There are millions of people all around the world who struggle with anxiety. Luckily, anxiety symptoms can be controlled, or even cured. This article focuses on some advice you can use to take control of the anxiety you are dealing with. You can live an anxiety free life by taking advantage of the powerful advice found here.
Control your thoughts to help yourself deal with anxiety better. Many times anxiety is caused by thoughts you have in your head. Negative thoughts can overwhelm you and cause anxiety. Once you learn how to control what you are thinking about, you can deal with anxiety better and possibly get rid of it.
If you begin to feel an anxiety attack coming on while you are driving, pull over and stop your car, as soon as possible. Take some deep breaths, close your eyes, and wait for it to pass. Anxiety attacks are common when you are at the wheel and have been known to cause accidents.
When you are suffer from anxiety attacks, you need to make sure that you eat on a regular basis. Do not wait too long to eat, or skip meals. This helps you maintain a consistent blood sugar level, and will eliminate many of your high anxiety states. If you do feel hungry, keep a healthy snack handy to moderate your blood sugar.
When you are on anxiety medication, never stop taking it without talking to your doctor. Even if you feel like you are better, you still cannot just stop. Some of these medications can make you very ill and can even be deadly if you just stop all of a sudden.
Know your limits if you suffer from anxiety. If you have had a stressful day, cancel anything that may have been on the schedule for the rest of the night. Pop a frozen pizza in the oven for dinner and allow yourself to recuperate from the stress, otherwise you may be inviting anxiety to take over.
Work your anxiety out with exercise. Sometimes, anxiety is just a bunch of pent-up energy that needs to be worked off. Swim, bike, go to the gym or do some vigorous and energetic cleaning around the house. Channel anxious feelings into a project that you have been putting off, and use the anxious energy to get the work done.
Find a hobby. When your mind is idle, it is free to worry. Instead of sitting and dwelling on whatever is making you anxious, find something that you enjoy doing to serve as a distraction. If you don’t have a hobby already, start looking for one. Whether you start knitting, constructing model cars, or restoring old furniture, you give your mind something to focus on besides the fear. As a bonus, having a hobby that you enjoy can reduce your stress levels all around.
Negative thoughts are one of the main triggers of stress as you should aim to reduce these as much as possible, whether you are at work, home or school. Always try to look at the glass half full as taking the optimistic approach can abolish all thoughts that will promote anxiety.
Keep a journal to organize all of your thoughts, put them down on paper. This is a great way to express your emotions in a comfortable manner, so that you do not keep them bottled up inside. Start a journal ,and write down all of the problems that you face to improve your state of mind.
Have you been screened for depression? Many people who have anxiety disorders or just high levels of anxiety in general, are also depressed. This depression could be causing your anxiety, or could be caused by it, but either way, treating your depression will help you to feel better and manage your symptoms better.
Learn to feel the anxiety in your body. Focus on where it is located, such as a tight chest feeling, and stay focused on it until the feeling dissolves. This may seem difficult at first, but with just a bit of practice you will be able to release anxious feelings within seconds or a few minutes.
Listen to music. However, not just any music will do. The next time you feel your anxiety levels rising, throw on your favorite CD, or playlist. Whether you enjoy the calming sounds of a classical orchestra, or rocking out to 80’s hair metal, you will feel your anxiety melt away with each song you know by heart. Before you know it, the anxiety is reduced, if not gone, and your spirits will be invigorated and renewed.
Look for activities that can distract you from your anxious thoughts. Mental stimulation through puzzles or reading could be what you need for anxiety relief. The best techniques for overcoming anxiety involve occupying your mind with other activities so you are not dwelling too long on the problems at hand.
Avoid alcohol. While it is true that alcohol’s depressive effects can reduce anxiety levels temporarily, in the long run it does more harm than good. The body quickly adjusts to alcohol, meaning that each time a person relies on it to calm him or herself, it will require more alcohol to achieve the same effects. This can quickly lead to dependence and alcoholism.
To help you cope with anxiety, stop thinking about future events that haven’t occurred yet. When you think about something that hasn’t happened, there is no way for you to know how it will turn out. Oftentimes, people will think negatively when they look into the future, and this causes unnecessary worry. So either only deal with the present, or change your thoughts about the future to more positive ones.
After going over this article you should now know that anxiety isn’t in control of your life. Apply the ideas presented here, and you can diminish your anxiety over time. You may feel helpless at first, but please know that there are solutions as long as you make the choice to keep the advice shared here in mind.