What do you do when you catch a fever or cold?. You try to cure yourself. Then why do we always ignore our mental health issues? Mental health issues have the potential to not only depress you but to hamper your daily normal life. A long span of mental health disorders can actually make you think negatively all the time. In short, they have the ability to change your whole point of view towards life.
Anxiety is a feeling of fear that a person experiences when he or she has a sensation of something bad happening. Though, anxiety occurs when someone has any particular reason to worry about. Any incident or issue that gives stress can cause anxiety. For example, exam stress, career tensions, relationship stress, etc. Being afraid doesn’t mean you have an anxiety disorder. Having fear or being nervous is very normal. It’s a human tendency to do so. But when you be in a constant anxious environment or a line of events that causes stress, then you may start having severe anxiety even on less stressful things. Also, constant anxiety over a period of time can lead to panic disorder, which is very severe and disturbing.
About Anxiety
- There may be some particular reasons like exam fear, workplace issue, workload, relationship tensions, health issues, etc.
- It is not a condition that can be diagnosed.
- Anxiety is much less severe than a panic attack
- It develops gradually when a person starts feeling anxious.
- Physical symptoms may include racing heartbeat, stomach ache, muscle pain, etc.
Symptoms of Anxiety
- worry and apprehension
- restlessness
- sleep problems
- difficulty concentrating
- irritability
- sadness
- feeling pressure and hurried
Also Read- Prevailing myths of Depression
Ways to Calm your Anxiety
An anxiety attack majorly hits a person due to fear of something bad happening in a particular situation. This means there is a specific subject that is creating a sense of fear in that person. It tends to develop gradually over time. It can be mild, moderate, or severe. There may be a sense that it can be over once that particular problem is solved. When you start feeling that anxiety is being harsh on you even on small events and even without reasons then here are some tips you can follow to calm your anxiety.
1. Exercise
Stress causes anxiety. Exercise is known as one of the best ways to reduce stress. Putting physical stress on your body can help you in relieving mental stress. If you are not regular at exercising, you may find it difficult in the initial days. You may feel that it is adding more to your anxiety but on some days you may feel the difference. Here, consistency is the key. Being regular at exercising can actually help you in dealing with anxiety. But how exercising helps reducing stress?
Stress hormones- Exercise lowers downs the level of stress hormones such as cortisol in your body. It also helps in releasing endorphins, a chemical that helps in uplifting the mood.
2. Sleep
Exercising puts physical pressure on your body and makes you tired. Hence, you get good sleep. Good sleep can help in reducing stress. Anxiety and stress disturb your sleep cycle, which can lead to many physiological and physical problems.
Activities such as walking or jogging that involve repetitive movements of large muscle groups can particularly stress relieving.
3. Reduce Caffeine Intake
Caffeine is a component found in coffee, tea, chocolate, and energy drinks. High intake doses can actually increase anxiety. It depends on different people about how much caffeine they can handle.
You can notice that caffeine makes you anxious and especially coffee, reduces your sleeping will. Lack of sleep can play a huge role in making you anxious. Some studies totally contradict this statement, but it varies from body to body. If you feel anxious often, consider skipping your caffeine for some days. You can continue the process if it feels beneficial.
Also, Read- Just hold on…. The dawn is coming….
4. Spend Time with the people you love
Anxiety is bad, but it goes worse when the person doesn’t share it out. Loneliness is of the major reasons for many mental health disorders like anxiety and depression. A person who is staying alone is more likely to overthink and it can very easily trigger your anxiety.
Being a part of your friend’s group can give you a sense of self-worthiness and self-belonging. People around you play a vital part in deciding your mood. You stay happy around the people you love. Also, sharing that you are feeling anxious can help you in letting out and you may also get help in some cases.
The research found that for women, in particular, spending time with friends and children helps release oxytocin, a natural stress reliever. This effect is called “tend and befriend. Though, this applies to both, men and women.
Another study concludes that people who have fewer social contacts are more likely to suffer from anxiety or depression. Being around your loved ones can help you in your tough times.
5. Avoid Procrastination.
Procrastination is an act of delaying anything. Learn to set up your priorities and work accordingly. Procrastination will leave you with crumbled and a lot of work. This will make it difficult for you to complete the task on time and also will put you under a lot of stress. Stress can make you anxious.
Also, pending work can hamper your sleep either by keeping you busy in completing it or busy in thinking about it.
Make a to-do list and give yourself some realistic deadlines. The feeling of completing your daily life task on time is very satisfactory. It can provide you with a sense of control. You will feel that you have control over things. This can calm down your anxiety. Hence, make a to-do list, set deadlines, and keep ticking the tasks you did. Have some uninterrupted sessions of work so that you don’t have anything left to stress about.
6. Deep Breathing
This is one of the most tried and effective things to do when you are anxious. Anxiety surely makes your heart pound ghastly. This results in fasten up your breathing. All this combined makes you feel more anxious. You feel like everything is running and nothing is under your control. And in such times, it is very important to stop or slow down. And the first step you can take to slow down is to slow down your breathing first. Hence, deep breathing is considered to be one of the most effective ways to calm down your anxiety.
Here is a technique you can follow.
This is called inhale, hold, exhale. In this, you allow some specific fixed seconds to each step. For example:
- Inhale for 5 seconds
- hold for 4 seconds
- exhale for 5 seconds
Counting down your breathing can help you in taking control of your breathing. Deep breathing exercises can help you in slowing down your breathing rate. And slowly you will feel a sense of calmness
Anyone who feels constantly anxious should consult a doctor. Getting help on time may help you to stop the severe consequence in the future. Make sure when you seek help, it is from a qualified person. If you feel difficulty in directly visiting a doctor, do at least try to share it with your close ones. The sense of loneliness can increase the impact of anxiety disorder or panic disorder on your health. Try out these ways to calm down your anxiety. Stay healthy and happy!
