There are times and situations where you feel very anxious about a situation or event.
And in those times, you might feel like you’re stuck in this moment forever, and you may be unsure of how to feel better.
Anxiety is very common for most people. You may even do a few things that unconsciously fuel your anxiety.
You might hyperfocus on the future, and get carried away along with a set of what-ifs.
How do I reduce my anxiety right now?
What if they hate my presentation? What if I start to feel worse or even what if I faint?
What if I don’t get home? What if I couldn’t express myself to them, or what if I express myself?
You might judge your choices and options and bash yourself for your anxiety problems.
You might believe things that won’t be happening and begin to believe your negative emotions, and the worst-case scenario, your thoughts are undeniable facts.
Fortunately, there are many tips and techniques you can use to manage your anxiety problems easily.
Here are some healthy tips shared by experts to cope up with your anxiety problems:
1. Accept Your Anxiety
This may sound confusing. Instead of feeling ashamed of your condition or frustrated by your anxiety attacks, accepting the fact that you have anxiety issues will actually help you to feel less anxious.
You may have inherited your anxiety from your lifestyle or your ancestors, or both. Admitting that you have anxiety issues will help you to fight and control your anxiety attacks.
Accepting your problems doesn’t mean you’re giving up. Acceptance is necessary because trying to eliminate or wrangle your anxiety often worsens the situation.
2. Meditate
Calming is an inside job. A healthy lifestyle with meditation will help you to reduce the effects of anxiety attacks. Start your day with at least 10 minutes of positive energy.
Think about calm, open-minded, measured thoughts, and your daily activities will correspond with this.
3. Play The 5-5-5 Game
When you’re anxious, the chances are that you’ll often be caught in your loop of negative thoughts. Distracting your mind from that situation or negative thoughts is a natural remedy.
Playing a 5-5-5 game is an effective method to fix your anxiety problems. This game is a quick fix to get back into your normal state and stop anxiety fast. The rules are here as follows:
- Take a look around and name 5 things you can see (or you can even try your favorite color, if your favorite color is blue, then look around and name 5 things in blue).
- List 5 sounds you can hear.
- Move 5 body parts of your body. You can try to wiggle your ears, rotate your ankle, or move your head up and down.
This game may sound very silly, but it can really act as a quick fix to your problem. If you find that this game is very difficult to do so or believe it’s making you more panicky or anxious, stop for it now. You can perform the method in a day or so and build up the time continuously.
4. Try Breathing Exercise
Deep breathing helps you to calm down. The next time you have an anxiety attack try this simple breathing exercise to calm down, and recenter your mind:
- Keep your shoulders relaxed and inhale deeply and slowly through your nose. While inhaling, your abdomen should expand, and your chest should rise very little. Be aware of the sensation of breathing as it enters the nostrils.
- Exhale very slowly through your mouth. As you blow the air out, keep your jaw relaxed, and open your lips slightly.
- Repeat this breathing exercise for some time to relax.
You can perform this breathing exercise as often as needed. Based on the situation and your comfort level you can do this exercise till you calm down.
5. Reduce Sugar, Caffeine, and Processed Foods
It may be tempting to eat something sweet when you get stressed, but all those chocolate bars and Nutella can do more harm than good. Research shows that eating too much sugar can worsen your anxiety issues.
Sugar acts as an adrenal stimulant. It can cause anxiety or even mild to major panic attacks.
On the other hand, caffeine can be the reason to cause heart palpitations if you ingest it too much.
If you have an anxiety disorder, caffeine can act as a triggering point to boost your anxiety or panic attacks. Reduce your intake of sugar, caffeine, and processed foods.
6. Watch a Funny Video
Another method to help you overcome your negative and anxious thoughts? Clips of your favorite TV show or comedian will help you to relax.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ_1ZVLO6HU
Laughing can be good medicine for a troubled mind. And also, research shows that laughter has lots of benefits for our mental health as well as well-being.
One of the studies found that humor could help lower anxiety and stress as much as or even more than exercise can.
7. Fact Check Your Thoughts
People with anxiety problems often rely on their negative thoughts and overthinking abilities. To overcome these worries, think about how practical they are.
Imagine you’re too nervous about a big presentation at your work. Instead of thinking, “I’m not going to make it” or “It’s going to be a huge mistake,” think about the positive sides of the presentation.
For example, you can motivate yourself by saying, “I know I’m nervous, but I have prepared for this presentation. Things will go well, and I’m going to make it.”
Rethinking your fears helps your brain to come up with rational ways to deal with the situations.
8. Get Professional Help
Anxiety and stress may arise in your personal life and workplace, and there are many effective ways to reduce the pressure you feel. This doesn’t mean you have to deal with it on your own.
For severe anxiety disorders, you might want to see a mental health treatment center. And your psychiatrist will help you to diagnose and treat your mental health conditions.
A psychologist and other mental healthcare professionals can help you to diagnose your anxiety problems and provide further counseling steps.
About The Author:
Carla Smith is the founder of Safe and Healthy Life. Her main objective is to provide informative articles, reviews, and analysis of health & fitness topics to her readers that help them to make their life easier and happier. Connect with her on Twitter.
