SOME METHODS TO HELP REDUCE AND MANAGE ANXIETY

SLEEP

Sleep gives the body’s neurons a chance to shut down and repair themselves. Sleep provides cells with increased protein production that fuels growth and repairs damage incurred by stress and other factors. It is also integral to maintaining healthy emotional and social functioning.

Deep sleep had restored the brain’s prefrontal mechanism that regulates our emotions, lowering emotional and physiological reactivity and preventing the escalation of anxiety.

HEALTHY DIET

Diet can play a huge part in how anxiety affects us. Often when we’re feeling anxious, we lose our appetite and stop eating, which leads to low energy levels, which leads to more anxiety.

A good place to start can be by cutting down on sugary foods and looking at eating a more balanced diet.

The phrase “eat better, feel better” certainly has some truth to it. When we eat healthy, nutritious foods, we feel better physically and mentally, due to having more energy.

EXERCISE

Getting your body moving and building up a sweat is one of the best natural ways to calm anxiety. Exercise reduces stress hormones and helps your mind to focus on something else besides unhelpful revolving thought patterns.

ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR FEELINGS

Tough love time: ignoring or trying to ‘squash down’ your anxiety won’t make it go away. You need to acknowledge what’s going on and seek support.

While it may be tempting to keep your feelings to yourself, bottling your anxiety inside is actually counterproductive.

It will only result in a speeding up of burnout and your stress or anxiety spilling out at a later date.

“Writing your emotions down in a journal, speaking to a loved one or speaking to your GP or a therapist can help you externalise your feelings and gain a sense of perspective. It can also help to give you a sense of ownership over your feelings, helping you to feel more in control. This is especially helpful if you cannot pinpoint what is triggering your anxiety: start by picking a suspect topic, write down or talk about how you feel and then ask ‘And?’ at the end of each thought. This continuous prompting should help steer you to the culprit topics so you can organise them and tackle them better.”

SCHEDULE ANXIETY TIME

Pick a 15-minute window during the day to think about your anxieties. “During that time, tell your brain to just go for it and let the anxious thoughts come,” Kissen says. “But when they arise outside that time, tell them ‘I’m willing to hear you, but come back tomorrow at 3 p.m.’”

REDUCE SOCIAL MEDIA INTAKE

In a world where the internet and social media dominate a large portion of most people’s lives, it’s a good idea to switch off occasionally. Watching or reading distressing stories on the news, or scrolling through social posts that appear to create an image of what an ideal life looks like, can trigger unhelpful thoughts and anxiety.

Many studies have reported that scrolling through social posts where we might perceive others as having lives that are better than ours in some way can trigger and reinforce insecurities and low self-esteem.

Try to have some time away from social media, and notice how your anxiety reduces.

LISTEN TO MUSIC OR A PODCAST

It allows you to tune out the noise around you, and to detach yourself from the thoughts that are causing your anxiety. Many people find that by listening to their favourite music and podcasts, they can tap into good memories and lift themselves out of stress.

LEARN ABOUT ANXIETY

The old adage ‘knowledge is power’ applies here – learning all about anxiety is central to recovery.

EXPLORE ANXIETY THERAPY TREATMENTS

With mental health awareness on the rise, there are a number of natural anxiety treatment therapies available if you’re looking to tackle your anxiety head-on.

Cognitive therapy

Cognitive therapy focuses on changing patterns of thinking and beliefs that are associated with, and trigger, anxiety.

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