I've recently discovered that box breathing (inhale 4 seconds, hold 4 seconds, exhale 4 seconds, hold 4 seconds) is extremely effective and reliable at calming irritation. Based on my experience so far, I'd estimate that doing it while irritated eliminates the irritation 90%+ of the time, which is extraordinarily reliable

Though, it only seems to work optimally when you are deliberately paying attention to doing it. So you can't just be doing it without thinking about it (which I've learned is possible). Probably something about activating your prefrontal cortex or something

Last year (because of fuckin long covid) I had what amounted to panic attacks (I think the name is stupid because it implies something more than what it is; but it was happening to me) and discovered that box breathing stops it with pretty high reliability (like 70%+) too

Hope this helps someone else :)