What Helps Anxiety? Five Tips

Most people experience anxiety at some point in their lives. Anxiety can involve worried thoughts, mental tension, and even physical symptoms. It can be uncomfortable to experience, but there are often effective strategies to cope with this. For example, you might prioritize getting adequate sleep, practicing deep breathing, eating a healthy diet, taking note of stressors, and challenging your anxious thoughts. Online therapy can also be a beneficial tool to address anxiety with the help of a licensed mental health professional.

What is anxiety?

Anxiety can be defined as a common feeling that is typically characterized by worry or apprehension, and it often includes physical symptoms like tense muscles, faster breathing, and a rapid heartbeat. If you have a big presentation or an important test, you may be anxious about how you will perform. When you don’t know how an event will turn out, you may be stressed, worried, and anxious about it. 

In many cases, anxiety makes sense and may not be a cause for larger concern. However, when you are anxious for a long period, or your anxiety is negatively affecting multiple aspects of your life, this could signal the presence of an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders usually involve anxiety that persists for an extended period of time, and they can include panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and various phobias. Anxiety can also coexist in the presence of other mental health conditions, potentially including depression.

Here is a look at some of the potential signs and symptoms of anxiety disorders:

• Fatigue
• Increased heart rate
• Panic or intense fear
• Nervousness
• Trouble breathing
• Focusing only on your fear or worry
• Avoidance of certain situations
• Sleep issues
• Gastrointestinal issues
• Excessive sweating

Tips to decrease anxiety symptoms

Experiencing anxiety can be uncomfortable and disruptive, but there are often ways to address the symptoms and find some relief. Included below are a few tips to consider for people who wish to ease anxiety. 

Get adequate sleep and build a healthy sleep routine

Getting adequate, quality sleep at night can be important for several reasons. Sleep usually gives your mind and body a chance to reset and rejuvenate energy levels, which can help you believe you are more in control when you wake up. It can stabilize your mood and enable you to get through your daily tasks more smoothly. It may be helpful to try to go to sleep at the same time each night — even on the weekends. After doing this for a while, your body may start to get tired at the same time each day, which may mean you will have an easier time going to sleep each night.

Try deep breathing at the moment you're feeling anxious

Breathing deeply may relieve some of the anxiety. Anxiety often causes faster breathing or short breaths, so when you breathe deeply, you not only give your body a chance to steady your breathing again, but you may also give yourself a moment to change what you are doing and shift your focus. Sometimes, when you take yourself out of a stressful situation for a few minutes, you can gain a new perspective on it. Try to stop and take deep breaths whenever you sense your anxiety or stress peaking.

Eat nutrient-rich meals consistently

Eating a healthy diet can be beneficial for more than just your physical health. It can have mental health benefits as well. When we’re stressed and anxious, many of us reach for sugary foods, junk food, or other “comfort foods.” While this can be understandable, it may not be the best idea. Instead, try to eat a balanced diet and consider limiting caffeine, which may exacerbate anxiety. In addition, certain foods may also ease anxiety. For instance, a randomized control trial in 2011 found that increasing omega-3 in the diet can lessen anxiety in some individuals.

Pay attention to stressors when they arise

Take time to challenge anxious thoughts

Challenging anxious thoughts may also be a useful approach for reducing anxiety. For example, if your brain tells you that you need to feel apprehensive about a situation, you may be able to recall a time when you did something similar, and it turned out well. This is a technique that may work best with the help of a professional therapist as well. A licensed therapist can explain how this process works, provide further guidance, and offer tips as to how to implement this in your life. 

How online therapy can help

While the above tips may be helpful, sometimes managing anxiety can be too difficult to handle on your own. For those who want additional support, seeking professional help through therapy may be another option. Therapy may be able to help you challenge anxious thoughts, manage your anxiety in healthy ways, and gain key tools to help you handle certain situations more effectively.

For individuals with anxiety, the prospect of finding a therapist, going to a new location, and navigating an unknown situation can feel very daunting. Online therapy typically has the benefit of being available from wherever you have an internet connection. You can simply match with a therapist online and then have therapy sessions from wherever you feel most comfortable, potentially including your own home. 

Research has shown that online therapy can be an effective treatment option for a range of concerns, including anxiety. For example, a 2019 study published in JMIR Formative Research examined an internet-based cognitive therapy program for social anxiety disorder. The researchers found that the online treatment was generally effective for individuals with social anxiety disorder, and that “there was evidence to suggest that the patients’ clinical outcomes were sustained at 3-month follow-up”. Online therapy may be able to provide lasting results for those experiencing social anxiety.

It is possible to find relief from stress, anxiety, and panic attacks.