5 Tips For How To Relieve Anxiety

Anxiety can range from the mild everyday variety where you have butterflies in your stomach, to the mind-numbing and crippling sort that prevents you from leaving your room. While anxiety and the fight or flight response that is triggered by it are good things that help protect us from potentially dangerous situations, some anxiety can be excessive and debilitating. We need ways to relieve anxiety.

If anxiety is getting in the way of you living your life, you should go and see a doctor or a mental health professional because you may have an anxiety disorder that requires proper diagnosis and treatment.

How to Relieve Anxiety

With the milder forms of anxiety, there are ways to relieve it without having to resort to medication. Making certain lifestyle changes will help immensely in getting anxiety under control and relieving it when it’s affecting you. Below are 5 tips for how to relieve anxiety :

Understand what triggers your anxiety.

Some people get anxious in public settings, while others are triggered when they drink too much coffee. Knowing what triggers your anxiety can help you relieve it by addressing the root cause.

The point of knowing your triggers is not to avoid them necessarily, because avoidance can make the anxiety worse. The aim is to prepare for situations that may be coming up by getting in the right frame of mind.

Learn anxiety-reducing techniques.

When anxiety sets in, having some tools in your back pocket to address it helps immensely. Deep breathing techniques, visualization, counting slowly from 1 to 10, progressive muscle relaxation, and prayer or repeating your favorite Bible verse can help you calm down by focusing your attention away from the situation.

Once you’ve mastered these techniques, you’ll be able to deploy them in various situations and relieve anxious thoughts and feelings.

Get creative.

Another way to relieve anxiety is to work it out by focusing your attention on art, gardening, sewing, or playing a piece of music. Being creative not only gives you an outlet for anxious thoughts, but it can increase your positive emotions such as joy while engaging the parts of your brain that process emotions.

Take care of your body.

Get some exercise, get good rest, and be careful of what you eat and drink. Some foods trigger anxiety, like processed foods, caffeine, sugary drinks, and alcohol. Your mental health is intimately connected to your health in every other area, so give yourself a fighting chance against anxiety by being holistic in your approach to your wellness.

Going to bed at a consistent time is a simple but effective part of your sleep routine that can make a world of difference. Exercise can take your mind off things, and it releases those feel-good neurochemicals that elevate your mood and help you feel calm.

Get help.

Talking with someone like a friend or a professional such as a counselor can help you process your anxious thoughts. In particular, a counselor can help you become adept at picking out unhelpful thought patterns that aggravate your anxiety, and they can journey with you to disrupt those unhelpful thoughts and behavior.

Through talk therapy techniques such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, your counselor can help you manage your anxiety. If your anxiety is affecting your ability to function at school, work, or in your relationships, talk with your doctor to eliminate possible underlying causes, but investigate the possibility of an anxiety disorder.

With anxiety disorders, a combination of talk therapy and medication is often quite effective in reducing the symptoms of anxiety, and helping you embrace life in its fullness. Talk with someone today to help rein anxiety in and reclaim peace in your life.