Quickest and easiest coping strategies to overcome anxiety

Feelings of anxiousness can overtake your peace and ability to think clearly at the moment. You may panic and feel like everything is falling apart. It is natural to get triggered and feel anxious. However, if you develop anxiety as a health condition, then you should not take it for granted and seek help from a doctor. Here are some simple and effective techniques to reduce your level of worry and anxiety.

When you get anxious, you might notice that your breath gets shallow and quick. In order to set your mind at ease, practice deep breathing – inhaling and filling your belly with air, and then exhaling slowly through your mouth.

An easy trick to remember this is to blow out candles. Think of how many candles you need to feel better. Now blow all of them one by one.

Anxiety often results from spiraling thoughts, which could be anything from a triggering past event to fear of a future event with too many unsettling ‘what ifs’.

Getting your mind back to your present moment can help ease the anxiety. Use the 5-5-5 technique – 5 things, 5 sounds and 5 movements.

Name 5 things you see around yourself. Next, listen for 5 different sounds in your background. Finally, move any 5 body parts, such as shake your head, roll your shoulders, rotate your ankles, etc. At the end of this practice, you will hopefully feel much better.

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Getting your body moving can help to reduce anxiety. Walking will increase your levels of feel-good neurotransmitters. It will also automatically encourage deeper breathing and distract your mind from just sitting and zoning out. In any case, regularly engaging in strenuous exercise can lower your risk of developing an anxiety illness by 25%, according to research.

Writing is a powerful way to articulate your way back from anxiety. Start talking back to anxiety as if it was a person. When anxious, your mind can go into the darkest pits and you may end up feeling awful about yourself. So move your mind towards the good stuff. You can count your blessings, or write your achievements, think of a good day or a good friend. The idea is to balance your thoughts and drive focus away from the catastrophic.

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Call your friend or your mom or your partner – anyone who knows you well and understands you. Just pouring out can help you feel more relaxed. When anxious, people often tend to feel lonely. Having a caring person to listen to can be very calming. They may not necessarily have a solution and that is ok, the idea is to feel better and get out of the end-of-the-world worrying.