12 Anxiety Exercises That Truly Work: Powerful Ways to Find Calm
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If you live with anxiety, it can be a very debilitating mental illness. There is a lot that is still not understood about it and people do not always understand how crippling anxiety can be unless they experience it themselves or have a loved one that does. Thankfully, there are anxiety exercises you can do to help with your anxiety symptoms.
I have social anxiety, and I am still learning ways to overcome it daily. Thankfully, there are anxiety exercises that I can work on helping control it.
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How to deal with social anxiety without medication
Of course, there is medication available to help with anxiety and other mental illnesses. Not everyone wants to take them or feels that their symptoms are severe enough for medication. There are anxiety exercises you can try before you try medication.
Learning to cope with anxiety is a powerful skill that will benefit you. Your self-confidence will grow as you develop the habit of effectively responding to situations despite the fears inside of you.
12 different anxiety exercises to try.
Practice Deep Breathing
The increased air to your body and mind helps you calm down. Deep breaths get much-needed oxygen to your brain and throughout your body, relaxing your muscles.
For a few days, practice deep breathing in a relaxed, private, comfortable environment where you are not rushed. Put your hand on your belly and make your hand rise and fall with each breath. Be sure to take in a slow, full breath. Exhale slowly.
If you practice this deep breathing exercise before the moment of truth, it will equip you to control your breathing when a stressful situation occurs.
Face Your Fears
If you worry constantly, you may not be leaving your comfort zone enough. We have a comfort zone for a reason but it is important to also break away from it and experience new things. You will never know what you are missing out on in the world by always staying in your comfort zone.
If you are in the habit of shying away from things that stress you out, purposefully put yourself into situations that you are not sure about. This will help you build confidence. Yes, it will be scary at first, but you learn that you can experience new and exciting things.
Eat Nutritiously
We are always told we should watch our diet and eat a healthy diet. Did you know that a healthy diet will not only help your physical health but your mental health as well? Drink plenty of water, eat a balanced breakfast. Eat small meals and eat more often. When your body is fueled properly, the daily anxieties you experience will be less overwhelming.
Exercise
This is another one we are always told about, and I need to do more of it. Your body is made to move. Exercise provides tremendous stress relief, an outlet for frustration, and a boost to your overall self-confidence.
Seek professional help.
Sometimes, the issues you face with anxiety may require you to seek counseling to overcome them. There is nothing to be ashamed of if you need to seek therapy. It is important to take care of yourself so you can be the healthiest you might be.
Progressive muscle relaxation
This technique involves tensing your muscles and then relaxing them one at a time. When you do this, you are teaching your muscles that when you are stressed, which often causes muscle tension, that you need to relax. I try this technique a lot at night when I am trying to go to sleep. It relaxes my body, and I can fall asleep faster and into a deeper sleep.
Mindfulness
This is a common technique to reduce anxiety. For this technique, you put your full attention on what you are doing at that moment. You notice the sights, sounds, and smells around you. When your full focus is on the present moment, there is no room for feelings of anxiety.
Self-Monitoring
Do you know exactly what triggers your anxiety? It may be certain people, events, or situations that cause you to feel anxious. Once you figure out your triggers, you may prevent the oncoming anxiety.
This is where the breathing techniques come in. If you know what one of your anxiety triggers is, and you are in that situation and felt yourself tense up, do your breathing technique. You can make your body relax and breathe and have a higher chance of stopping an anxiety attack before it even happens.
Get support from others.
It is important to have an excellent support system of friends and family. Having someone you trust you can talk to is important. They can help tell you though an active attack or they can help you plan a trip out of your comfort zone.
Self-soothing strategies
Do you have self-soothing strategies to help with your anxiety? Personally, I like to listen to music. When we went to Disney many years ago, I was sure to pack my mp3 player and headphones. This way when I got overstimulated (one of my triggers) I could soothe myself with music, and it worked. Another self-soothing technique involves being positive and telling yourself that everything will be ok and that you can handle the situation. This may be hard for some people to do. Honestly, I would have a hard time doing this at the moment.
Write down your thoughts and feelings.
Rather than keeping how you feel inside to fester, it would be better to get those thoughts of your mind and onto paper. This is one benefit of journaling. You can write your private thoughts down on paper so that your mind does not continue to think about them.
Work towards a goal
Achieving a goal can motivate and can help reduce both depression and anxiety. There is a technique called behavior activation. Each time you feel anxious, engage your mind in a positive and rewarding activity, such as working towards a goal.
These are just some of the anxiety exercises you can do to help with your anxiety.
There are many more you can try. What helps you with your anxiety?
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