Tips to reduce and control anxiety

How to Control Anxiety?

Anxiety disorders are one of the most common disorders present in the world today. That is not to say that people who aren’t diagnosed with them don’t suffer from anxiety here and there. This is where tips to reduce anxiety comes in which can be helpful in how to overcome anxiety. 

• Drinking less amount of caffeine is good to keep calm generally. Caffeine sparks adrenaline in the body, which can make some people feel anxious or on the edge. Slowly reducing the amount is ideal, especially if you’re dependent on coffee to keep you going through the day.
• Practising yoga can be a particularly beneficial form of exercise for people with anxiety. It can help decrease heart rate, cortisol levels and blood pressure. It also leads to a decrease in symptoms of anxiety and depression.
• Exercising can help in calming anxiety. It decreases stress hormones in the body and it allows one to distract oneself from ruminative thoughts while exercising. It helps in controlling anxiety, and compiled with treatments, it has shown to decrease overall symptoms. 
• Mindfulness is a form of meditation that encourages people to focus on thoughts, feelings or sensations that happen the most. This helps to keep away from ruminative thoughts as well as negative thought patterns. 
• Music can help as well. It can alleviate stress and anxiety, as it can provide short term stress relief. 

Coping Strategies

Some quick coping strategies are as follows:

• Give yourself a reality check. Are you feeling like the event(s) will happen for sure? Do you have solid reasons to think this way? Is there a chance you’re worrying a little too much?
• Share your thoughts about anxiety. It can definitely help if you share with people who can understand you, someone who can give you some perspective. 
• Always remind yourself that you are safe. In most cases, it is to do with events of the future, and that isn’t something you can just control like that. 
• Spend that nervous energy on something else. Take a quick walk, maybe listen to some music that can distract you, and clean around your place. 
• Take a brief mental break from all of this, and do something that gives your happiness. 

10 Tips to control/reduce anxiety

How to stop anxiety thoughts: Some general tips

1. Getting physical activity in can help when you’re feeling stressed. Aerobic exercises can significantly reduce overall perceived stress, and also reduce depressive tendencies. 
2. Following a good diet can also help keep you in good health, both physical and mental. Avoiding high processed foods as well as high sugar foods. If you happen to be chronically stressed, you could be reaching out for highly palatable foods, which can harm your overall health and mood. Not eating enough nutrient-dense foods can lead to deficiencies which regulate moods and stress levels.
3. Try to minimise screen time, even though for some people it is unavoidable. However and whenever you can, try to spend at least some of your free time doing something that doesn’t involve a screen. Meet some friends, go do things outside, anything that keeps you away from the screen when you can.
4. Take supplements if you think they’re necessary. Deficiency in your body can cause the effects of stress to be exacerbated. Vitamins such as magnesium, vitamin B, and L-theanine are all good for reducing stress. 
5. Practise some self-care, which can reduce your stress levels. Doing things like taking a walk, or a bath, reading, making a healthy meal, getting a massage or even practising a hobby will make you feel good about yourself. 
6. Reduce your caffeine intake. Consuming too much coffee can worsen and increase anxiety, and it can definitely hamper your sleep pattern as well. Perhaps it could be replaced with something else which is high in energy if that is the purpose of the caffeine in the first place. 
7. Spend more time with family and friends, which can really get you through stressful times and cope with anxiety. Social support can help you talk things through which can combat some of the fears of anxiety in general.  If you don’t have the right people around you then consider joining social support groups which can help. 
8. Create boundaries. This is helpful not only in life but can especially help with factors such as stress and anxiety. Don’t try to attempt more than you can complete. Say no more often, especially if you’re someone who struggles to make your time meet so that you don’t feel as overwhelmed. Be selective when you can. 
9. Try to avoid procrastination whenever it's possible. It's a challenge for sure, but it can harm your productivity at times as well. Organise what things are a priority task, and what can be pushed back, and act on them when you can and should. It is tempting to want to push back, but that may not be the best thing to do. 
10. Even small physical acts such as cuddling can have a calming effect and can help you cope better with stress! Studies show that positive physical contact can help relieve stress and loneliness. It helps release oxytocin and lowers cortisol (the stress hormone). 

Recognize and understand your anxiety

One of the best things you can do to help with anxiety is to honestly accept it. That is the first step, to recognise that yes, you feel anxious. If we let it run its course it can make it less painful- fighting it more often than not can lead to an attack. If you’re only used to resorting to coping with distractions, then you’ll always be afraid of it. You need to be able to learn to cope with it in a healthy way. Don’t criticise yourself for feeling this way. It is a normal thing for you to feel anxiety at times, and you will get through it, you have to understand it better. 

In conclusion

These are some anxiety relief tips you can get around when you feel anxious. At the end of the day if this is something that is affecting your day to day functioning, then it is best to get help. These tips can only go so far, but sometimes one needs medication and therapy as well, depending on how serious the anxiety is. Reach out when you think you need help, and make sure that you do get the help you need.