10 Tips To Manage Anxiety

I’ve written several articles on how to manage anxiety and panic symptoms; this goes into
greater detail on how to apply this to your life as well as provide you with additional information on how practicing these techniques affect your physical and emotional well-being. These techniques are not things that can curb your anxiety overnight; they take constant practice and incorporating it into your daily routine. Once you master at least a few of these techniques, you can eventually feel the reduction of anxiety symptoms. It’s best to practice some of these techniques, such as breathing or progressive muscle relaxation, when you are calm. It’s much easier to focus in a calm state of mind than when you are highly anxious.

• Breathe. This is the first and most basic thing you can do to manage anxiety when it comes up.  Breath tends to get shallower, coming from the chest rather than through your belly when you experience anxiety. Because of the lack of air flowing through your lungs, people may start feeling a number of symptoms such as light-headedness or increased heart rate. I encourage clients who struggle with anxiety to first manage their breathing by doing the “5,5,5” Method:
  • Breathe in for 5 counts. Make sure that as you breathe in, the air is going deep down
    into your diaphragm. You can check this by placing your hand on your stomach and feel
    your stomach rise as the air comes in.
  • Hold your breath for 5 counts. Holding it helps you slow down the pace of your
    breathing.
  • Push your breath out for 5 counts. Focus on your stomach retracting as the air leaves
    your body.  Do this several times until you can feel your heart rate slowing down.
• Get enough sleep. Sleep plays a vital role in our emotional stability. Even individuals who don’t struggle with anxiety disorders, suddenly experience higher rates of anxiety when they are sleep deprived, according to researchers in UC Berkeley. Sleep deprivation actually triggers the part of the brain that is associated with anxiety. The National Sleep Foundation recommends between 7-9 hours of sleep for individuals ages 18 and older.
• Exercise. I’m sure this is probably the last thing you want to be told. The truth is that exercise provides a number of mental health benefits in addition to the physical benefits of regular practice. The human body was designed to move; when it moves, a number of things happen.  Cortisol, the stress hormone which your body naturally produces, is reduced through regular exercise. At the same time, your body begins producing more endorphins during exercise, which is the chemical in your brain responsible for making you feel more relaxed and optimistic. Exercise also helps contribute to better sleep, which as you now know is also important in reducing anxiety. Exercise doesn’t have to be about going to the gym. Going for a walk, working in your garden, dancing, or any other activity that increases your heart rate is generally considered exercise. As your endurance builds and you get better at it, you can begin exploring the 4 types of exercise to help emphasize your overall physical fitness. Talk with your doctor before you start any new exercise regimen.
• Eat a healthy diet. While there are no specific foods that can help reduce anxiety, there are certainly foods that contribute to anxiety. Here are some items that can actually increase your anxiety.
  • Reduce or eliminate the consumption of alcohol. Although alcohol can initially bring a calming effect to your mood, overall, it can create an imbalance in your hormones and trigger anxiety.
  • Reduce or eliminate your caffeine intake. Caffeine is a stimulant that can leave you feeling jittery, increase your heart rate, and basically leave you prone to experiencing anxiety.
  • Sugar. Specifically, refined sugars. These come in the form of cookies, cakes, candies, etc. Remember that certain carbohydrates turn into sugar during the digestive process, so be mindful of your carbohydrate intake as well. Talk with your doctor for more on healthier eating habits.
• Distract yourself. Sitting and thinking about your anxiety may not be the best approach to managing it. I often ask clients about things they enjoy doing or hobbies they participate in.  Although immersing yourself in a show on television can sometimes be helpful in distraction, you can easily find yourself returning to anxious thinking. Activities that engage a number of your senses at once would be a better mode of distraction. Some examples would be things such as working on a puzzle, drawing, organizing your closet; anything that requires some focus and relatively difficult to do if your mind tends to wander. Engaging in a different activity shifts your focus from the anxiety to the activity before you.
• Progressive muscle relaxation. People who struggle with anxiety often go through the day tense and don’t recognize when their body is tensing up. Practicing this regularly helps you distinguish what it feels like to be tense and to be relaxed. This exercise involves going through each muscle group in your body. Start with your toes, working your way up your body. Take about 5 seconds to tighten your toes; take a slow deep breath and notice how your toes feel as they tighten. Slowly release it as you are releasing your breath, then move to the next group of muscles.
• Challenge negative self-talk. Often when we start feeling anxiety, there’s that mean person inside our head putting us down or insulting us. “You’re overreacting! Get ahold of yourself.” “Why are you being so stupid right now?” “Why can’t you be normal like everyone else?” Think about it; are these the things you would tell your friend or a child if they were experiencing anxiety? How do those negative statements help reduce your anxiety? Instead, think of things you would tell your friend or your child to help ease their anxiety. Look at those negative thoughts objectively and challenge them. If you are feeling anxious about going to a social event, for example, and you’re worried everyone will be looking at you and judging you; what evidence supports this theory? Has this happened to you before? Okay, worst case scenario, perhaps it has; is this new situation different from that last one? How did you get through it?  Remember that you managed to survive that stressful event once before, you can do it again.
• Break down big projects into small, manageable goals. Sometimes when we are faced with a task, it can seem overwhelming. By focusing on parts of the task, one at a time, this reduces the feeling of the task being beyond what you can accomplish. If you are overwhelmed with writing a term paper for school, creating a “to do” list may be helpful to make it more manageable.  Create a deadline for each of the items on your list to help you remain on track.
• Get into the habit of practicing mindfulness. Sometimes trying to fight off the anxiety can actually make it worse. There may be times when you’ve attempted a coping strategy, it didn’t work, and your anxiety has increased as a result. Being mindful is the act of recognizing your state of anxiety and not placing judgment on it. Continue to use coping strategies to keep your anxiety from increasing. If you find it only helps slightly or you don’t experience any changes, try to remain in this state with your use of coping and pay attention to any changes occurring in your body. I call this “riding the wave.” During this heightened awareness, if you notice tension in parts of your body, focus on loosening the tension; if you find yourself breathing too rapidly, focus on slowing down your breath. This awareness and focused attention is the act of mindfulness.
• Take a break. This means either stepping away for a moment from the situation that’s causing you anxiety, or stepping away to have a change in the environment. Sometimes the change in environment can help reduce the feelings of anxiety.

As I stated earlier, it’s important to get into regular practice of these techniques in order to experience the long term benefits. Keep in mind that anxiety will not be completely eliminated; it’s normal to experience some level of anxiety sometimes because it warns us of danger or possible injury. These techniques are meant to help manage the type of anxiety that prohibits you from participating in normal day to day functioning. Seeking the help of a trained professional can also be beneficial in guiding you through these techniques.  Good luck!