When anxiety leaves you reeling, try these 10 tips to help you combat overwhelming feelings.
1. Regulate Your Breathing
Often when we get anxious, we tend to hold our breath and tense our bodies. A good way to release anxiety is by releasing your breath. Concentrate on your breathing for a minute, thinking of nothing other than slowing your breaths in and out.
2. Listen and Sing to Music
Music has been proven to affect mood, so when you’re beginning to feel that creeping panic, try putting on music that relaxes or calms you. You will find that you can change the course of your thoughts as you get lost in the music. In addition to listening, feel free to sing along and your body will produce feel good endorphins!
3. Drink Water
Dehydration can actually cause a lot of harm to our bodies. It also increases anxiety and stress, as a subconscious survival tool. Drinking the right amount of water during the day can help ease depression symptoms.
4. Skip the Sugar
When you are stressed, you may feel some level of comfort by reaching for chocolate and sweets. However, consuming too much sugar can increase those anxious feelings. Instead, you’d be better off eating protein which your body can slowly digest for energy.
5. Three Things
To center yourself during a panic attack, try using the 3-3-3 rule: look around and name three things you see, three things you hear and then tense and relax three different muscles in your body. This will help slow down your mind.
6. Writing Exercises
Keeping a journal can also help you reduce your anxiety. Writing down your thoughts and sorting through your fears and stresses can help you understand your anxiety and set it aside. It may also help you fact check your thoughts.
7. Physical Exercise
Getting up and getting moving can be difficult when your anxiety is weighing down, but exercise has been proven to increase endorphins and can also help distract you and tire you out. The combination of meditation and exercise powering yoga has been a helpful therapy for healing trauma victims.
8. Stick to a Routine
A routine can help reduce your anxiety. Getting enough sleep each night by going to bed at the same time can help you feel less tired and stressed during the day. Also, having set things to do at certain times and accomplishing those things will make your feel more productive.
9. Worry Time
Completely cutting out stress and anxiety isn’t possible, but you can set aside a routine time during the day—just 20 minutes—to worry over things. And once that time is up, you get back to your life feeling better.
10. Talk it Out
When you’re feeling anxious over something, talking it out with a friend or a licensed professional can give you another perspective on things.
If you are struggling with anxiety, contact MidValley Healthcare to make an appointment. We have a team of licensed professionals to work with clients on an individual basis to achieve a happier healthier life.