Anxiety is a natural reaction to a lot of life’s stressful events. However, when mental health is compromised or when daily life and social activities are inhibited, it’s time to seek a change. Fortunately, with effective tools and social support, anxiety can be controlled. Resources like PsychHub’s Behavioral Health Network connect individuals to evidence-based strategies and mental health professionals, making it easier to take the first step toward relief. These are five effective tools to control anxiety.
- Master Your Breathing
Since anxiety makes the body feel like it’s under attack—which is what makes your heart pound and prevents you from catching your breath—breathing techniques engage the parasympathetic nervous system to soothe. One such technique is square breathing. You breathe in for four seconds, hold for four seconds, breathe out for four seconds, and resist/focus on the breath for four seconds. It eases the feelings and grounds you to the present.
- Create A Daily Schedule
Creating a daily schedule gives you an anticipated pacing when everything around you is too chaotic. From work to exercise to gratitude and meditation, learn how to carve out time to get it all done in one day. Just be sure that you carve out time for exercise, whether that be walking to and from work, stretching in the afternoon, or attending an evening yoga class. Studies show that daily exercise reduces cortisol and increases serotonin.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Skills To Change Negative Thoughts
Even when we feel anxious, we usually expect the worst to happen. However, it’s important to learn how to reframe those thoughts through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). For example: The PsychHub Behavioral Health Network allows you to meet some wonderful professionals and, as a bonus, they likely can talk to you about evidence-based methods like CBT to teach you how to reframe your thinking.
- Avoid Common Triggers
While it’s impossible to avoid everything that makes you anxious, awareness of what usually triggers your anxiety and trying to avoid them can be helpful. For example, caffeine is a known anxiety exacerbator which increases heart rates, more foot tapping. Trade that midday coffee for a nice chamomile tea. Limit time spent on social media. Comparing your life to others and over-saturation of information only heightens anxiety.
- Seek Professional Support
A qualified therapist and more are just a click away with PsychHub’s Behavioral Health Network. Professionals are at your fingertips to equip you in the present, whether you need to speak to someone specializing in anxiety or a toolkit of resources to assess your symptoms practically in the present. Although anxiety may seem to take control of your life, it doesn’t have to. Breathing treatments, established routines, and cognitive reappraisal through therapy are but a few minuscule interventions that can ease functionality and restore equilibrium. For instance, with guidance from PsychHub’s Behavioral Health Network, it has never been simpler to get the care you need. Start today. You’re bigger than your anxiety.
