Five Ways to Reduce Anxiety

Your head is spinning and your world feels like it’s going at a million miles per hour. Your thoughts race around and you want to shake this feeling, but you have no clue where to start.

Try these five tips for reducing anxiety:

1. Take a break

If you’re feeling anxious while in the middle of doing something, then take a break! Taking just ten minutes to remove yourself from the situation can help you to move back to a more calm state. Plus, you’ll be able to come back with more clarity and efficiency than if you had tried to continue on without a break.

2. Take ten deep breaths

Slow, deep breaths, all the way to ten (or beyond). Deep breathing helps you to center yourself and help your mind stay grounded, rather than flying all over the place. Deep breathing is also an awesome tool because you can do it anytime, anywhere. We all have to breathe, why not make it extra helpful in the process?

3. Get your body moving

Sometimes anxiety can feel like a ton of pent up energy. If you’re getting this feeling, get up and move around. Whether it be going for a walk, going up and down the stairs, or going to the gym, getting your body moving can help you to calm down and feel less anxious.

4. Talk with a trusted friend or loved one

Talking things over with a friend or loved one can be very helpful for when we’re feeling anxious. Talking with someone can help us to feel supported and let us know that we’re not alone.

5. Practice a grounding activity

There are countless grounding activities, which are tools to help us stay in the moment and to not let our thoughts race around us. An example of a grounding activity is the 54321 activity where you: name 5 things you see in the room, name 4 things you can feel, name 3 things you can hear, name 2 things you can smell, name 1 good thing about yourself. Check out more grounding activities here.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but a guide to start with when you’re feeling anxious. Different things work for different people when they’re feeling anxious, so the key is to find what helps you best. If the anxiety continues or if you feel like things are getting out of your control, reach out to a therapist to get started.

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