Maybe you are just stressed out at work, or with family life. Maybe you are like me and tend to run a little anxious. No matter if its stress or anxiety (you can read about the difference by clicking here) having the tools to deal with anxiety is important. That is why I have come up with this list of 15 quick ways to lower your anxiety. Splitting the ways to lower your anxiety into 3 different categories, mental, physical, and pre-planned.
5 Mental Ways to Lower Anxiety
# 1 Daily Meditation
I always tell my clients that daily meditation can help change your brain. In her book, The Willpower Instinct (click here to buy on Amazon) Dr. Kelly McGonigal shares how meditation help recovering addict deal with unpleasant emotions like anxiety.
# 2 Take Deep Breaths
Slowing down and taking deep breaths go a long way to claiming down when you feel anxious. It helps slow your heart rate and can keep you focused on just breathing. I will be posting youtube videos of how to take some different types of deep breaths in the spring of 2017
# 3 Question your thoughts
Part of the treatment for anxiety in counseling is to learn to change your thoughts. While this skill that takes time, questioning your thoughts goes a long way into changing them. What are your anxious thoughts…..
Slow them down and take them apart. Could there be other reason? Could there be other outcomes? It’s not about getting rid of your anxious thoughts it’s about slowing them down and testing them against reality.
# 4 Use A Calming Visualization
Visualization can be used in your daily meditation also. For me, I like to use visualization to take me away. I like to close my eyes and think of a safe space where nothing can get to me. You can watch this youtube video on what visualization can do for you here. Video coming in the spring of 2017)
# 5 Postive affirmation
My favorite affirmation that has helped me is “jut keep swimming, just keep swimming.” I love to use this saying over and over again when I feel anxious or overwhelmed. Having a few go-to positive affirmations can help distract the anxious thoughts.
5 Physical Ways to Lower Anxiety
# 1 Daily Cardio Exercise
In his book, Spark (you can get buy here on Amazon) John Ratey shares about the wonders of cardio exercise. He shares example after example of how cardio can help lower symptoms of anxiety along with other mental health issues. 30 minutes a day is all you need.
# 2 Get Enough Sleep
Sometimes it might feel like a cycle your to anxious to sleep, so you don’t and it leads to you being more anxious. Try to plan for 7 hours of sleep a night, if you limit electrics before bed and create an evening ritual along with a morning ritual. Sleep will start to become easier.
# 3 Limit Alcohol & Caffeine
We are only as strong as our fuel. While alcohol temporarily lowers anxiety it is not something that helps it go away. Drinking too much leads to increased stress on your body in the form of a hangover.
Caffeine. This drug is like a magnifying glass for anxiety. The more caffeine that you have, the strong your anxious feelings can become. Caffeine also has a half life, so the more you drink the longer it will stay in your system.
# 4 Do Something You Enjoy
Developing ways to deal with your anxiety is important, but don’t do things you don’t like. Find something you enjoy to get your mind off of it. That could be building a model, painting, cooking, exercising. Finding a healthy way to distract yourself goes a long way in managing your anxious feelings.
# 5 Stretch
Applying the mindfulness and meditation listed above to a physical activity. It doesn’t matter what from stretching takes. Take the time to just move slow, and think about your body.
5 Pre-planned Ways to Lower Anxiety
# 1 Journaling
Taking time to write down your thoughts can help you have more control over them. Research shows that people who journal tend to be able to better understand their own emotional needs. This means you can learn to see patterns in your anxiety.If you leave space at the bottom of each journal page, you can re-read the pages a week, month, a year later and re-write the negative thoughts. This differing perspective taking can help you learn to view your anxiety differently.
# 2 Create Dailies
When working with clients with addictions I use something called dailies to help learn new ways to manage emotion. Dailies or your personal first aid kit are ways to manage your life. They are planned out, mindful actives that you enjoy that key you focused. It is scheduled a time to watch Doctor Who on Saturday night or my morning gym time before anything else. I will have a post in 2017 about how to develop balanced dailies Dailies is putting your mental health first and taking action to manage your anxiety.
# 3 Feelings Not Facts
A few weeks ago I texted my partner and said: “I am just really sad today.” There was no reason for my sadness it was just an emotion that had washed over me. I noticed it and just let myself experience for a moment then it passed. Keeping in mind that feeling’s come and go throughout the day and do not have to have a connection to facts. Feelings are a way we experience the world around us, while facts are how we understand the world around us. If you are feeling anxious you do not have to understand why. Just learn to accept that you are just feeling anxious and it is a feeling that will pass.
# 4 Practice Gratitude
One of my favorite homework assessments that I give to clients. Normally my clients find this difficult and do not want to do it. However what I find every time is that it helps my clients look at the world differently. When your journal every day you wake up and write down 3 things you are looking forward to. At the end of the day write down 3 things that you are grateful for. The only rule is you can not use the same thing twice in a week. What this does is help re-train your mind to look at the world differently. You are training your brain to look for positive connections in your life.
# 5 Connect With People
Go to therapy, call you best friend, take a moment to talk to someone at church. While we are more connected than ever with Facebook, Instagram, text messaging we are also disconnecting more and more. Take time to spend with people you care about. This can help you develop a support system that helps when your anxiety is strong.
If you live in the Las Vegas area and are ready to start counseling to learn more ways to deal with anxiety click here. Those are some different ways to deal with your anxiety. What things work for you that I didn’t put on this list? Leave a commit below to share different ways you lower your anxiety.
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