Presentations at work are stressful and seem to be stuck in impostor syndrome. Your friend will blow up your phone for reassurance about their relationship. Your mom is worried and she hasn’t been sleeping well for weeks.
In principle, worry does not discriminate. But how it plays out for each of us is up to us. A clinical mental health counselor and author of his book, Who do you call crazy?Journey from stigma to therapy. Stress can cause anxiety, but anxiety tends to last longer and It is usually accompanied by ‘anxiety about future events’.
The experience of anxiety may be related to a specific, specific thing, or it may be more generalized.But the only constant, he says, is the fear of uncertainty. Robin McKay, Ph.D., psychologist and executive coach in Scottsdale, Arizona. Many of us experience anxiety from time to time, but chronic anxiety can make us so preoccupied with the future that we are unable to experience what is happening in the present. For example, at work, you may find yourself lacking concentration, being unproductive, and lacking creativity. Anxiety can also make it difficult to connect with friends and family, form close relationships, and appreciate life, McKay says.
While you can’t control the world or even your own life, there are some everyday factors that cause anxiety that you can control to help calm your emotional state. If you struggle with chronic anxiety, an association-certified therapist can provide insight, share advice, and keep you from plaguing your fears alone.
9 Unexpected Do’s and Don’ts to Minimize Anxiety
1. Stay hydrated
You already know (and have been told a mind-boggling number of times) that adequate water intake is essential for physical health. But alleviating anxiety might be another compelling reason to reach for your water bottle.
according to study in the World Journal of Psychiatry, reported that subjects who drank 5 or more glasses of water per day rated lower anxiety and depression than subjects who drank less than 2 glasses per day. More research is needed, but keeping a water glass or bottle within sight is not a bad thing. If he still misses a drink, set an alarm for him every 30 minutes as a reminder.
2. Don’t tell your brain to stop worrying
You may have seen the meme “In the history of calming down, no one ever calmed down when told to calm down.” The same advice applies to how you talk to yourself.
Telling yourself to stop thinking negatively “is like telling your nose to stop smelling and your ears to stop listening,” McKay says. When we try to stop our thoughts, we draw more attention to them and make it harder for our brain to ignore the things that fuel our anxiety.
A better approach to breaking down negative thoughts is to focus your attention elsewhere, says McKay. Which type of distraction works best is up to you. One way to calm anxiety about the future is to become immersed in the present, such as watching how your coffee is brewed, immersing yourself in a book, journaling your thoughts, or focusing all your attention on what your conversation partner is saying.
Another way to keep your mind focused on what you’re doing is to move your body. This provides other anti-anxiety effects as well.
3. Get your body active
Your body cannot tell the difference between an actual threat and what it perceives as a threat. So whenever you get anxious, your sympathetic nervous system automatically activates, putting your body into fight, flight, or freeze mode, accelerating your heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing. It’s the exact same reaction whether you’ve narrowly avoided a car accident or been asked a question in a Zoom meeting while you weren’t paying attention.
You can’t change your physiological response, but you can learn to reduce its severity, says Kuehrne. Regular exercise helps.a study from Affective Disorder Journal Researchers have found that moderate-intensity exercise, such as aerobic exercise and strength training, can help reduce anxiety symptoms in people who suffer from chronic anxiety.a study of JAMAPsychiatry It was also found that the symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder subjects who practiced yoga improved.
In terms of how much exercise you “should” do, any amount of movement is better than no movement at all. That might mean going to a solo dance party between meetings, taking classes at the gym or yoga studio, or hiking all day.
4. Don’t get caught in the Doom Scroll
“No” is telling you to quit social media. But a recent study found that when college students limited their social media use to 30 minutes a day, their anxiety levels decreased.
“Anyone experiencing anxiety can be affected by the scroll,” McKay says. However, the researchers noted that the results were not about the specific amount of time spent online, but about being aware of how they interacted with social media and making some effort to limit themselves. This includes being careful who you follow. This means less exposure to sensational news reports and glorified accounts that only show the “Instagram version” of life.
Also consider using social media for good, McKay says. He can post or share anything that inspires him, or use it as a place to catch up with his friends.
5. Eat more plants
The relationship between food and mood is nothing new. And it’s something you’ve probably noticed since you were a kid.but Recent research Published in Annals of Medical Research It suggests a surprising correlation between a predominantly plant-based lifestyle and anxiety.
Researchers surveyed hundreds of people about their emotions and found that vegans and vegetarians had significantly lower self-reported levels of anxiety and depression than omnivores. No further differentiation was made with respect to the specific intake of the subjects.
Certain things are well known and backed up by science. Vitamins, Minerals and Phytochemicals Reduce AnxietyIn other words, if you decide to cut back on your meat intake, focusing on unprocessed foods is more beneficial to your long-term mood than cutting back on your meat intake. A temporary high from eating junk food.
6. Don’t drink too much alcohol
A hangover happens. Maybe you were out with friends and lost track of how many beers you drank. Or, even though I knew I might catch up, I figured the night would be memorable enough to make up for the side effects.
However, the morning after screaming can be more painful than a headache. Hangxiety (short for hangover anxiety) is the name for the feeling of uncontrollable anxiety that many suffer after a night of drinking.The science behind it is complex, but according to a study published in the journal personality and individual differencesthe body’s urge to self-regulate after intoxication “can lead to increased anxiety during withdrawal.”
The only known cure for hangovers is prevention. If you can’t give up alcohol completely, cut down on how much you drink. Then keep a diary or watch carefully how much you ate and how you felt the next day. You may be surprised at the patterns you notice and your ability to identify the optimal cutoff.
7. Plan time to worry
What if instead of trying to avoid worrying and adding to your anxiety, you let yourself indulge in negative thoughts? Setting a time to worry about each day gives you some control over the part of your brain that has to think about all the what-ifs.
Consider journaling about your negative thoughts during this allotted time, says McKay. “Literally writing down what you’re worried about can help you shift your perspective on what’s worrying you,” says McKay.
Another approach is mindfulness meditation, deliberately pay attention to your breathing while sitting quietly. When your thoughts hit you, it will, but try to simply observe rather than swirl your reactions to them. Then bring your attention back to your breath. repeat.
Scheduled worry time may include time spent in therapy sessions.
8. Don’t skimp on sleep
No one reaches peak emotional performance when they don’t sleep well. However, people who are prone to anxiety tend to be particularly sensitive to the effects of sleep deprivation and are more likely to experience unwanted symptoms of anxiety. sleep foundation.
Not only does sleep deprivation negatively affect your mood, but anxiety can also lead to less sleep and a particularly frustrating cycle. Generally an adult is recommended that he sleeps 7-9 hours a night, but sleep needs, like anxiety, vary from person to person. It helps you understand some of the most common misconceptions about sleep.
