How to cope with Anxiety
Anxiety is when we experience feelings of worry, unease and fear – usually about things that are going to happen soon or happen in the future. Everyone experiences anxiety at some point in their life, as it is a completely normal response to threat, stressful events or changes and can be experienced through physical sensations as well as our thoughts and feelings. Sometimes people can find it difficult to control their worries, causing their feelings of anxiety to have an impact on their daily lives. When this happens, anxiety can often feel very strong and last for a long time and cause you to avoid situations that you perceive will make you anxious.
Anxiety can be one of the main symptoms for conditions diagnosed as Panic Disorder, Phobia, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder. Symptoms of anxiety can include psychological symptoms such as restlessness, irritability and a sense of dread; as well as physical symptoms such as tension, dizziness, tiredness, increased heartbeat, trembling or shaking, excessive sweating and nausea.
If you are experiencing anxiety, there are some steps you can take to help you have control of your anxiety:
Manage your worries by setting some time aside to focus on your worries. Write them down and take this time to reflect on your worries. This may help you to identify solutions to resolving them.
Talk about your anxiety with family, friends, contact a helpline or speak to a mental health professional. Sharing your worries with someone else can help to relieve some of the pressure you are experiencing .
Making sure you get enough sleep. Sleep can help you to have enough every to combat the feelings brought on by anxiety.
Regular exercise can help to release the feel good chemicals (known as endorphins) into your body and help reduce feelings of stress and anxiety.
Diet can also have an impact on your anxiety. Reducing the amount of alcohol and caffeine you have can help to reduce feelings of anxiety.
Breathing exercises and grounding techniques can help you stay focused when you feel as though you may be experiencing high feelings of anxiety or having a panic attack, as they help you to feel more in control and help you to cope. You can do things like hold on to an object and really focus on it, like a fluffy pillow or a set of keys, or focusing on your breathing. These are some examples of grounding techniques.
Learn your triggers so you can identify them. Think of different ways to deal with your thoughts/feelings in these situations to give you a more positive outcome (reduced feelings of anxiety).
Reflect on times where you feel less anxious. Are there any activities that you were doing that made you feel less anxious, such as taking a walk, reading a book or preparing a meal? If you can identify these activities are you can make more time for them, to do them more often and help reduce your feelings of anxiety.
Seek professional help. If by doing all of the above you do not experience relief in your symptoms then seek professional help, namely psychological therapy.