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5 Methods to Relieve Anxiety

Mental Health, Presence, Reducing Stress, Self Awareness
11/12/19 - Editorial Staff
5 methods to relieve anxiety

Feeling nervous and agitated every once in a while is normal. When an important change in your life is coming, or a significant event, both good and bad, human beings tend to feel anxious. This is characterized by feelings of stress and the inability to relax or calm down. Unfortunately, for many, these feelings of anxiety can sometimes be recurring. Anxiety disorder is getting more prevalent than it was in the past. Your relationships may suffer; your job may also be put on the line, and so many other possible adverse effects in your life, all stemming from your anxiety. 

If you feel like this is you, don’t stress even further. It’s not the end of the world for you. It’s essential to look into and focus on the strategies that can help you to manage your anxiety. Better yet, have total control over it such that your symptoms are relieved. You don’t have to suffer its side effects any longer. And, you can start making positive changes in your life.

Good vibes only

Whether it’s a big stressor, like a move, or a minor one, like lack of sleep, everyone can benefit from stress and anxiety management. And, the good news is that there are numerous ways for you to relieve your anxiety. It starts with these top 5 methods to relieve anxiety:

1. Practice Lifestyle Change

Before making any drastic solutions, it’s time to take a step back and evaluate how you’ve been living your life. Often, health, mental, and emotional difficulties start to happen when people lose control over their life. Their jobs take over their days. Their stressors tend to get the best of them. It feels as if you’ve gotten so used to all the negative situations in your life that you can’t seem to find a way out. Wrong.

Many health and mental problems can be solved and managed by starting with a lifestyle change. When you commit to change the way you live your life, you’re creating a habit and attitude of positivity. This helps you own your life again.

To help get you started, here are clear-cut ways of how you can make lifestyle changes:

  • Move around more. If you’ve long been sedentary, you may need to make a change. Get up and have at least thirty minutes of active exercise in a day. Moving around is an essential aspect of physical and mental health. It helps your body recharge and give it that boost of energy it needs.

If you feel you don’t have the time, moving around doesn’t have to be significant exercises in a gym. Instead of sitting around even more during your lunch and snack breaks, use this to take a pleasant walk around the neighborhood of your office. If there’s a park nearby, utilize it. You’ll never know how much the smell of fresh air and the feeling of moving around can help to ease out your stress. While you’re exercising, you may also be able to think clearly and have a little quiet time.

  • Stay away from too many sweets. When you’re stressed out, is it not that you immediately run to desserts as your comfort food? For many, this is the case. However, doing this is doing more harm to your body than good. Overeating sugar can worsen your anxiety, as it makes you even more active. It inhibits your ability to relax. Then, when you start gaining weight, you’re back to square one of feeling anxious again about your self-image.

If you have that urge to pick up a slice of cake, first drink a glass of water. That fills you up without taking in unnecessary calories. Have a protein bar ready in your bag all the time, or a healthier snack. Numerous healthy snack options are just as sweet but not as sinful.

  • Sleep. If you’ve been slacking on your evening sleep, now’s the time for you to get it all back in order. Excellent quality of sleep is necessary so that you’re recharged for the day ahead. It’s the best way to relax after a long hard day of work.

But, if your anxiety is contributing to your sleep difficulty, here are little tips and tricks to help you sleep easier and better:

  • Have a sleep routine
  • Stay away from caffeine after lunchtime
  • Leave your gadgets away from your bed
  • Make your bed comfortable
mug with coffee on a calendar

2. Consider Taking Natural Supplements

Before you jump right into the decision to take medicine, it’s also worth trying out some natural supplements. There are numerous natural supplements, teas, and other herbal infusions that can help ease anxiety. This is achieved through its ability to promote relaxation and tranquility.

Often, the recurring difficulty with anxiety is that it becomes difficult for the patient concerned to relax. When thoughts keep pounding through their minds, being at peace with their thoughts is almost always a difficult thing to do. This can be managed through natural supplements like the following:

  • Kava-kava. This is a member of the pepper family, with prevalent use in the South Pacific. Recently, it’s widespread across the US and Europe to help treat mild stress and anxiety.
  • Cannabidiol. CBD comes from marijuana. But, unlike marijuana per se, it’s processed so as not to contain any psychoactive component. Cannabidiol products such as pills, tablets, gels, gummies, candies, and others help reduce anxiety in the body. They can help you relax and sleep better, making it one of the most effective and natural solutions for anxiety relief.
  • Chamomile tea. This is one of the many herbal teas that you can take to help reduce anxiety. Chamomile can help alter the levels of cortisol, which is a stress hormone.
  • Valerian root. This is one of the more popular natural sleep aids, made possible through its Valerenic acid, which alters the GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric) receptors in the body to help lower anxiety. 
  • Green tea. This is also one of the famous calming tea choices to lower stress and anxiety. Green tea has the effect of increasing serotonin levels in the body. This helps reduce stress.

3. Train Your Mind To Focus On The Positive

Is it possible to train your mind to focus on the positive? Yes. Don’t under-estimate the power of what your mind can do. Your mind is one of the important key players in stress management. Often, certain thoughts tend to keep coming back and forth with haunting you because you continue to entertain it. But, how exactly can a person train his mind for the better? Here are some ways:

  • Re-label your thoughts. Whatever you regularly saw as unfavorable, try to look at it from a whole different perspective. Re-label your thoughts. For example, you have a panic attack. Instead of thinking of it as an impending doom or the end of the world, re-label. It’s the opposite of death, as, when you palpitate, it means you’re still alive. Hence, you’ve got something worth living for.
  • Stay in the present. Looking towards the future all the time may turn out to be negative when you overthink. You’re overthinking about the future that you forget about today. Anxiety is generally a future-oriented thing. You’re always anxious about tomorrow. Live for today and focus on enjoying what you have to do today.
  • Stay realistic. If you’re anxious about a significant event in your life, stop thinking that you’re going to screw it up. Instead, be realistic. Yes, you might make little mistakes here and there. But, you also have the strengths that enable you to make a come-back. 

4. Help Out In The Community

You don’t have to be a billionaire for you to contribute to changes in your community. There are many ways for you to help out with what you have and for who you are. And, by helping out, this doesn’t only mean giving out extra money that you have. Actively help out in the physical work. For instance, set one or two weekends in a month for you to volunteer at a charity, feeding program, or a nursing home.

Doing this will give you something to look forward to. And, it also adds a sense of purpose in your life. When you help others out without getting anything in return, it adds to your sense of accomplishment and pride. Plus, it’s a natural stress reliever, too, when you see the smiles on the faces of the people that you’ve helped. You may be helping them, but little do you know it, they’re helping you in so many more ways, too.

a few methods to relieve anxiety

5. Light A Candle

Ever noticed how some of the fanciest and most relaxing restaurants always have numerous candles? There’s just something about candles and the light that it emits that transforms rooms and houses into a mecca of relaxation. After a long day at work, make your home your relaxing haven by lighting a candle here and there.

Numerous candle scents help ease out anxiety and stress. They help boost that feeling of relaxation because they’re naturally soothing. Examples of these candle scents include:

  • Orange
  • Lavender
  • Ylang-Ylang
  • Rose
  • Geranium

In summary

Many people suffer from chronic stress and anxiety. With the pressure of today’s fast-paced world, this is often an inevitable occurrence. Adding up to this are the personal problems and difficulties that people may also be going through. It’s to no surprise that anxiety is often a part of life, as people tend to set it aside and feel like they have no time to heal these anxious feelings. With this list of a wide range of remedies, it can be seen that relieving anxiety doesn’t necessarily mean resorting to significant changes and solutions. A little change here and a slight change there is enough to help slowly put those recurring anxious feelings away.

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