Practical Powerful Ways To Help Manage Anxiety
Understand why it feels the way it does.
Understanding why anxiety feels the way it does will be one of your greatest tools in managing it. Think of it like this. Imagine being in a dark room that is full of stuff. When you walk around in the dark, youre going to bump into things. Youre going to scrape, bruise and maybe drop a few choice words. Turn on the light though, and those things are still there, but now you can navigate your way around them. No more bumps. No more scrapes. And no more having to hold your tongue in front of people who can confiscate your phone. Heres what you need to know
Anxiety happens because a part of your brain thinks there might be something it needs to protect you from. When this happens, it surges your body with a mix of neurochemicals , designed to make you stronger, faster, more alert and more powerful so you can fight for your life or run for it. This is the fight or flight response. Its normal and healthy and its in everyone. In people with anxiety, its just a little quicker to activate.
The amygdala acts on impulse. Its a do-er, not a thinker all action and not a lot of thought. It just wants to keep you safe, because safe is a lovely thing to be and because thats been its job since the beginning of humans. The amygdala cant always tell the difference between something that might hurt you and something that wont and it doesnt care. All it wants to do is keep you safe.
You might feel dizzy or a bit confused.
Things To Avoid With Your Anxiety
It starts with what to avoid. Many people don’t realize that they are unintentionally contributing to their own anxiety. Only by avoiding common anxiety mistakes will you be able to cope. Some examples include:
- Moping Coping with anxiety requires you to take action. But stress makes you want to mope. Spending time alone, in silence, with your own thoughts can be nice once in a while, but often thoughts are your enemy when you have anxiety. Distractions, staying active, and trying to be as social as possible are important.
- Bad Foods Diet does play a role in anxiety. Those with panic attacks should avoid caffeine, because they seem to be a trigger of panic. Fattening foods, refined sugars, alcohol, and fried foods also exacerbate anxiety symptoms. Eating habits don’t usually “cause” anxiety, but they make it worse, and the worse your anxiety symptoms are the more your anxiety will bother you.
- Anxiety-producing Stimuli Anxiety is a cumulative condition. The more anxiety you experience in your daily life, the more your other anxiety symptoms get worse. That means that you should avoid horror movies, dark alleys at night, spending time with people who are reckless – anything that produces anxiety should be controlled, to avoid the anxiety from getting worse.
You also need to avoid falling back into your old anxiety habits. Coping with anxiety is about commitment, so assuming you’ve corrected your anxiety problem and getting back to your old habits will harm you as well.
Tolerance For Uncertainty: A Covid
Learn to accept your feelings, tolerate distress and move forward with grace despite not knowing what lies ahead.
This resource is not just for during the COVID-19 situation but for any part of our lives. It covers topics of Understanding emotional distress and wellness planning, emotional regulation, radical acceptance, improving emotional distress and self compassion. The workbook takes you through strategies and activities you can use to help while at school or in your everyday life.
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Causes Of Anxiety Fear And Panic
There are many different causes of anxiety, fear or panic and it’s different for everyone.
When you’re feeling anxious or scared, your body releases stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol.
This can be helpful in some situations, but it might also cause physical symptoms such as an increased heart rate and increased sweating. In some people, it might cause a panic attack.
Regular anxiety, fear or panic can also be the main symptom of several health conditions. Do not self-diagnose speak to a GP if you’re worried about how you’re feeling.
Talk To Someone You Trust About How You’re Feeling
Just talking to someone about how youre feeling can take a weight off your shoulders. Make sure you trust the person, work out what you want to say to them, and then just go for it. If youre finding it tricky, weve got four more steps for talking to someone you trust here.
If you want to talk to someone anonymously, check out the ReachOut Forums or a hotline here.
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How Can You Figure Out Whats Causing Stress Or Anxiety For People You Support
You cant always figure it out. However, this tool may help you learn whats causing a persons stress or anxiety. You can share this tool with other staff.
Take a piece of paper and draw a table with 4 columns and 2 rowslike the one you see in the table below. Use the questions you see in the table.
Lets answer the questions using Johns behavior as an example. This one is easy to do because we know what John does and when . We know what his actions mean and how to support him . You can also talk about this with John to see if you have it right.
If you are working with someone who does not use words to communicate:
Heres another example:
Lets use the questions and table above to figure out whats causing Saras stress.
Listen Read Or Watch Motivational Materials
Simply search Youtube.com for videos tagged with keywords motivational or inspirational and spend some time going through highly rated videos. This will almost instantly change your perspective and downplay your worries. You can also read inspirational books or talk to people who can inspire you.
Do you like the list above? Remember, the first step to conquering panic anxiety attacks is to conquer the fear of having one!
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How To Manage Anxiety When You Have Zero Control Over The Events
Ultimately, its important to remember that people respond to current events in a variety of ways, Sandra says that whatever you are experiencing is probably a normal and valid reaction.
That being said, if youre worried about your mental health, feeling overwhelmed with fear or dread, make sure you talk to someone about it. A friend or family member is a good place to start, but you can always speak to a professional like your GP, or call a mental health helpline.
Satisfy Your Need For Physical Touch
Were nourished by meeting face to face, making eye contact, and physical touch, but right now it exposes us to the coronavirus. As time passes, the lack of touch can be stressful, especially for those who rely on its physical and psychological benefits. The touch from another human slows down the heart, helps us regulate our emotional experience, and enhances serotonin, the natural antidepressant in our system.“The need for touch is very much like the need for food. You may satiate yourself for today, but tomorrow the need will return says, Rinatta Paries, Certified Relationship Specialist with the American Psychotherapy Association. So what do we do when we have to be 6 feet apart and are mandated to self-isolate? Consider trying a few of Rinattas suggestions to keep your craving for touch well nourished.
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How To Overcome Work Anxiety
Work anxiety is never just work anxiety. It often bleeds into your home and personal life, and if it continues without management for too long, you may also develop anxiety that often lasts long after you leave your job.
While all of these characteristics might not apply to you, the information should still provide you with tips of how to properly manage your anxiety at work. For the purpose of this article, we will make a few assumptions, which include the following:
- You are currently at a job you cannot leave, because you have not obtained a new job or you need to stay for family reasons.
- You are employed for a company that utilizes cubicles or offices. Despite not fitting the mold exactly, retail, restaurant, and work-from-home jobs should still relate and be relevant based on the suggestions below but how you integrate them may change.
- You are good at your career. Having high career aspirations is still a very important aspect of overcoming anxiety. If you fail to even try to succeed at work, it can impact your anxiety negatively.
- You are not anxious about finances this kind of work anxiety is related to a different kind of anxiety in general. Financial anxiety can be overcome by changing priorities and properly budgeting. We understand that some of you are not paid what you are worth, which can incite anxiety. However, for the sake of this article, we will assume your finances are stable or not a cause of anxiousness.
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How Do I Know If I Need Help
Fear and anxiety can affect all of us every now and then. It is only when it is severe and long-lasting that doctors class it as a mental health problem. If you feel anxious all the time for several weeks, or if it feels like your fears are taking over your life, then its a good idea to ask your doctor for help, or try one of the websites or numbers listed at the back of this booklet. The same is true if a phobia is causing problems in your daily life, or if you are experiencing panic attacks.
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How Do I Cope With The Stress And Anxiety Of A Pandemic
Managing the impact of COVID-19 with nine simple strategies.
06 April 2020
In just a few weeks, weve gone through unprecedented changes. The COVID-19 pandemic has had major impacts on the way we live. You might be experiencing a range of emotions and everyone is handling it differently. While much is out of our control at the moment, there are things you can do to support wellness, connection and joy in your life. We hope you find todays article helpful as you navigate this challenging time.
Be Gentle And Understanding Of Grief During This Time
Today we are all grieving. We are grieving the loss of our freedom, a predictable future, the lives and roles we used to have before the coronavirus. We are all experiencing a degree of grief. Many of us are fearful about work, health, our families, and our shared future in ways that were unimaginable just a short time ago.It might be difficult to even acknowledge the loss in the midst of a global pandemic, but it is understandable to feel sad, or angry if a loved one is sick, if you cannot visit your family, or if you are no longer able to attend important events that you were looking forward to, such as your graduation or a long-awaited holiday.Be kind to yourself and your feelings right now, it is understandable to feel out of sorts with all of these changes.
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Use The Power Of Affirmations
Using positive affirmations throughout the day will help you fight anxiety if you suspect that you might be having another panic attack, you can keep repeating to yourself I can handle this, and I will calm down. Even though this might seem odd at first, it will help you feel much better. Your mind will move you towards things that you are focusing on. If you keep on saying I will calm down, etc, it will take immediate command of calming you down and this has an instant effect.
Why Do I Feel Like This When Im Not In Any Real Danger
Early humans needed the fast, powerful responses that fear causes, as they were often in situations of physical danger however, we no longer face the same threats in modern-day living.
Despite this, our minds and bodies still work in the same way as our early ancestors, and we have the same reactions to our modern worries about bills, travel and social situations. But we cant run away from or physically attack these problems!
The physical feelings of fear can be scary in themselves especially if you are experiencing them and you dont know why, or if they seem out of proportion to the situation. Instead of alerting you to a danger and preparing you to respond to it, your fear or anxiety can kick in for any perceived threat, which could be imaginary or minor.
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Tools To Help You Cope With Anxiety
One of the most important things to remember about anxiety coping is that coping actually happens inside of you. There are many strategies to help you cope, but what will eventually help you cure your anxiety forever is your own mental strength. Everyone has it, but it often requires taking care of your body and re-training your mind for how you should react to anxiety and stress.
Still, the following will help promote better coping, and give you an opportunity to control some of the issues that lead to anxiety symptoms:
These things may not cure anxiety on their own, but they will help you learn to control the way anxiety affects you, and you’ll often find that they assist your ability to mentally cope – in some cases enough to cure it completely.
Dont Drag Others Down
Office drama can be entertaining at times, but it ultimately makes the environment more stressful and lowers morale. Try changing the subject when people talk poorly of coworkers or the boss, or simply come up with a reason to leave the room. Dont respond to texts or emails that seek to drag others down.
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Develop A Coping Plan
Sandra suggests connecting with friends and family and sharing your concerns to relieve stress.
We suggest using a focus exercise that you can do wherever and whenever you sit down for a few moments, says Sandra.
Breathe in and out and concentrate on your breath to check in with yourself. Then choose a colour and look around you to identify objects of that colour. This will calm you down and distract you from concerns and negative thinking.
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.
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What Are The Six Types Of Anxiety Disorders
Here are the six most common types of anxiety disorders:
