How Do I Cope With Anxiety

How Do I Cope With Anxiety 6 Techniques I Use

Now, I want to be totally honest with you and definitely arent here to tell you that life with anxiety can be a complete breeze, because that would be a huge lie. If you are like me, and are faced with panic attacks, constant stress and trouble breathing, youll certainly recognize the realities of this disorder, but, as they say every cloud has a silver lining! Anxiety disorder sufferers of the world, you can now rejoice because there are many proven techniques out there to help us manage our conditions, so what are you waiting for? Lets explore them right away and keep this disorder at bay!

Ive always had a hard time living in the present moment and for as long as I can remember, my condition has always been omnipresent in my life and has never really failed in holding me back. Whether it came to dating, going to parties, or meeting new people, my condition always bullied me into staying away, whilst also building up my stress. Id lived a reclusive existence for years, until one day I decided that I deserved better and decided to stand up to my demons! I deserved to have the confidence to date and meet new people or go to bars with my friends without feeling anxious at the thought of people judging me or getting lost on the way. So, with this in mind, I decided to look into coping techniques that worked for me, which is why I want to share them with you!

Sugar Can Affect Your Mood

Youve probably heard of the term sugar rush and have maybe even turned to a doughnut or soda for an extra boost during a long day.

Yet sugar may not be such a positive pick-me-up after all. Recent research indicates that sugary treats have no positive effect on mood.

In fact, sugar may have the opposite effect over time.

One found that consuming a diet high in sugar can increase the chances of incident mood disorders in men, and recurrent mood disorders in both men and women.

A more recent 2019 study found that regular consumption of saturated fats and added sugars were related to higher feelings of anxiety in adults over age 60.

Although more studies are needed to solidify the relationship between mood and sugar consumption, its important to consider how

If your idea of coping with stress involves a pint of Ben and Jerrys, youre not alone. Lots of people turn to sugary sweets when they feel anxious.

Thats because sugary foods can weaken the bodys ability to respond to stress.

Sugar can help you feel less frazzled by suppressing the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis in your brain, which controls your response to stress.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis found that sugar inhibited stress-induced cortisol secretion in healthy female participants, minimizing feelings of anxiety and tension. Cortisol is known as the stress hormone.

Think About Something Funny

Visualize your favorite humorous moments, says Sultanoff. One where you laughed so hard you fell down and peed your pants. These can be real situations, or they can be situations you saw on sitcoms, in stories, jokes, or cartoons.

If its difficult for you to come up with something in the moment, try picking a couple of memories ahead of time, so you can go to them as soon as you start experiencing anxiety.

Like most mindfulness training, humor visualization takes you out of worrying about things that might happen in the future and focuses you back in your present circumstances, in the now.

It does a few other things too. You experience mirth, which is the uplifting reaction to humor, explains Sultanoff. You feel emotions such as joy, pleasure, or delight all powerful emotions that can help you reduce anxiety quickly.

And if youre able to make yourself laugh by remembering that funny moment, he says, humor visualization is even more effective.

When you laugh, you contract and expand muscles, which reduces physical anxiety, stress, and tension, he says.

Laughter also combats the production of cortisol levels in the body, he adds.

You May Like: What’s The Best Way To Get Rid Of Anxiety

Simple Steps To Help You Cope With Anxiety

If you or a loved one are struggling with anxiety, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 for information on support and treatment facilities in your area.

For more mental health resources, see our National Helpline Database.

Anxiety involves feelings of worry, fear, and apprehension. Anxiety is typically experienced on cognitive, emotional, and physical levels. For instance, when feeling anxious a person may have negative or disturbing thoughts.

On an emotional level, one may feel scared or out-of-control. It is also common to experience severe anxiety through somatic sensations, such as sweating, trembling, or shortness of breath.

These symptoms are common for people who have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. People with panic disorder are typically familiar with the struggle of managing feelings of anxiety. It can feel as if the anxiety is taking over or completely out of ones control.

Does anxiety have an overwhelming pull in your life? Fortunately, there are some simple steps you can take to manage your anxiety. Listed below are 4 tips to help you cope with your feelings of anxiety.

When To Seek Help

When you realize you are not coping with your anxiety well or your anxiety is starting to interfere with your everyday functioning, you should seek help from a mental health professional. They will help you figure out whether your anxiety is caused by an anxiety disorder using criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition .

The signs of an anxiety disorder can include:

• Anxious thoughts or beliefs that are hard to control. They make you feel restless and tense and interfere with your daily life. They do not go away and can get worse over time.
• You experience chronic physical symptoms, such as a pounding or rapid heartbeat, unexplained aches and pains, dizziness, and shortness of breath.
• You have changes in behavior, such as avoiding everyday activities you used to do.

Don’t Miss: Why Do I Have So Much Anxiety

How Do I Get Help

Talking therapies

Talking therapies, like counselling or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, are very effective for people with anxiety problems, including Computerised Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which takes you through a series of self-help exercises on screen. Visit your GP to find out more.

Medication

Drug treatments are used to provide short-term help, rather than looking at the root of the anxiety problems. Drugs may be most useful when they are combined with other treatments or support.

Support groups

You can learn a lot about managing anxiety from asking other people who have experienced it. Local support groups or self-help groups bring together people with similar experiences so that they can hear each others stories, share tips and encourage each other to try out new ways to manage themselves. Your doctor, library or local Citizens Advice bureau will have details of support groups near you.

Ways To Relieve Stress We All Know That Stress Is Like

Anxiety can be debilitating, causing both mental and physical symptoms. Avoiding tests can lead to serious health problems.

101 ways to cope with stress in case youre running out. 11 tips to cope with anxiety about coming out of lockdown.

5 essential steps to help children cope with stress. A combination of using all of the above, while earning my masters degree in mental health counseling helped me more than.

Are you looking for visuals to help your students cope. A large review of 47 studies on meditation found that the practice is effective for improving symptoms of anxiety disorders.

How to deal with stress 10 stress relief tips stress. Do not push yourself into uncomfortable places to land every pose perfectly.

You May Like: Is Anxiety A Disability Under Ada

Signs Of An Anxiety Attack

These are some of the more common mental and physical symptoms of anxiety:

• feelings of danger, panic, or dread
• nervousness or restlessness
• hyperventilation

Its also possible to experience an anxiety and panic attack simultaneously. The quick coping strategies mentioned above may also help with a panic attack.

Other mindful strategies to cope with panic attacks include focusing on an object, repeating a mantra, closing your eyes, and going to your happy place.

Why Are We So Anxious

Anxiety is a very common problem, and it’s on the rise. The World Health Organization put the number of people suffering from problematic anxiety worldwide in 2017 at more than 300 million. And in 2019, an American Psychiatric Association poll found that, for the second year in a row, nearly two thirds of respondents were “extremely or somewhat anxious about health and safety for themselves and their families.” Since then, the coronavirus pandemic has contributed to rising anxiety all over the world, particularly in older adults and students.

There are many other reasons why anxiety is on the rise. These include worries about the economy or environment, and anxieties about our appearance, social standing and professional success.

Many aspects of modern life could also be to blame. Research has found a correlation between use of social media and increased anxiety, for example. Another study drew a link between increased air pollution and raised anxiety.

Read Also: What Medication Helps With Social Anxiety

Find Solutions To Your Worries

Why everyday anxiety can be so exhausting, chronic, taxing, and debilitating is because the worry is typically associated with everyday circumstances relationships, work, money, housing, health etc. Thebenefit of everyday anxiety is that it is typically associated with everyday circumstances. See what I did there? I say benefit because it also lends us the opportunity to find solutions to help us cope, process and upgrade our reaction. There is no sense in worrying about something if youre not going to do anything about it. First, determine if your primary concerns are things you have any iota of power to change. If not, then your work is to change yourself and how you respond or react to that set of circumstances. Now, if your worry is within your power to affect change, then start putting actions in place. Finding solutions to those challenges can help you to feel empowered, and of course, there is the ongoing practice of upgrading your response to one that is less jarring for your soul.

The Foods That Help And Hurt Your Mental Health

Changing your nutrition can be a great addition to traditional therapy, like CBT and medication, comes at a much smaller cost and can be a great way to self-care, says Anika Knüppel, researcher and PhD student at University College London and contributor to the European MooDFOOD program, which focuses on preventing depression through food.

There are two ways nutritional interventions can help mental health: by increasing healthy habits and reducing unhealthy ones. For the best outcome, you have to do both, says Knüppel.

Research has shown the most support for two diets: the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes more healthy fats, and the DASH diet, which focuses on reducing sugar.

The Mediterranean diet is more about what youre adding in fresh fruits and vegetables, protein-rich legumes, and fatty fish and olive oil .

One looked at 166 people who were clinically depressed, some being treated with medication. The researchers found that after 12 weeks of eating a modified Mediterranean diet, the participants symptoms were significantly better.

An earlier study from 2011 found that when medical students increased their omega-3 fatty acid intake, their anxiety reduced by 20 percent , while in 2016, Spanish researchers found people who followed the Mediterranean lifestyle closest were 50 percent less likely to develop depression than those who didnt follow the diet as well.

Alternatively, the DASH diet is about what youre taking out, namely sugar.

Recommended Reading: Can Anxiety Cause Sharp Chest Pain

Dont Fall Into The Avoidance Trap

Anxiety is an uncomfortable emotion and many people fall into the trap of avoiding the thing or situation they fear so that they dont experience the anxiety, for example avoiding driving on a motorway because they fear being hit by a lorry. However, when you avoid situations, you are not dealing with the anxiety so life can become more and more difficult as you work hard to avoid all the things you fear, and eventually you may end up in a situation where you are trying to avoid more and more situations. Because you havent dealt with the fear, the anxiety feels even worse. So face your fear. You will feel anxious but if you repeatedly face it, your body adjusts to the thing you fear and your physical anxiety reduces. If facing your fear is daunting, try breaking it down into small steps, for example drive on a motorway for one junction, do this repeatedly until you notice your anxiety reduce, then increase it to two junctions etc.

If Youre Craving Sweets Heres What To Eat Instead

Just because youre ditching or limiting processed sugar doesnt mean you have to deny yourself the pleasure of sweet-tasting food.

In addition to being a doctor known as an expert on food and mood, Naidoo is also a chef and the author of the forthcoming book This Is Your Brain on Food.

Here are a few of her favorite low- or no-sugar recipes.

Don’t Miss: How High Can Anxiety Raise Blood Pressure

Plan For What You Can

Its natural to be concerned about what may happen if your workplace closes, your children have to stay home from school, you or someone you love gets sick, or you have to self-quarantine. While these possibilities can be scary to think about, being proactive can help relieve at least some of the anxiety.

• Write down specific worries you have about how coronavirus may disrupt your life. If you start feeling overwhelmed, take a break.
• Make a list of all the possible solutions you can think of. Try not to get too hung up on perfect options. Include whatever comes to mind that could help you get by.
• Focus on concrete things you can problem solve or change, rather than circumstances beyond your control.
• After youve evaluated your options, draw up a plan of action. When youre done, set it aside and resist the urge to go back to it until you need it or your circumstances significantly change.

How to stop what-ifs from spiraling

Relinquishing our desire for certainty and control is easier said than done. If you feel yourself start to spin out into negativity or panic, grounding yourself in the present moment can stop the negative spiral and allow your rational brain to come back online.

For audio meditations that can help you relieve anxiety and regain inner calm, .