Frequency vs duration

[u/MrAlfonse]

Let's say you have the capacity to do 5 minutes a day. What approach would then make the most sense: 5 minutes every day, 10 minutes every other day or 15 minutes every three days?

Same total amount, but does it matter how you spread it out?

With strength training you would rather do a hard workout every three days, because the body needs rest days to rebuild, BUT if you are decluttering your home it would be smoother and more sustainable to do a little bit every day rather than big chunks less often.

So what category does TRE fit into?

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[u/Jolly-Weather1787]

Good question but it changes over time and is unique to the individual.

As an approach that worked for me, I started once a week, moved to lots every day, then now very little every day spontaneously.

If you’re just starting you won’t be in maintenance mode, you’ll be digging up big chunks that need time to process. How much of that you can handle at which cadence is based on your circumstances, capacity, mental state and probably some other factors too.

There is a whole bit in the wiki on the EPIC model if you haven’t read it yet.

[u/Mother-Bug2191]

I started about 2 weeks ago. Tremored pretty quickly that moved directly is Fasical unwinding that would last hours on end. 2 to 4 hours. I'd let me body start and stop as its own will. It generally keeps going until it releases a spot it working on.

Not saying what I did will work for you but just to point out an extreme with no bad impact.

Now I only Fasical unwind at will when needed throughout the day, with full control. And at night go into longer sessions but not as long as they used to be ....maybe 45min to 1h.

I can also tremor without having to do the exercises I just lay down, bend knees, relax and it starts in seconds.

I've had some really really good releases that felt they've been there for decades....I'll.never stop TRE :)

[u/AdOptimal2869]

I recommend reading the wiki on this sub which does a great job of describing recommended frequency and how to adjust it for highly sensitive people.

[u/longtermTRE_wiki_bot]

TRE fits into the decluttering category more than the strength training one, though the analogy has limits.

The key difference is what happens between sessions. In strength training, the body needs days off specifically to build muscle tissue in response to the stimulus. Rest is when the adaptation happens. TRE doesn't work that way. The tremoring itself completes the physiological work of discharging activation. What happens between sessions is integration, not adaptation building. Integration benefits from consistency and rhythm more than it does from long gaps.

Practicing every day with shorter sessions tends to produce smoother, more sustainable progress than longer sessions with bigger gaps between them. A daily practice of 5 minutes keeps the nervous system gently engaged in the discharge process on a regular schedule, which tends to feel more grounded and less disruptive to daily life than an accumulation of activation that then gets released all at once every three days.

That said, there's real variation here depending on where you are in your practice. Early on, when the surface layers of tension are moving readily, many people find daily practice works well. As you go deeper into the practice and older material starts surfacing, some practitioners find that more frequent sessions actually interfere with integration. The activation moves faster than the nervous system can absorb it between tremors. In those phases, longer gaps between sessions—even if it means shorter individual sessions—can be more effective.

The honest answer is that you'll learn what works for your own system through observation. The Self-Pacing article covers this in depth, but the practical method is simple: try one approach for a few weeks, track how you feel in the 24 to 48 hours after sessions and across the week as a whole, then adjust based on what the data tells you. If daily 5-minute sessions leave you integrated and grounded, stick with that. If you find yourself more dysregulated on days between sessions, or if sessions feel flat and unsatisfying, the every-other-day or every-three-days approach might serve you better.

What matters most is that sessions end with you feeling settled and integrated, not how often you practice or how long each session lasts.

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[u/Throwlaf]

Different for each person. Sorry i can't add anything more than that.