Ten Ways To Alleviate Anxiety

Anxiety is possibly one of the worst feelings anyone can deal with. There are plenty of options out there to help a broken leg, to fix a headache or to alleviate the pain of an ankle sprain, but anxiety? There’s no magic pill for that. There are no support bands that will help you to hold up your anxiety and support it. There’s no split you can put on your anxiety because it’s not a physical injury. It’s a mental and emotional injury that takes time to heal. Waiting around for it to heal is the worst part, and what if it never does?

Sometimes, anxiety is not something that can be fixed easily – if at all. The creeping panic and the speeding heartbeat are just two things that the anxious among us have to cope with. The rest of the symptoms are not easy, either. The adrenaline rush and the fight or flight instinct are hard to manage, and the exhaustion that comes with being tense all day long is heavy and mind-altering. Anxiety is not a joke, it’s not a fake illness, and it can be crippling to the person dealing with it.

So, how do you cope with anxiety and its effects? How do you find some balance somewhere to start staving off the effects of anxiety before they take a chokehold on your life? The key is in the ten solutions below. Not only will you be able to feel less anxious, but you could learn to catch the anxiety before it develops.

Workout

One of the best things that you can do for stress is to exercise. The hormones ricocheting around your body, as a result, make you feel good, and the physical stress on your body happens to balance the mental stress you’re feeling. Not only that, but you can burn off some of the anxiety you’re feeling as you focus on pushing your body. Exercise benefits are well-known, from a better night of sleep to lower the cortisol in your body.

Exercise is a natural painkiller, and it works to improve your confidence and alleviate the anxiety you’re feeling in your veins. With better sleep, you can function better and the episodes of anxiety – usually triggered by stress – will be fewer. It doesn’t matter whether you walk, run or do yoga every day; you need to insert activities into your life to ensure that you can lower your stress levels. By proxy, your anxiety levels will lower, too.

Think About Supplements

There are several supplements out there that encourage your anxiety to come down and feel much better. Some people choose to supplement their diet with CBD oil, as the benefits have been widely proven. Several other supplements can all help with reducing stress and anxiety, such as lemon balm and ashwagandha.

Lemon balm has been previously studied for its anti-anxiety effects. Ashwagandha is a herb primarily used in Ayurvedic medicine, and several studies show how effective it can be in helping those with anxiety.

If you prefer not to use capsules, try green tea. There are plenty of antioxidants in green tea with proven health benefits. It works to lower stress and help your anxiety. Some supplements will counteract medicines, but you can discuss this with your doctor before you start any kind of supplement. Certain supplements out there can help you, so why not look into them and choose them today?

Use Candles

Some people find the flame of a candle incredibly soothing to look at, but it’s not just about looking at the candles. You can burn essential oils and scented candles to help you to feel more balanced and less stressed. Lavender and rose are known to help you to reduce stress and anxiety, but orange blossom and geranium also do the same. You can use scents to treat your mood, and aromatherapy has been proven to help those with anxiety to feel better. Lighting a candle can help you to bring down your mood and help you to regulate your heart rate.

Take Down The Coffee

Caffeine can speed your heart rate up and make you feel worse, not better. As it’s a stimulant, you will find it in tea, coffee, chocolate and energy drinks. In high doses, anxiety can go through the roof, and your adrenaline can spike, leaving you shaky. Everyone deals with caffeine differently, tolerating different levels of caffeine before it gets too much. Coffee can be great to start your day, but it can also be something that makes you feel dressed.

Start Writing

An excellent way to handle stress is to write it down. Channelling your anxiety into diaries can help you to identify triggers and allow you to slow down and gain some perspective. Reflection is so critical, and you can record what you are grateful for at the same time. When things calm down, you can go back and look at what you wrote, allowing you to see where the anxiety began, how you felt during and what you tried to do to remind yourself that anxiety isn’t the only thing that you have. If you have a way to focus on the positive while channelling your stress, you will be far happier and healthier for it.

Chew Gum

Believe it or not, you can relieve your stress by chewing gum. It’s an easy way to drop that high anxiety level, and the reason behind this is that chewing gum improves blood flow to the brain. You can concentrate on something other than the panic flowing through you, and you can have a greater sense of wellbeing as a result. If chewing gum can help you to relax, then buying the right flavor is vital as you want to enjoy this new habit. Chewing gives you something to focus on, and the right gum will be good for your teeth at the same time.

See Your People

Friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances: these are all your people. They can surround you in love and happiness and support if you only ask for it. Social support is the best thing that you can lean on for stressful times in your life. If you are spending time with your family and friends, you’re going to encourage oxytocin and help your anxiety levels to lower. It would help if you remembered that you have the support and that you have a network of people that will help you to feel good on the inside. Sometimes, this can help you with your confidence and your self-worth, but it’s also going to help you to remember that you are not alone in life. You can lean on others and fight the feeling of wanting to run away. It’s not a feeling that exists besides an overproduction of cortisol and adrenaline. If you have the right people, you won’t want to leave.

Try & Laugh More

While it’s hard to laugh with stress rushing through you, you must learn how to laugh and feel suitable for it. It’s much harder to succumb to the panic of anxiety when you are busy laughing and having a good time; however, that may happen for you. Laughter helps you to release your tension response. It allows you to relax your muscles and experience bigger and better stress relief. Watch funny shows, or see a comedy sketch. Find the humor in life every single day, and you can relieve your anxiety and stress levels. Laughter is good for the soul: they say that for a good reason and it’s this – you’ll feel far less stressed.

Try Saying No

It’s not every single stressor that is within your control. However, there are some things that you can control, and the first one is that you don’t have to be a “yes” person. Taking control in your life and learning to say “no” every once in a while can take the pressure off your shoulders and feel good. By saying no occasionally, you can stop handling everything. You can start being selective about what you want to do in life, and this can make you mentally stronger. Reduce your stress levels and control them at the same time.

Avoid Wasting Time

The best way for anxiety to make its way in is to be bored. If you spend time procrastinating and wasting time, you’re going to feel the panic creep in. You need to get on top of your schedule and make a point of improving your sleep at the same time. Write lists and tick off the boxes as you go and you will stop procrastinating. If you give yourself personal deadlines that are realistic, you’re going to be able to work on the things that need to be done today. No more time-wasting. No more ignoring the things that you want to do and making plans to do them. Don’t slow down and waste your own time: it doesn’t help you.

Anxiety is scary for some, but there are ways to help yourself. Try the ten above and speak to your doctor for medical support.