Since anxiety is such a complicated and intimidating problem to tackle, it requires a collection of quick coping strategies, short-term solutions, and ongoing treatments to prevent it from taking over your life. So many people suffer from anxiety in their everyday lives and feel lost as to how they can overcome it. If you are in this type of situation, keep reading. You will find a few instant remedies, some therapeutic approaches, and possible lifestyle changes that could significantly improve your mental health and overall well-being. Quick Solutions When you are in the middle of an acute anxiety attack, you can feel completely disconnected from yourself with no way to regain control over your emotions. Anxiety robs people of their ability to think clearly since it has evolved as a way to protect people from danger. However, this doesn’t mean that every time you feel anxious, it is justified. Here are a few methods you can use to immediately cope with the symptoms of anxiety as they happen. Breathing Techniques During an anxiety attack, you are likely to feel out of breath. The body’s natural response to a lack of oxygen intake is to increase your feelings of panic to encourage you to find a way of obtaining more air. In situations where this isn’t the real threat, such as an anxiety attack, you end up feeling breathless and exponentially more distressed. It is vital that you regain control over your breathing not only to maintain healthy oxygen levels but also to reassure your mind and body that it is safe, even if it doesn’t feel like it. This is the first step towards calming yourself while enduring acute anxiety. Reconnecting to Your Environment Giving your mind something simple to distract it from fear will allow your body a chance to bring your heart rate and breathing back to stable levels. Anxiety attacks can be viewed as vicious cycles of fear since the mind feeds off the body’s panic and vice versa until the stress becomes unbearably overwhelming. By paying attention to your surroundings, you give your mind something outside of the anxiety to focus on. Count the number of blue objects around you or listen out for five different noises you can hear nearby. It might seem silly at first, but soon you will feel calmer and better able to think clearly. Identifying Your Feelings A surprising percentage of people have difficulty identifying their emotions with any accuracy. This ability is useful during an anxiety attack since it clarifies the situation and makes it less frightening. If someone you trust is nearby, use words to express your emotions. You can also say them aloud to yourself or write them down. Just as crying expresses the stress hormone cortisol from your body, identifying your feelings can express the anxiety in your mind. Therapeutic Solutions While it is exceptionally useful to bank a collection of tools that help you deal with anxiety in the moment, these tools don’t necessarily reduce your anxiety levels overall. If you want to lead a calmer, happier life, there are therapeutic options designed to help people work towards overcoming their anxiety over time. Here are just a few examples. CBT CBT is the acronym for cognitive-behavior therapy. Decades of research and fine-tuning have led to a form of talking therapy that is now one of the most effective ways to help people overcome their anxiety. A specialist will talk to you about how the way you think directly influences both your actions and your emotions. If you don’t feel that you have any control over the anxiety emotion, your therapist will help you discover ways to manage it through your thoughts and actions. Hypnotherapy Hypnotherapy shares similar qualities with CBT. It is a talking therapy that has been known to help many people with different kinds of anxiety disorders, including post-traumatic stress, eating disorders, and depression. This form of therapy has become increasingly available due to its efficacy and popularity. For example, you can search for hypnotherapy in London and find treatment options where you need them. You can attend hypnotherapy appointments in conjunction with other therapies or alongside anxiety medication. If you’re unsure, it is best to speak to your doctor about the best choice for you. Exposure Therapy Exposure therapy is a more specific form of therapy that aims to help people overcome their fears by gradually increasing their exposure to the object of their anxiety. For example, someone who is afraid of heights might make use of exposure therapy to slowly increase the height they can comfortably reach without fear of an anxiety attack. This is an effective treatment for people with specific phobias as well as anxiety disorders. Lifestyle Changes Quick solutions are ideal for coping in the middle of an anxiety attack, just as therapy is perfect for gaining better control over your mind. However, it is also important to make positive changes to your everyday lifestyle to support the other strategies. The following might seem like extremely simple suggestions, but they are in fact effective ways to reduce anxiety through habit improvements. More Movement Modern technological conveniences have led to a greater number of the population leading sedentary lifestyles. Even when at work, plenty of people are sitting all day. This inaction goes against human nature and the body’s need for movement. However frustrating it might be to acknowledge, physical exercise works wonders for mental health. Try to move energetically for at least thirty minutes every day and notice your anxiety start to decrease. Better Sleep People who sleep too much or sleep too little will have a hard time overcoming their anxiety. Healthy sleeping habits are crucial to good mental health. Apart from the stress of a disordered schedule caused by irregular sleep, it also negatively impacts the brain’s ability to regulate properly. Adults should aim to get between six and nine hours of sleep every night. Get into the habit of unwinding and avoiding stimulation too close to bedtime. This will help promote healthier sleep and a better routine. Improved Diet Your mind requires good nutrition in order to function at its fullest capacity. A bad diet interferes with your gut and, in turn, the rest of your body, including your brain. Drinking less alcohol and eating fewer high-sugar, high-saturated-fat foods is a good step in the right direction. Caffeine can be particularly detrimental to people with anxiety since it causes the heart to race, simulating the physical sensations of anxiety and bringing the mind closer to these emotions. Mindfulness Mindfulness is not just a buzzword. It is a practice you can incorporate into your lifestyle that serves to let you live in the moment. You can use mindfulness to train yourself to manage your reactions and experience your thoughts with greater clarity. Support Network Even if you think of yourself as highly independent or introverted, it is necessary to have meaningful human contact for the sake of your mental well-being. Talking to people you trust and creating a network to support you when you need it will keep you protected during times when anxiety has taken over. Even collaborative care can help you take the necessary steps to get efficient support for mental conditions. Anxiety is a complex and challenging mental health condition that impacts people with different levels of intensity and frequency. It is not the same for everyone, and this means each form of solution or coping strategy is worth trying out before deciding if it works for you. Talking to a mental health professional and getting expert insight into your exact needs will help you find a treatment plan for your anxiety that truly helps alleviate the strain and allows you to live a fuller, more peaceful life.
