7 Effective Ways To Cope With Anxiety

How do you cope with anxiety?

Anxiety is a range of negative thoughts, feelings and experiences. It is a type of fear that manifests creating unwanted thoughts. It is what we feel when we become afraid of what may happen.

When I feel anxious I: start thinking of the worst-case scenarios, my breath becomes more rapid, I begin to sweat more and I stutter at times.

Over the years, I have learnt to cope with anxiety. I find that the things listen below have really helped me to keep my anxiety at bay for the most part. Anxiety will never completely go away. Therefore, I continue to implement these things into my daily life.

Therapy/CBT

I am definitely biased when it comes to this one!

What is CBT?

Cognitive behavioural therapy is a form of therapy which can also be referred to as talking therapy. The concept of CBT is to identify negative thought patterns that create thought and behaviour patterns that are not ideal. The goal of CBT is to find manageable and practical ways of improving our thought patterns and ways of coping with them.

I have had several sessions of cbt which taught me how to cope with anxiety. On a whole, and depending on your individual needs, you can receive between 6-20 sessions either individually or in a group setting. You can read about my experience here.

Due to the pandemic, cbt sessions are likely to be online. I was able to get sessions for free. Initially, I spoke to my doctor and I was recommended to self refer and talk to slam – Improving Access to Psychological Therapies in my local area.

Depending on your circumstances, you may be eligible to receive free sessions so do check what is available in your local area.

What is counselling?

According to the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, counselling is a safe space for you to talk about things that are bothering you. A counsellor will not give you advice or help you change your thought patterns like CBT, but a counsellor will explore your feelings to gain a better understanding of you and others.

There are many different areas of counselling; from marriage counselling to career counselling. It all depends on what areas you would like to receive help for.

I found counselling beneficial. It taught me how to monitor what my triggers are and how to cope with anxiety. My first counsellor taught me about looking deep breathing and meditation as a way to calm myself when I feel anxious.

Meditation

What is meditation?

Meditation is the practice of observing your thoughts and let them come and go without judgement. Meditation takes some getting used to. The aim is to quiet everything around you and focus on your breathing. It is a form of mindfulness.

There are many types of meditation including visualisation meditation, body scan meditation and reflection meditation.

Do your own research to find which one helps you to cope with anxiety. Find one which is best for you!

Deep breathing exercises are also another way to decrease your levels of anxiety. I practice the 7/11 technique; inhale for 7 seconds and exhale for 11 seconds.

Diaphragmatic breathing, also known as deep breathing, has benefits including lowering your heart rate, blood pressure and helps you to relax.

Exercise

You guys know that I will scream about the benefits of exercise every single day!

Although, the benefits of exercising include decreasing your risk of breast and colon cancer and type 2 diabetes, lets not forget how benefical it is for our mental wellbeing.

Exercising can help to ease symptoms of anxiety. Taking part in regular exercise will cause your body to release chemicals that make you feel good!

At times, gathering the energy to get up and work out is hard, I do it because I know how I feel after; Damn amazing!

If something has triggered you to become more anxious, exercising will give you something else to focus on.

If you are not a fan of going to the gym or jogging, there are so many dance workouts and home workouts to do! Try it for yourself!

Get better sleep

Getting adequate sleep; 7-9 hours for the adult population is fundamental. Lack of sleep can have detrimental effects on your anxiety levels.

“One study shows that severe sleep deprivation increases one’s state of anxiety, depression, and general distress relative to those who had a normal night of sleep. Another study shows that sleep deprived individuals reported a greater increase in anxiety during tasks and rated the likelihood of potential catastrophes as higher when sleep deprived, relative to when rested.”

If I’m honest, this is something I need to work on. I wake randomly during the night for absoletly no reason at all.

Recently, I started stretching for 5 minutes before I go to sleep. Stretching gives me something to focus on and is said to have a calming effect on your mind too!

Furthermore, I sleep with a Himalayan salt lamp. Research shows that Himalayan salt lamp improves air quality and can boost your mood, however, more research needs to be done so take this with a grain of salt.

Do you get it? Ha. Ok next.

Nutrition

Having a balanced diet is not just beneficial for our physical health but our mental health as well.

Foods such as asparagus, salmon and avocado contain vitamins and minerals that produce anti-anxiety properties.

I have a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle which I have sustained for a few years now. I do not like to say diet because it feels restrictive so I say lifestyle as there is no end date in sight.

In addition, I have noticed that when I eat more sugar, it makes me feel more anxious so I did some research. In this study, results showed that having a high sugar diet increases a chance of recurrent mood disorders in both men and women.

So please watch what you eat but do reward yourself (in moderation, of course).

Make lists

Not a day passes without me checking my to-do lists a few times I have a type-A personality so I love lists. I like to make sure I write things down and make sure I get through as many as I can.

Having lists gives you some structure and is helpful for decreasing anxiety symptoms.

Being unorganised creates chaos in my head. I have got things to do but no direction is not ideal for me. I am all about time management and being on top for game boosts my self-esteem.

If you need tips to manage your time, I’ve got you!

Journal

Journaling is another daily essential and it is also stress relieving!

Journaling involves the practice of keeping a journal or diary where you note things down; your thoughts, feelings…anything and everything!

Journaling is cost-effective too. You don’t have to buy the fanciest and most experience journal. All you need is a pen and paper. Journaling is personal for you!

You can write about anything, what are you grateful for? How as your day? The choice is yours.

Anxiety differs between everyone. Some holistic methods may work for some, but for others, medication may be the answer. Above, I have listed things that work for me. I am not a medical profession (not yet, anyway) so please seek further professional advice if necessary.

Let me know if you try any of these tips and see what impact it has on your anxiety!

Thanks for reading and take care.

XO.

Tagged anxiety, depression, diet, mental health, nutrition