Learning About What Triggers Your Anxiety And Certain Ways To Combat It
Lastly, learning about anxiety triggers and figuring out ways to combat those triggers can go a long way in helping us overcome them. A good way to figure out what causes your anxiety is to take note of the times youre most anxious and write down what triggered the range of emotions you experienced.
Understanding our triggers and becoming aware of them is very helpful because it can inspire us to mentally prepare ourselves when faced with difficult situations and events that may trigger our anxiety. Being better informed and educated about your triggers will also enable you to make efforts to research resources and tools to tackle your anxiety.
Tips for identifying triggers and combatting your anxiety:
- Try keeping a notebook and write down all the things that trigger your anxiety.
- Once youve identified your triggers, it will become easier to manage them. For example, you might find that you get very anxious about health issues. To reduce your health-related anxiety, be proactive and speak to your doctor about your concerns.
Write Down Your Thoughts
Writing down whats making you anxious gets it out of your head and can make it less daunting.
These relaxation tricks are particularly helpful for those who experience anxiety sporadically. They may also work well with someone who has generalized anxiety disorder when theyre in a bind!
However, if you suspect you have GAD, quick coping methods shouldnt be the only kind of treatment you employ. Youll want to find long-term strategies to help lessen the severity of symptoms and even prevent them from happening.
What Are Coping Skills
According to Wikipedia:
coping means to invest own conscious effort, to solve personal and interpersonal problems, in order to try to master, minimize or tolerate stress and conflict.
There are both positive and negative techniques for coping. Learn more about negative/unhealthy coping skills in more detail by .
Positive coping skills for anxiety and stress can include:
- Processing or releasing your difficult emotions
- Practicing positive self-care techniques
- Creating positive emotional experiences to change negative or obsessive thought patterns.
Sometimes it is easy to take the next easiest step down the ladder emotionally. For example, if you are very overwhelmed, stressed, or anxious, you may not yet feel ready to process what you are feeling. It may be easier for you at that time to distract yourself with something positive or practice self-care.
Scan the below list when you are feeling anxious, stressed, or having a bad mood and identify what feels best for you- not what you feel like you should be doing.
Fill out the form below to get a handy one-page printable to hang on your wall, save on your phone, or use whenever you need a reminder of positive coping skill suggestions!
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Schedule An Appointment With A Therapist
Going to therapy is one of the best ways to find healthy coping strategies. A therapist can analyze your anxiety and provide personalized tips and strategies for you to use when things begin to feel a little overwhelming. therapist can be far more objective than the person suffering from anxiety also, more objective than their friends and family. This objectivity allows for a careful assessment of what would work best for the individual. A trained therapist can also help the anxiety sufferer learn to notice triggers that might create anxiety this, in itself, allows for healthier and more effective coping strategies, said Dr. Manly.
How To Find Healthy Coping Mechanisms For Your Anxiety According To A Therapist
- Feature Image By:Caleb George | Unsplash
Learning how to live with anxiety can feel like having a wound that never properly heals. It can come and go as it pleases, and stay for as long as it likes without your consent. But even though anxiety might be a part of your DNA doesnt mean you have to become a prisoner to your own body. Thankfully, you can find and incorporate healthy mechanisms into your daily routine to help you manage your anxiety from morning to night.
Granted, not every coping mechanism is considered healthy its important to understand the difference. While some strategies can help you heal, others will only temporarily numb your emotions or have you avoid them altogether. allows us to self-regulate in the short term without dealing with our problems in the long run. Unhealthy coping strategies are things we do to avoid dealing with deeper issues that only causes our issues to be kicked down the road and to compound over time, said clinical director and owner of My LA Therapy, Brooke Sprowl.
While its incredibly difficult to live with anxious thoughts, there are ways you can find the right healthy coping mechanisms to use for your lifestyle. Scroll below to check out clinical psychologist, Dr. Carla Marie Manlys tips on how to find the right ways to cope with your anxiety.
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Healthy Ways To Cope With Stress
Feeling emotional and nervous or having trouble sleeping and eating can all be normal reactions to stress. Here are some healthy ways you can deal with stress:
- Take breaks from watching, reading, or listening to news stories, including those on social media. Its good to be informed but hearing about the traumatic event constantly can be upsetting. Consider limiting news to just a couple of times a day and disconnecting from phone, tv, and computer screens for a while.
- Take care of yourself. Eat healthy, exercise, get plenty of sleep, and give yourself a break if you feel stressed out.
- Take care of your body.
- Take deep breaths, stretch, or meditate.
- Avoid excessive alcohol, tobacco, and substance use.
- Continue with routine preventive measures as recommended by your healthcare provider.
- Get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible get a booster shot if you are age 18 or older.
Healthy Coping Mechanisms For Stress
Extreme stress causes many of the same physical and mental responses as any other high-intensity stress. When youâre experiencing severe stress, your body will release adrenaline into your bloodstream and your heart rate will increase, making you feel anxious, sweaty, and a bit shaky. Your muscles tense up, causing your arms to shake and your face to flush. If youâre really feeling the heat, your blood pressure may spike.
When youâre stressed for a long period of time, your body can get used to the adrenaline rush and the physical responses associated with it. Your mind becomes conditioned to respond to stress in this way, and your body may become desensitized to the effects of stress, meaning you might not feel as sick after youâve had too much to drink.
When you’ve experienced emotional distress for a long period of time, your body can get used to the adrenaline rush and the physical responses associated with it. Your mind becomes conditioned to respond to stress in this way, and your body may become desensitized to the effects of stress, meaning you might not feel as sick after youâve had too much to drink.
One way to counteract the effects of prolonged difficult situations is to use a stress management technique called yoga. While the effects of yoga on stress arenât entirely understood, it has been shown to help people reduce their overall level of cortisol and lower blood pressure, while increasing muscle flexibility and improving sleep quality.
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How Does The 4
Breathing techniques are designed to bring the body into a state of deep relaxation. Specific patterns that involve holding the breath for a period of time allow your body to replenish its oxygen. From the lungs outward, techniques like 4-7-8 can give your organs and tissues a much-needed oxygen boost.
Relaxation practices also help bring the body back into balance and regulate the fight-or-flight response we feel when were stressed. This is particularly helpful if youre experiencing sleeplessness due to anxiety or worries about what happened today or what might happen tomorrow. Swirling thoughts and concerns can keep us from being able to rest well.
The 4-7-8 technique forces the mind and body to focus on regulating the breath, rather than replaying your worries when you lie down at night. Proponents claim it can soothe a racing heart or calm frazzled nerves. Dr. Weil has even described it as a natural tranquilizer for the nervous system.
The overall concept of 4-7-8 breathing can be compared to practices like:
- Alternate nostril breathing involves breathing in and out of one nostril at a time while holding the other nostril closed.
- Mindfulness meditation encourages focused breathing while guiding your attention to the present moment.
- Visualization focuses your mind on the path and pattern of your natural breathing.
- Guided imagery encourages you to focus on a happy memory or story that will take your mind off your worries as you breathe.
Identify And Learn To Manage Your Triggers
You can identify triggers on your own or with a therapist. Sometimes they can be obvious, like caffeine, drinking alcohol, or smoking. Other times they can be less obvious.
Long-term problems, such as financial or work-related situations, may take some time to figure out is it a due date, a person, or the situation? This may take some extra support, through therapy or with friends.
When you do figure out your trigger, you should try to limit your exposure if you can. If you cant limit it like if its due to a stressful work environment that you cant currently change using other coping techniques may help.
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Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms That Hold You Back
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Adulthood is plagued with what sometimes feels like endless challenges. As fast as you solve one, another one pops up. How we cope with life stressors and adversities can make a difference in things getting better or worse. As such, it’s crucial to have coping skills and strategies that improve your circumstances without eroding your well-being.
Practically any type of unhealthy coping strategy is going to backfire or cause more problems instead of helping. I’ve shortlisted seven unhealthy coping mechanisms you need to know about, particularly because they can prevent you from living a happy and productive life.
The goal is to help prevent orstop you from relying on them to escape your problems. I’ve also provided a list of healthy ways to cope with discomforting emotions and manage stress from everyday life.
What You Will Learn
How To Know If You Have Anxiety
While there are more serious panic disorders, phobias and anxiety conditions including post traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder , more generalized anxiety can often be classified by some of the following symptoms:
- Uncontrollable worry that causes distress
- Realizing that even seemingly inconsequential things like completing chores causes stress
- Feeling irritable
- Difficulty sleeping
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What Are Some Common Coping Strategies
Some common coping mechanisms may challenge you to:
- Lower your expectations.
- Ask others to help or assist you.
- Take responsibility for the situation.
- Engage in problem solving.
- Maintain emotional composure or, alternatively, expressing distressing emotions.
- Challenge previously held beliefs that are no longer adaptive.
- Directly attempt to change the source of stress.
- Distance yourself from the source of stress.
- View the problem through a religious perspective.
Experts agree that coping is a process rather than an event. You may alternate between several of the above coping strategies in order to cope with a stressful event.
People differ in particular styles of coping or prefer to use certain coping strategies over others. These differences in coping styles usually reflect differences in personality. Rigidity in coping is less likely to help than is flexibility in coping being able to fit the most appropriate coping strategy to the demands of different situations.
However, some situations that require coping are likely to elicit similar coping responses from most people. For example, work-related stressors are more likely to elicit problem-solving strategies. Stressors that are perceived to be changeable are more likely to elicit problem-solving strategies while stressors perceived to be unchangeable are more likely to elicit social support seeking and emotion-focused strategies.
- Get enough good quality sleep.
- Eat a well-balanced diet.
Fitness Tips: Stay Healthy Manage Anxiety Andstress
For the biggest benefits of exercise, try to include at least 2½ hours of moderate-intensity physical activity each week, 1¼ hours of a vigorous-intensity activity , or a combination of the two.
- 5 X 30: Jog, walk, bike, or dance three to five times a week for 30 minutes.
- Set small daily goals and aim for daily consistency rather than perfect workouts. It’s better to walk every day for 15-20 minutes than to wait until the weekend for a three-hour fitness marathon. Lots of scientific data suggests that frequency is most important.
- Find forms of exercise that are fun or enjoyable. Extroverted people often like classes and group activities. People who are more introverted often prefer solo pursuits.
- Distract yourself with an iPod or other portable media player to download audiobooks, podcasts, or music. Many people find its more fun to exercise while listening to something they enjoy.
- Recruit an exercise buddy. It’s often easier to stick to your exercise routine when you have to stay committed to a friend, partner, or colleague.
- Be patient when you start a new exercise program. Most sedentary people require about four to eight weeks to feel coordinated and sufficiently in shape so that exercise feels easier.
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When To See A Doctor
Anxiety is normal and even adaptive, Hudenko says. It helps us to prepare for potential threats and at mild/moderate levels, anxiety can enhance our performance.
However, you should seek professional help when your anxiety increases to significant distress, leads to harm or inhibits your daily life. This may be caused by sudden stressful or traumatic life events or may result from longer-term, lower-level stress. Anxiety cant always be treated with coping mechanisms, and while they can provide relief, they are not a substitute for professional treatment.
When paired with existing feelings of anxiety, concerning symptoms include:
- Difficulty sleeping or falling asleep
- Inability to concentrate
What Are Coping Mechanisms
Significant life events, whether positive or negative, can cause psychological stress. Difficult events, such as divorce, miscarriage, the death of a loved one, or the loss of a job, can cause most people to feel grief or distress. But even events that are considered positive by manygetting married, having a child, and buying a homecan lead to a significant amounts of stress. To adjust to this stress, people may utilize some combination of behavior, thought, and emotion, depending on the situation.
People may use coping mechanisms for stress management or to cope with anger, loneliness, anxiety, or depression.
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Maladaptive Coping Mechanisms To Avoid
Getting stuck in a life of unhealthy coping habits can quickly turn your life into a persistent downward spiral.
It’s easy to fall into unhealthy patterns of behaviour if you don’t develop strategies to cope with the stressors that cause you to feel like you’re trapped in a cycle of pain and despair.
The problem is that a lot of negative coping strategies can mask themselves like a shiny layer of armour. And as you can imagine, this often makes them much harder to get rid of. They are often easier to use and have more immediate benefits than healthier alternatives.
Some unhealthy strategies include:
It May Boost Cognitive Function
The same 2014 study also looked at the effects of lemon balm in improving cognitive function.
Participants were asked to do cognitive tasks involving memory, mathematics, and concentration. The results of these computerized tasks suggest that participants who ingested lemon balm performed better than those who didnt.
Although these participants did experience an increase in levels of alertness and performance, its still possible for fatigue to set in over time. Combining lemon balm with food also affects its absorption rate, which may have had an impact on its efficacy. Additional research is needed.
How to use: Take 300 to 600 mg of lemon balm three times a day.
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How To Practice Deep Breathing
When in social situations, make sure that you are breathing the way that you practiced. In time, this way of breathing may become more automatic.