Living with Anxiety: 7 Ways to Help You Cope with Anxiety

01/23/2024

Note: If your anxiety symptoms are severe, you must seek professional advice. These ways might help you to address the severe anxiety symptoms. Before assigning any treatment, the medical professional will analyze the root cause and other important aspects.

Ways that can help you manage anxiety symptoms:

Certain ways can help you to get through anxiety symptoms naturally. These below-listed ways are effective and beneficial In managing mild to moderate anxiety symptoms. However, if the anxiety is severe, you should check with your doctor to find the appropriate treatment. 

Exercise: 

Exercise is another popular yet highly effective method of controlling your anxiety symptoms. Moderate to severe workout sessions as often as possible in a week are good for physical and mental health. Leaving your thoughts behind and getting moving can help you manage your anxiety symptoms. Initially, you can begin with easy-going exercises such as walking, yoga, and tai-chai. Regular exercise can help you waive off the symptoms of anxiety and depression by releasing good feel hormones such as endorphins. 

Limit your daily caffeine consumption:

People living with chronic anxiety should avoid taking caffeine in excess amounts as it can lead to jitters and nervousness. Experiencing anxiety along with these symptoms can make symptoms worse. Eliminating or limiting the daily intake can help you to get through anxiety symptoms easily. Caffeine possesses the power to alter brain chemistry, which, as a result, can induce anxiety symptoms. Taking caffeine in a moderate amount is fine for most people. 

If you are someone who takes caffeine in excess amounts and is planning to cut down on it, do it gradually. Abruptly eliminating caffeine intake can lead to caffeine withdrawal.

Whenever you feel the urge to take caffeine through anything, try to replace it with other options such as water, juice, and other caffeine-free drinks. This will help you to cut down on caffeine and flush out the caffeine from the body, too.

Don’t rely on smoking and alcohol:

If you are someone who drinks and smokes, it's high time to alter your habits. Smoking and alcohol consumption are linked with anxiety. Heavy drinking habits can interfere with the natural balance of transmitters in the brain, which are responsible for positive mental health. The imbalance of neurotransmitters can promote certain anxiety symptoms. Therefore, you should not drink heavily and regularly to keep your psychological and physical health in check. You may encounter increased symptoms of anxiety when you are cutting down on alcohol. However, they will waive off as soon as the body acclimatizes to sobriety.

On the other hand, whenever you are stressed, you prefer to drag on the cigarette to fix your anxiety symptoms. However, this habit may worsen your anxiety symptoms in the long run. Therefore, rather than using cigarettes to fix your symptoms, go for something healthy and natural.

Taking 7 to 8 hours of sleep daily:

Sleep is one of the crucial aspects of healthy and active mental health. When you have taken adequate hours of sleep, you feel more recharged, energized, and active throughout the day. Taking 7 to 8 hours of sleep every day fuels up your mental and physical health to tackle the daily challenges efficiently. If you have been compromising your sleep for a long time, you are prone to go through mental and physical health issues, including anxiety. Therefore, you should prioritize sleep to keep your overall well-being in check.

If you find any problem falling asleep or keep tossing and turning in your bed, try to include these habits:

• Make a sleep-friendly atmosphere

• Avoid taking long naps during the day

• Don’t take large meals and caffeine near bedtime

• Keep your electronic devices away during bedtime

• Make a habit of sleeping and waking up at the same time daily

• Jot down your problems and worries before hitting the bed

Socializing: 

Socializing is another proven technique to address acute and chronic anxiety. Connecting with friends and loved ones helps you communicate your feelings and worries. Whenever you feel anxious or lonely, you can ask your friends or loved ones to meet over a coffee. This way, you can share and hear each other's feelings, easing your worries and intrusive thoughts. Socializing helps you relieve anxiety symptoms greatly by promoting laughter and togetherness. If your friend has a busy schedule, you can call them or FaceTime to stay connected.

Medications:  

You should opt for the medication only when natural ways to control anxiety don’t benefit you. The medicines are usually recommended when anxiety symptoms are severe. You must seek professional help to find the best anxiety medication that stands in line with your health status and other factors. If you start taking any medication without the approval of the doctor, you are more likely to encounter adverse effects of the medication. 

The doctor usually begins the treatment with the lowest strength of the medication, which may go up as per necessity. Suddenly, beginning the treatment with a high dosage can cause drug dependency and negative effects. 

The most common anxiety medications are benzodiazepines, SSRIs, tricyclic antidepressants, and SNRIs. Medical professionals usually recommend natural ways for anxiety over medication.

Conclusion:

Living with anxiety can be irritating, but with some natural ways, you can manage it effectively. To deal with anxiety, you can opt for ways like limiting caffeine consumption, omitting alcohol and smoking habits, socializing, taking required sleep, etc. However, you should opt for medication under the supervision of a specialist only when these ways don’t help you out. Anxiety is treatable, and you will get through it strongly. Keep your willpower strong.

FAQs:  

1. What is the 3 3 3 rule for anxiety?

You can exercise the rule of 333 whenever you feel anxious, or something triggers your symptoms. It is one of the quick yet beneficial ways of easing your anxiety symptoms: 

1. Look around to find three objects.

2. Try to identify three sounds around you.

3. Move your three body parts. 

2. Is professional therapy necessary for coping with anxiety? 

There are several ways available to treat mild to moderate anxiety at home only. Ways like meditation, exercising, avoiding alcohol & smoking, getting adequate sleep, socializing, etc., work effectively to ease your anxiety symptoms. In case these ways don’t work out in your favor, you should go for professional therapy. In professional therapy, the therapist helps you manage and improve your symptoms in the best possible ways. 

3. Why is exercise important for managing anxiety?

Exercise benefits your mental, physical, and sexual well-being greatly. When you build a habit of exercising daily, it releases the good feel hormone such as endorphin, regulating your mood. Therefore, you should incorporate daily exercise into your busy routine to keep your mental and physical health in check. 

4. How can mindfulness and meditation help with anxiety?

Daily meditation promotes inner calmness and peace, which can improve your emotional and overall well-being. You can use this to tackle stress by shifting your focus to something that gives you inner contentment.