Anxiety can hold you back from doing so many things in life! But how do we put it to the side, so we don’t miss out on the opportunity’s life presents us…
Anxiety is the body’s natural response to stress. It is important to note that everyone experiences anxiety in their day-to-day life. These feelings are perfectly normal. It is when anxiety starts to dictate your life and stops you from doing the things you need to on the day-to-day basis where problems can start to wreak havoc on your mental wellbeing.
I often have experienced anxiety in my life. I have suffered from multiple panic attacks and have to work really hard to be in the best headspace to make sure that anxiety does not take me over. That hard work includes meditation, journaling and exercising on a day-to-day basis. I find I need to be overly prepared and organised to make sure I have the best possible outcomes. For example, a presentation at University I will need to go over the top in preparation to ensure I know it is at the best quality work. If I don’t, I know that I won’t be successful and that’s when the anxiety can kick in.
Some lifestyle choices we make can help us manage our anxiety levels. Some of these include:
- Eating healthy meals- By putting the right food into our bodies, our body will produce the right stuff to avoid our anxiety levels going out of control. I would recommend avoiding fatty foods and look to eat lots of protein and vegetable-based meals.
- Minimal alcohol and caffeine intake- Both of these have really bad effects on the way our body reacts to anxiety. Small amounts are okay, when we overindulge that’s when we can have problems.
- Good sleeping habits- Click here for our article on sleep hygiene. The benefits of sleep towards our whole mental wellbeing are very important.
- Daily exercise- By exercising the body is realising muscle tension and our brain chemistry changes for both to help when dealing with anxiety.
By following these choices, we can hopefully see an improvement in our anxiety levels. However, if this isn’t the case and we need to deal with anxiety in a right now situation we recommend doing the following:
- Breathing exercises- Breathing Deeply and slowly has been shown to help reduce anxiety.
- Name what you are feeling- Identifying that you are experiencing anxiety helps you explain to yourself what is happening. This can help you talk yourself through the experience.
- The 5-4-3-2-1 technique- Name 5 things you can SEE, name 4 things you can TOUCH, name 3 things you can HEAR, name 2 things you can SMELL and name 1 thing you can TASTE
- Exercise- A burst of exercise where you increase your heart rate can reduce anxiety.
- Distract yourself- Find something to do that takes away your attention from your thoughts. It should be relaxing, enjoyable and easy.
- Grab some ice- As silly as it sounds, grabbing some ice in both hands, makes the body react in a way where your body slows its heart rate down. Its extreme but it works!
Sometimes, we just need to jump into something and leave our comfort zones. You can be amazed what we can achieve when we give something our best efforts. If you try our tips and still are struggling, then please see your doctor for assistance. As always be kind to yourself and we hope this helps!
What are some of the ways you deal with anxiety? Let us know in the comments.
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