6 Ways to Deal with Anxiety

Are you stressed out? Reaching the end of your tether? Try these basic steps to cope with anxiety.

Living is stressful, when you have to run from pillar to post to make ends meet, save up for a secure future and fulfill family responsibilities. And with stress comes anxiety, which ends up ruining your physical and mental health. The following steps will help you deal with anxiety and, with time, prevent it from getting worse.

Depression and anxiety usually go hand-in-hand. Everybody deals with these conditions to some degree throughout their lives, but if your symptoms are inhibiting you from living your life, and seem to have no concrete cause, then it's important that you find a treatment.

Proper Diet: 

Keeping yourself healthy with a balanced diet can go a long way toward stabilizing your mood. If you’re getting the right nutrients, your body will be better able to ward off anxiety during stressful situations.

In the hustle-bustle of life, a proper sit-down meal is often neglected. When it comes to sound mental and psychological health, having the right kind of food will help keep mental anguishes at bay. A diet rich in magnesium and potassium is proven to stabilize hormonal levels and normalize anxiety. You must avoid caffeine and nicotine since they trigger anxiety rushes in the body.

Sleep Well: 

Your sleeping pattern suffers when you pay more attention to your professional life than your personal one. This, in turn, fails to provide the brain with adequate amounts of rest and thus causes stress. You should try and get at least 6 hours of sleep every day. Have dinner 3 hours before your assigned time to go to bed, and skip watching television before going to bed. Sleeping in a dark bedroom with no distractions will help you fall asleep easily. Sleeping well will let the mind and body heal and you can hope to enjoy better health.

Talk to People: 

Often talking about your feelings helps more than any other method. Seek a sympathetic listener and talk to them about your problems. Seek advice on how to overcome them. Having someone to listen to you will automatically release your pent-up anxiety. You will feel much lighter and refreshed afterwards.

If you lean on the same person for advice too often, your problems may overburden someone else. If you have a lot of anxiety to work through, consider seeing a therapist. You’ll be free to discuss your problems as much as you need to in the knowledge that a trained professional is there to help.

Exercise: 

Proper exercise often helps reduce stress levels. Since exercise improves blood circulation to the brain, you tend to feel less anxious at the end of the day. If, however, you do not feel like working out, you can choose to meditate as well. Meditation helps in calming your mind and refocusing attention to your outlook toward life. Practicing yoga also aids in mental health and does away with anxious thoughts. 

Pamper Yourself: 

Often splurging on an expensive buy, or gorging on your favorite food help in reducing anxiety instantly. Go to a spa and let a good hot-oil massage invigorate you. Visit the mall and buy that jacket you have been coveting. Filling up the mind with positive and happy thoughts will reduce anxiety and keep you feeling normal all day.

Think Positive: 

Having low self-esteem is often the reason behind stress and anxiety. Negative thoughts trigger depression. Thinking positively, on the other hand, keeps one hopeful and expectant. Anxiety mostly arises from the dread of not meeting up to certain expectations. Getting rid of the dread and feeling confident will do wonders. This will help in keeping the negative thoughts away and lower your anxiety levels.

Though mental illnesses are mostly internal, they can also be attributed to external circumstances in our lives. Eliminating these negative circumstances may not cure your condition entirely, but it will certainly ease your symptoms and help you identify why you are feeling the way you are feeling.

Live in Present Moment:

If you are suffering from anxiety, it is because you are worried, uncertain, or nervous about the future. If you are suffering from depression, it is because you are constantly dwelling on the past, and projecting your past pain onto the present moment. Learning to appreciate the present moment will have a remarkable impact on your life, but it is no easy feat.

Pay more attention to your thoughts: The best way to stop dwelling on the past or obsessing over the future is to notice when these kinds of thoughts arise throughout your daily life. When they do, then acknowledge them, label them "thoughts," and let them fade away.

Start meditating: Regular meditation practice has been shown to ease symptoms of stress and anxiety. Consider joining a meditation center or group in your area. Most centers offer free meditation instruction and have weekly open houses.

You don't have to live on a monastery to find spiritual enlightenment: Take a few moments every day to close your eyes, relax your muscles, and focus all of your attention on your breath. If a thought arises, then acknowledge it and let it disappear. The more you do this, the more you will eventually be able to incorporate it into your daily life.

Anxiety is a product of pent-up stress and depression. Being unable to find an outlet for release can make this problem worse. However, by following these steps you can find ways to cope with it successfully. If these measures fail to help, seek the aid of a professional immediately.