Living with anxiety is not easy by any means. There are millions of people out there who struggle with anxiety daily, looking for ways to get relief. Being able to have control over anxiety is a life long process, but there are ways to combat your anxiety that can be integrated into your daily life. If you regularly suffer from anxiety and you need some relief, try some of the following strategies.
- Control Your Breathing:
This is a big player in controlling your anxiety. Severe anxiety symptoms are linked to poor breathing habits. Some people with anxiety suffer from poor breathing habits that contribute to anxiety and can be one of the most upsetting symptoms. Taking control of your breathing will help you without a doubt. Here is what you need to do:
- Breathe slowly and gently through your nose for about 5 to 7 seconds. Hold your breath for about 3 to 5 seconds. Breathe out gently through your mouth with your lips puckered like you are going to whistle for about 6 to 10 seconds. Repeat this exercise as many times as needed to gain complete control and prevent from hyperventilating.
2. Be Self-Aware of Your Thoughts:
Our thoughts can create a quick pathway to having a full on anxiety attack. Learning to be aware of your thoughts will help you to combat them. When a thought wonders into your mind that makes you feel uneasy, you should stop from thinking further about that thought and ask yourself is this something I should let take over me? This one thought has the potential to snowball into several other negative thoughts and cause you some horrible symptoms that can take minutes to hours to bounce back from. Twist that thought into a more positive thought. Sometimes just breaking the habit of letting your mind wonder from thought to thought going deeper into an anxiety rabbit hole will keep you grounded. Be aware of your thoughts and get used to changing your thinking pattern to be more positive.
3. Find What Relaxes You:
There are already things in your life that relax you. Don’t avoid them and try to fight out the anxiety. Instead, do the activities as fast as possible. For example, if you find that a warm bath is relaxing, don’t wait to take the bath. Jump in the bath, light some candles, add a few nice scents, and get to relaxing. Whether it’s a bath, a shower, drawing, getting a massage do it if it works and do it right away, rather than letting yourself become overwhelmed by your anxiety. You will be amazed at how quickly you will become side tracked from your anxiety.
4. Exercise:
During periods of anxiety, your body is filled with adrenaline. Putting that adrenaline towards some form of exercise can be a good way to improve your anxiety. That’s because exercise has many advantages for controlling your anxiety symptoms. Some of those include:
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Exercise burns away stress hormones that create anxiety symptoms.
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Exercise tires your muscles by reducing excess energy and tension.
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Exercise releases endorphins which improves your overall mood.
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Exercise forces healthier breathing.
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Exercise is a healthy distraction and has been proven over and over to help anxiety symptoms.
Talking to people you trust keeps your mind off of your symptoms, and having the support of friends and family gives you that added boost of confidence. If you’re suffering from a panic attack, it also helps you feel more confident that if something was wrong, you’d have someone that can watch over you. One of the biggest helpers for anxiety is knowing we are not alone and someone will help keep us safe.
