelpline.com.

Free plan and Anna Pro

Anna is free to start. Anna Pro costs $9.99 a month or $89.99 a year, and new subscribers can try it free for seven days. Prices may vary by country and are always shown before you buy.

Subscriptions are bought and billed through your Apple ID. Your free trial becomes a paid subscription, and your subscription renews automatically, unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can cancel in one step at any time in your iPhone settings, under your Apple ID and Subscriptions. Apple handles all payments and refunds under its own policies.

Your content

What you record in Anna belongs to you. You allow us to store and process it only to provide Anna to you. We will never use it for marketing or to train AI models.

Witnessing

Invite only people who have agreed to witness your Portrait. If you are invited, use what you see with care, and never share it without permission. To report misuse, write to annaemotionalapp@gmail.com.

Using Anna fairly

Do not use Anna to break the law, access other people’s accounts or data, harass anyone, or copy, reverse engineer or resell the app. We may suspend or close an account that seriously or repeatedly breaks these terms.

Licence

We give you a personal, non-transferable licence to use Anna on Apple devices you own or control, as the App Store Usage Rules allow. Anna’s name, design, illustrations, texts and emotion library belong to us.

Support and maintenance

We alone are responsible for maintaining and supporting Anna. Apple has no obligation to provide any maintenance or support for it.

Warranty

To the extent the law allows, Anna is provided as it is. If Anna fails to meet any warranty that applies by law, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price. Beyond that, Apple has no warranty obligation, and any other claim or loss arising from a failure to meet a warranty is our responsibility.

Claims

We, not Apple, are responsible for handling any claim about Anna, including product liability claims, claims that Anna fails to meet a legal or regulatory requirement, and claims under consumer protection or privacy law. If anyone claims that Anna infringes their intellectual property, we, not Apple, are responsible for investigating, defending and settling that claim.

Legal compliance

You confirm that you are not located in a country subject to a US Government embargo or designated as supporting terrorism, and that you are not on any US Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.

Third-party terms

When you use Anna, you must also follow any third-party terms that apply, such as your mobile network’s terms.

Liability

To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect or consequential losses, and our total liability to you is limited to the amount you paid for Anna in the 12 months before the claim. Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited by law, and nothing affects your rights as a consumer where you live.

Changes

Features may change as we improve Anna. If we change these terms in a significant way, we will tell you in the app or by email before the change takes effect.

Ending your use

You can stop using Anna and delete your account at any time, as described in our Privacy Policy.

Disputes and governing law

If something goes wrong, please write to us first, and we will try to resolve it within 30 days. These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Armenia. This does not take away the protection of the mandatory consumer laws of the country or state where you live, or your right to bring a claim in your local courts.

Apple

Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these terms. Once you accept them, Apple has the right to enforce them against you.

Contact

For questions, complaints or claims about Anna, write to annaemotionalapp@gmail.com. Postal address: Yerevan 0033, Armenia.

Anna

Blog

Short reads on how feelings work,
and how to find your way back to calm.

Emotion labels around a soft glow, titled how naming emotions helps: name, feel, regulate

1 November 2026

Name It to Tame It: Why Naming Your Emotions Calms You Down

Naming a feeling can calm your brain's threat response. Learn the science of affect labeling and a simple way to name your emotions every day.

What you log in Anna, an emotion and where you feel it, and what the app reveals: your state that week and a behavioural pattern

30 October 2026

Signs of Burnout You Might Be Missing, and What Your Body Knows

Burnout builds quietly for months. Learn the early signs of burnout and emotional exhaustion, how it differs from stress, and what helps.

The three nervous system modes, numb, mobilized and safe, drawn under an arch

25 October 2026

How to Regulate Your Nervous System: A Plain-English Guide

Learn how to regulate your nervous system with simple, research-backed skills: naming feelings, noticing your body and breathing out slowly.

Emotional intelligence compared with emotional regulation, with emotion labels leading to the Safe state

20 October 2026

Can an AI Chatbot Be Your Therapist? Why a Person Needs a Person

More young people are turning to AI chatbots for mental health advice. Here is what the 2026 research says, and why your nervous system needs people.

Blog

Name It to Tame It: Why Naming Your Emotions Calms You Down

Anna Grigoryan · 1 November 2026

Some feelings arrive without a name. A heaviness in the chest, a restlessness you cannot place, a mood that colours the whole afternoon. Most of us were never taught what to call them, so we push them aside or let them run the day.

The psychiatrist Dr Dan Siegel summed up a simple remedy in four words: name it to tame it. Decades of research suggest he was right.

What is affect labelling?

Affect labelling is the act of putting a feeling into words. It sounds almost too simple to matter, yet it is one of the best-studied tools in emotion research.

In a 2007 study at UCLA, Matthew Lieberman and colleagues showed people images of angry and frightened faces while scanning their brains. When participants named the emotion they saw, activity in the amygdala, the brain's alarm system, dropped. Activity rose in a region of the prefrontal cortex linked to thinking and self-control. Naming a feeling appears to hand it from the alarm system to the part of you that can reflect.

Why precise words work better

Psychologists use the term emotional granularity for the ability to tell similar feelings apart. "Bad" is a starting point. "Disappointed", "ashamed" and "drained" each point to a different need, and so to a different response.

People with more precise emotional vocabularies tend to cope with stress more flexibly. The good news is that vocabulary can grow at any age.

Vague words and precise words

Situation	Vague	Precise	What it points to
A friend cancels plans	Bad	Disappointed	Wanting connection
A long week at work	Stressed	Depleted	Needing rest
A tense family dinner	Upset	Unheard	Needing to be listened to
A big deadline	Anxious	Overwhelmed	Needing to break it down

The precise word does more than describe the feeling. It quietly suggests what might help.

Emotions that hide behind other emotions

Sometimes the feeling on the surface protects a softer one underneath. A few common pairings:

Anger often covers hurt or fear.
Irritability often covers tiredness.
Numbness often covers overwhelm.
Busyness can cover sadness we have not had time to feel.

When a feeling is hard to name, ask gently: is there something underneath this?

Why most of us were never taught this

Many people grew up hearing feelings described in only a few words: happy, sad, angry, fine. Some were told to stop crying or calm down without ever learning what they were feeling or why.

That was rarely anyone's fault. Parents and teachers passed on the language they had been given. The result, for many adults, is a strong inner life and a small vocabulary to describe it. Learning that vocabulary now is less like fixing something broken and more like learning a language you were never offered.

How to name your emotions in five steps

Pause. Stop for ten seconds and take one slow breath.
Notice your body. Where do you feel something? Your throat, your stomach, your shoulders?
Choose the broad family. Is this closer to joy, love, sadness, anger or fear?
Refine the word. Within that family, which word fits best? Sadness might be lonely, tired or grieving.
Say it, or write it. "I feel lonely." Then notice what shifts, even slightly.

The aim is accuracy, and the feeling does not have to disappear. Often, being named is enough for it to soften.

A 30-second daily practice

Like any language, emotional vocabulary grows with use. Try naming your feelings three times a day:

Morning: before you check your phone, name one feeling.
Afternoon: after lunch, notice your body and name your state.
Evening: name the strongest feeling of the day, and where you felt it.

After a few weeks, most people find that names arrive faster, and feelings pass more quickly.

When you cannot tell what you feel

Some people find naming feelings genuinely difficult, often because no one around them named feelings when they were growing up. That is common, and it can change.

If words will not come, start with the body. "My chest is tight" or "my hands are cold" is a valid first step. Over time, sensations and words begin to link up.

Common mistakes when naming feelings

Naming a thought instead of a feeling. "I feel like he is ignoring me" is a thought. "I feel hurt" is the feeling underneath it.
Judging the feeling as you name it. "I feel jealous, which is pathetic" adds shame to the original feeling. Try simply "I feel jealous."
Stopping at the first word. "Stressed" is often a doorway to something more precise.
Expecting the feeling to vanish. Naming tends to soften a feeling and make it easier to carry, and the feeling may still be there for a while.

Naming feelings in the body

Feelings are physical events as much as mental ones. Research led by Lauri Nummenmaa at Aalto University mapped how people across cultures feel different emotions in distinct areas of the body. Paying attention to where a feeling lives makes it easier to name, and naming it makes the body easier to settle.

Naming feelings with other people

Naming also helps between people. "I feel hurt" invites a very different conversation from "you always do this". Sharing a precise feeling gives the other person something they can respond to, and helps both nervous systems stay calmer.

Naming feelings with children

If you have children, naming feelings out loud is one of the most useful habits you can model. "You look frustrated that the tower fell" gives a child a word and shows them the feeling is allowed. Naming your own feelings calmly, such as "I am feeling a bit tired and short-tempered, so I am going to take a breath", teaches them the same skill by example. Children learn emotional language mostly from the adults around them.

How Anna helps you build an emotional vocabulary

Anna is an emotional regulation app built on affect labelling. You can check in at three levels: your nervous system state, your primary emotion, or the more precise emotional layer beneath it. The Body Map shows where you feel it, and Anna responds with guidance matched to both. Over time, your vocabulary grows, and the names arrive faster.

Questions

Who said "name it to tame it"?

The phrase was popularised by psychiatrist Dr Dan Siegel, author of The Whole-Brain Child.

Does naming emotions really help?

Yes. Brain-imaging research, including Matthew Lieberman's 2007 UCLA study, found that labelling a feeling reduced activity in the amygdala.

What if I cannot tell what I am feeling?

Start with body sensations, such as tightness, heat or heaviness. Words tend to follow with practice.

What is the difference between affect labelling and emotional granularity?

Affect labelling is the act of naming a feeling. Emotional granularity is how precisely you can name it.

Blog

Signs of Burnout You Might Be Missing, and What Your Body Knows

Anna Grigoryan · 30 October 2026

Burnout rarely arrives out of nowhere. More often, it has been building quietly for months: a nervous system that has spent too long in mobilisation or shutdown, with very few moments of genuine safety in between.

The numbers suggest many of us are on that path. Glassdoor senior economist Chris Martin reported that burnout mentions in employee reviews rose 65% year on year in the first quarter of 2026, reaching 2.5 times the pre-pandemic level. A 2026 WebMD Health Services survey of 3,872 workers found that middle managers report burnout at more than three times the rate of individual contributors. Headspace's 2026 Workforce State of Mind report found that among workers going through organisational change, 51% had emotionally checked out.

What burnout is

The World Health Organization describes burnout as an occupational phenomenon caused by chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It has three dimensions: exhaustion, growing mental distance or cynicism about your work, and a sense that you are no longer effective.

Seen through the body, the first dimension looks like months of mobilisation, and the second looks like shutdown: the body lowering its energy because pushing harder has stopped working.

Seven early signs of burnout

You wake up tired, even after a full night or a weekend off.
Small things irritate you far more than they should.
Work you once cared about now leaves you feeling numb.
Your body braces on Sunday evening, before the week has begun.
You go quiet in meetings, or with friends, without quite knowing why.
You struggle to switch off at night, then struggle to start in the morning.
Your concentration slips, and simple decisions feel heavy.

What burnout feels like in the body

Burnout is often described in psychological terms, but many people first notice it physically:

Persistent tension in the jaw, neck and shoulders that does not ease at weekends.
Shallow breathing, often high in the chest, for most of the day.
Heaviness in the limbs, especially in the morning or after work.
Frequent minor illnesses, as if your body has less in reserve.
A wired-but-tired feeling at night: exhausted, yet unable to settle.

These sensations are your body's way of telling you how long it has been braced.

Burnout vs stress

	Stress	Burnout
How it feels	Too much, too fast	Empty, flat, detached
Body state	Mostly mobilised	Increasingly shut down
Your belief	If I get on top of this, I will be fine	Nothing I do makes a difference
What fades first	Rest and patience	Motivation and care

Stress usually comes with urgency, while burnout comes with emptiness. Many people move from one to the other without noticing the moment it changed.

Why burnout is so easy to miss

To a specialist, the pattern can be obvious. For most people, nothing makes it visible. You go to work, talk to friends, come home, and never notice that in almost every area of your life your body is either bracing for something or switching off to cope.

The irritability, the exhaustion and the feeling that nothing is quite working are often how that shows up.

Burnout in managers and founders

Middle managers carry pressure from both directions: targets from above and the needs of their team below. They are often expected to stay calm for everyone else, which leaves little room to notice their own state.

Founders face a similar trap. When the company feels like an extension of yourself, rest can feel like risk. Long stretches of mobilisation become normal, and the shutdown that follows is easy to mistake for a lack of discipline.

For both, the first step is the same: learning to notice your state before you are empty, and treating that information as seriously as any business metric.

Questions to ask yourself

If you are unsure whether you are heading towards burnout, these questions can help you take stock honestly:

When did I last feel genuinely rested?
Do I feel more like myself on holiday, or do I need most of the holiday to recover?
Has my sense of humour changed?
Am I avoiding people I usually enjoy?
Do I still feel that my work matters, or have I stopped caring in order to cope?

Several uncomfortable answers are worth taking seriously, even if you are still performing well on the outside.

How to talk to your manager about burnout

Many people stay silent because they fear being seen as weak. A calm, specific conversation is usually received better than people expect:

Describe the pattern in neutral terms, such as "I have been working late most nights for two months."
Name the effect on your energy and your work.
Suggest one concrete change, such as moving a deadline, sharing a project or protecting a day without meetings.
Agree a time to review it together.

If speaking up does not feel safe in your workplace, that is important information too.

What helps

Check in with your state once a day. One honest minute is enough to notice a trend before it becomes a crisis.
Name the feeling precisely. "Depleted" and "resentful" point to different needs, and naming each one helps the body settle.
Match recovery to your state. When you are mobilised, a walk or a long, slow exhale often helps. When you are shut down, gentle warmth, light movement and a familiar voice tend to work better than more rest alone.
Spend time with someone calm. A steady person helps your body remember what safety feels like.
Protect one boundary. A fixed finishing time, a phone-free evening or a lunch away from your desk. One kept boundary rebuilds trust with your own body.
Look at the wider picture. Burnout is often about workload, leadership and culture as much as individual habits. The 2026 International Stress Awareness Week theme, "Rehumanising the Workplace", puts it well.
Ask for professional support if exhaustion persists or affects your health, relationships or safety.

The stages of burnout recovery

Recovery rarely moves in a straight line, but many people describe a similar pattern:

Recognising it. Admitting, often with some grief, that the current pace cannot continue.
Stopping the drain. Reducing the biggest sources of strain where you can, even temporarily.
Restoring energy. Sleep, food, movement and time with people who feel safe.
Rebuilding interest. Small moments of curiosity and enjoyment return, often before motivation does.
Returning differently. Going back to work with clearer limits and a better sense of your own early warning signs.

How Anna helps you notice it sooner

Anna is an emotional regulation app that turns a vague sense of being "off" into patterns you can see. Daily check-ins record how you feel and which state your body is in. Over time, Insights and behavioural patterns show where your energy goes, so you can learn to notice your state before you are empty.

Questions

What are the first signs of burnout?

Persistent tiredness after rest, rising irritability and a growing sense of detachment from work you once cared about.

Is burnout a medical condition?

The WHO classifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon rather than a medical condition. If you are concerned about your health, speak to a doctor.

How is burnout different from depression?

Burnout is tied to work and chronic workplace stress. If low mood spreads to every area of your life, or persists for weeks, speak to a doctor or a qualified professional.

How long does burnout recovery take?

It varies widely. Recovery often takes months, and it depends on what caused the burnout and what changes in your work and life.

Blog

How to Regulate Your Nervous System: A Plain-English Guide

Anna Grigoryan · 25 October 2026

Your nervous system decides how you feel long before you decide what to think. A tight jaw in a meeting, a racing heart before a difficult call, the heavy blankness of a Sunday evening: each is your body reporting on how safe it believes you are.

Nervous system regulation has become one of the defining wellbeing ideas of 2026, and the Global Wellness Summit named neurowellness a major trend of the year. Behind the hashtags sits a simple, learnable skill: noticing which state you are in, and helping yourself return to calm.

This guide explains the idea in plain English, sets out what the science does and does not support, and gives you practical ways to regulate your nervous system at home, at work and in your relationships.

What is nervous system regulation?

Your autonomic nervous system runs quietly in the background, adjusting your heart rate, breathing, digestion and muscle tension to match what it senses around you. It is constantly asking one question: am I safe?

Nervous system regulation is your ability to respond to that question flexibly. When something stressful happens, your body gears up. When it passes, your body settles again. Regulation is the movement between the two, and the skill of helping that movement along.

What a regulated nervous system feels like

A regulated nervous system can move into stress when life asks for it and come back again afterwards. You still get angry, anxious or sad. The feeling passes through you instead of taking up residence.

In practice, regulation often looks ordinary. You can disagree with someone without losing your temper for the rest of the day. You can have a hard morning and still enjoy your evening. You can feel a wave of worry, name it, and carry on.

The three states, in plain English

Many therapists describe three broad states, a model inspired by Polyvagal Theory. Hold it lightly, as a map. It helps you notice what is happening and choose what might help.

Safe

You feel connected, curious and able to think clearly. Your breathing is easy, your face is expressive, and you can enjoy other people. This is the state in which we learn, create, rest and connect.

What helps: savour it. Notice what safety feels like in your body, so you can recognise your way back to it later.

Mobilised

Your body prepares for action. Your heart speeds up, your shoulders rise and your thoughts narrow. This is the familiar fight-or-flight response, useful in short bursts: it helps you meet a deadline or step out of the way of a cyclist.

What helps: give the energy somewhere to go. A brisk walk, shaking out your hands, pressing your palms against a wall, or several long, slow exhales.

Shutdown

When a threat feels too big to fight or escape, the body lowers its energy instead. You may feel numb, foggy, flat or far away. People often mistake this state for laziness, and the self-criticism that follows usually makes it worse.

What helps: gentle activation. A warm drink, standing up and stretching, looking slowly around the room, humming, or sending a short message to someone you trust.

All three states exist to protect you. Difficulty begins when you live in mobilisation or shutdown by default, usually without realising it.

Why your nervous system gets stuck

If these states are meant to come and go, why do so many of us stay in one for weeks?

Part of the answer is repetition. A body that meets constant pressure, at work, online and at home, rarely receives a clear signal that the danger has passed. Notifications, deadlines and difficult news arrive faster than we can settle from the last one.

Part of the answer is history. If you grew up in a home where it was unsafe to show anger or sadness, your body may have learned to stay alert, or to switch off, as a way of coping. Those patterns once protected you. As an adult, they can run automatically long after the original threat has gone.

The encouraging part is that the nervous system keeps learning throughout life. Small, repeated experiences of returning to safety gradually teach it a new pattern.

How to tell which state you are in

If you are unsure, pause and ask yourself four quick questions:

Energy: do I feel buzzing and restless, steady, or heavy and drained?
Breath: is my breathing fast and high in the chest, easy, or shallow and barely noticeable?
Focus: are my thoughts racing and narrow, clear, or foggy and far away?
Connection: do I want to snap at people or escape them, talk to them, or hide from them?

Restless, fast and narrow suggests mobilisation. Heavy, foggy and withdrawn suggests shutdown. Steady, easy and open suggests safety. Many moments are a mixture, and that is normal.

A note on the science

In February 2026, Paul Grossman and 38 co-authors published a critique arguing that parts of Polyvagal Theory's anatomy do not hold up, and Stephen Porges replied in the same issue of Clinical Neuropsychiatry. Online, this was flattened into "polyvagal debunked".

The debate concerns specific claims about the vagus nerve. The everyday skills in this guide have their own research behind them: putting feelings into words, noticing bodily sensations, slow breathing and calm company. That is why Anna describes its approach as inspired by Polyvagal Theory and makes no promise of a "vagus nerve reset". Be wary of anyone who sells regulation as a quick hack.

Seven ways to regulate your nervous system

Name what you feel. Putting a feeling into words, known as affect labelling, reduced activity in the brain's threat centre in a 2007 UCLA study led by Matthew Lieberman. One accurate word, such as "overwhelmed" or "lonely", is enough to begin.
Notice where it lives in your body. A tight chest, clenched hands, heavy limbs. Locating a feeling turns a vague sense of being "off" into something you can work with.
Breathe out longer than you breathe in. A slow exhale is one of the most dependable signals of safety. Breathe in for four counts and out for six, for two minutes.
Orient to your surroundings. Let your eyes move slowly around the room and rest on a few things you can see. This reminds your body where you are, here and now.
Move. Walking, stretching or dancing to one song helps a mobilised body release energy and helps a shut-down body wake up gently.
Spend time with a calm person. Humans settle one another through co-regulation. Time with someone steady calms the body in a way no technique fully replaces.
Track it over time. One check-in tells you how you feel today. A month of check-ins shows which days, people and situations pull you out of safety.

A two-minute regulation routine

When you need something quick and repeatable, try this:

Stop whatever you are doing and put both feet on the floor.
Name your state and one feeling, silently or out loud.
Locate the feeling in your body and place a hand there.
Exhale slowly, longer than you inhale, five times.
Look around and rest your eyes on one thing you like.

Then notice what has shifted. Even a small change counts, because each one teaches your body the route back to safety.

Regulating your nervous system at work

Work is where many of us spend the most time mobilised. A few small habits make a difference:

Check in before big moments. Thirty seconds before a meeting or presentation, notice your state and take three slow exhales.
Build in transitions. A short walk between tasks, or a minute looking out of a window, stops stress from stacking up all day.
Notice your afternoon dip. If you regularly feel flat after lunch, that may be shutdown more than tiredness. Light movement often helps more than another coffee.
Lead with calm. If you manage people, your state spreads. A steady leader helps a whole team settle.

Regulating your nervous system in relationships

Close relationships are where we most often lose regulation, because the people we love matter so much to our sense of safety.

Pause before you reply. When a conversation heats up, a single breath before speaking gives your body a moment to catch up.
Name your state out loud. "I am feeling flooded, can we take ten minutes?" is a regulating sentence for both of you.
Return to repair. Every relationship has ruptures. Coming back afterwards, calmly, teaches both nervous systems that conflict is survivable.

Signs your nervous system needs support

Feeling wired but tired, snapping at people you love, going blank in conversations, or struggling to rest even when you have time: these are common signals that your body has spent too long braced. Trouble sleeping, frequent tension headaches and a constant sense of dread can be part of the picture too.

If these signals persist or feel overwhelming, speak to a doctor or a qualified therapist. Self-regulation skills work best alongside professional care, and never in place of it when you need it.

How Anna helps you practise

Anna is an emotional regulation app built to make this skill visible. Each check-in asks how you feel and which state your body is in, at whichever level suits you: your nervous system state, your primary emotion, or the more precise emotional layer beneath it. Anna then guides you through the Body Map and the Breathing Orb, and responds with guidance matched to your state.

Over the weeks, Insights reveal your patterns, and your monthly Portrait shows the colour of your month. Regulation is a skill, and every skill grows with practice.

Questions

How long does it take to regulate your nervous system?

In the moment, two or three minutes of slow breathing can help. Making the skill automatic takes regular practice over several weeks.

What does a dysregulated nervous system feel like?

Common experiences include restlessness, irritability, exhaustion, numbness and difficulty concentrating.

What is the fastest way to calm your nervous system?

For most people, a few long, slow exhales combined with naming what you feel is the quickest place to start.

Can I regulate my nervous system without therapy?

Many regulation skills can be learned and practised on your own. If distress is persistent or severe, a qualified professional can help in ways self-practice cannot.

Is Polyvagal Theory debunked?

Researchers dispute parts of its anatomy. The practical skills it inspired, such as naming feelings, slow breathing and calm company, are supported by separate research.

Blog

Can an AI Chatbot Be Your Therapist? Why a Person Needs a Person

Anna Grigoryan · 20 October 2026

It is late, you cannot sleep, and something is weighing on you. A chatbot is awake, patient and free. For a growing number of people, that is where the conversation now begins.

A RAND study published in JAMA Pediatrics in June 2026 found that 19.2% of young people aged 12 to 21 had used AI chatbots for mental health advice, up from about one in eight in late 2025. Nearly two-thirds of those in the earlier study had told no one. The American Psychological Association's 2026 survey found that a third of psychologists say their patients use AI as a tool alongside therapy.

So the question is no longer whether people will talk to AI about their feelings. They already do. The more useful question is what AI can genuinely offer, where it falls short, and what your nervous system actually needs when life feels like too much.

Why people turn to chatbots

The reasons are understandable. A chatbot never judges, never gets tired and never needs you to explain yourself twice. It is available at three in the morning, when friends are asleep and offices are closed. For someone who has never said a feeling out loud, typing it to a machine can feel like a safe first step.

Cost and access matter too. Finding a therapist can mean long waiting lists, insurance forms and fees that many people cannot sustain week after week. Against that, an app that answers instantly can look like the only realistic option.

None of this is foolish. It reflects a real gap between how much support people need and how much is available to them.

What the 2026 research is warning about

The concerns grew sharper this autumn. On 9 October 2026, NPR reported that Common Sense Media found most safeguards in a popular teen chatbot product had failed its tests, and the organisation now advises teenagers against using it. A growing number of US states, including Illinois and Nevada, have restricted AI chatbots that present themselves as therapy.

Regulators tend to raise three recurring worries. Chatbots can miss signs that someone is in danger. They can agree too readily, reinforcing a painful belief instead of gently questioning it. And they can encourage people to keep talking to the app when what would help most is talking to a person.

The central question goes beyond safety settings. It is about what actually helps a distressed person feel better.

What a chatbot cannot offer

When you are overwhelmed, your nervous system looks for signs of safety in another nervous system: a steady voice, a softened face, someone breathing calmly beside you. Researchers call this co-regulation, and it is how every one of us first learned to settle as children. A baby does not calm down because someone explains the situation. It calms down because a calm adult holds it.

That capacity never leaves us. Adults still settle faster in the presence of someone steady. A friend's hand on your shoulder, a familiar laugh down the phone, the quiet of sitting with someone who is not in a hurry: these reach the body in a way that words on a screen rarely do.

A chatbot can keep you talking. It can reflect your words back and suggest a breathing exercise. What it cannot provide is a regulated human presence, and that presence is often what the body needs most.

Loneliness makes this more urgent

A 2026 Washington University study of 7,997 adults across eight countries found that 46.8% of adults aged 18 to 24 report loneliness, compared with 38.9% of adults overall. The same research linked loneliness to much higher odds of anxiety and low mood.

For a lonely person, a chatbot can feel like company. The risk is that it becomes a substitute for the human contact that would actually ease the loneliness, making the original problem quieter and deeper at the same time.

If you use AI for your mental health, use it wisely

You may still find AI useful, and that is your decision to make. A few principles can help you use it well:

Treat it as a journal with prompts. It can help you put thoughts into words. It is no clinician, and it cannot assess your safety.
Never rely on it in a crisis. If you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, contact emergency services or a crisis line. In the US, you can call or text 988.
Notice how you feel afterwards. Do you feel calmer and more able to reach out to people, or more alone? Your body will tell you.
Bring what you discover to a person. If a conversation helps you name something, share it with a friend, a family member or a professional.
Check what happens to your words. Read the privacy policy. What you type about your inner life is sensitive data.

What to look for in a mental health app

Whether or not an app uses AI, a few questions help you choose well:

Are its claims honest? Be cautious of promises to fix, cure or reset you, or of precise percentages of "less stress" after a week.
Is it clear about its limits? A good app tells you when to seek professional help.
Does it build skills you keep? The best tools teach you something you can do without the app.
Does it connect you to people? Support that leads back to human relationships tends to last longer.
Does it name its evidence? Look for the research or frameworks it draws on, described plainly.

A person needs a person

If a dysregulated nervous system needs a regulated person, there are two places to find one. The first is other people: a therapist when you need one, and friends and family who can sit with you. The second is yourself. With practice, you can learn to become a calm, steady presence for your own feelings.

That second skill is learnable. It begins with naming what you feel, noticing it in your body, and returning to safety a little faster each time. It also makes you better company for others, because a regulated person helps the people around them settle too.

Why I built Anna without a chatbot

Anna is an emotional regulation app designed around human connection on purpose. There is no chatbot inside it. Instead, Anna teaches you to read your own states through daily check-ins, the Body Map and the Breathing Orb. Inner Dialogue lets you write both sides of a conversation, as your Inner Child and your Inner Parent, so the steady voice you build is your own. Your monthly Portrait can be witnessed by friends you invite, because a person needs a person.

Anna is a tool for practising regulation. It is no substitute for therapy or crisis support, and if you are struggling, please reach out to a professional or a local helpline.

Questions

Is AI therapy safe?

Researchers and regulators have raised serious concerns, especially for teenagers, and several US states now restrict AI chatbots that offer therapy. A chatbot can be a starting point for reflection, but it should never replace professional or emergency care.

Can AI replace a therapist?

Current evidence does not support that. Much of what helps in therapy comes from the relationship with a regulated, attuned person.

What is co-regulation?

Co-regulation is the process by which one calm nervous system helps another settle, through tone of voice, facial expression and shared presence.

Is it bad to talk to a chatbot about my feelings?

Not necessarily. It can help you find words. The important thing is that it leads you towards people and professional support when you need them, and never keeps you away from them.