3 Ways to Manage Anxiety
This piece was originally written as a blog post for Elevated Healthcare and has been slightly modified
Worry can often be all-consuming. With your heart racing and thoughts spinning, it feels almost impossible to sit there and pretend the fear isn’t creeping up to try to swallow you.
Anxiety describes a persistent worry about future events, and it sometimes leads people to avoid situations they feel fearful about. Symptoms often range from sweating, tearfulness, and a rapid heartbeat to feeling paralyzed, panicked, and nauseous.
But the feelings of dread don’t need to last forever.
It is natural for our bodies to respond to stress, but when the worry becomes too much to handle or begins to interfere with how we function, it’s time to kick anxiety to the curb.
Here are THREE WAYS to manage your symptoms when anxiety spirals start:
1) Take a deep breath:
When we feel threatened in any way, our bodies work to preserve our well-being. This is why our nervous system speeds up when we feel anxious: it’s on high-alert and ready for a fight. Taking a deep breath helps activate our parasympathetic nervous system, which slows production of the hormones that encourage anxiety symptoms and instead, releases hormones that encourage relaxation.
When anxiety symptoms strike, take 10 slow breaths. Breathe in through your nose until you feel it in your stomach; hold it in for 5 seconds, and slowly let go through your mouth as if you were blowing a balloon. The key is to breathe slowly and deeply, filling and emptying your lungs all the way. Use mindfulness to notice how your body expands; feel the air passing through your nose and mouth and think about how that feels.
2) Speak loudly, even when your voice shakes:
We try so hard to pretend that we’re not struggling. We’re often so scared of being wrong or feeling embarrassed that we inadvertently continue to feed our anxiety, offering it power that it doesn’t deserve.
Instead, practice talking back to your anxiety. Tell those thoughts they’re wrong. Picture your symptoms as a being: give them a face, clothes, a name. Visualize them in pencil on a page and you erasing them. Stuff them in a balloon; let the wind carry them away.
As you tell your symptoms they’re wrong, tell yourself how right you are. Chant a positive mantra, like I can do this, I am strong, I am brave. Say a prayer; take a walk; hug someone you love. Do something that helps you feel confident, relaxed, and inspired.
3) Talk to a therapist about what you’re feeling:
A therapist can help you create a plan to take control over your anxiety symptoms. Therapy is an individualized process that is completely tailored to your needs. It helps you go deeper into the roots of where this anxiety may come from, what may be encouraging it to continue, and how you can fight back. Medication is also an option for people who are interested and qualify.
The power is yours, and the path you pave today can help you walk more smoothly tomorrow.