Anxiety has been the cause of great unhappiness and personal despair for millions of sufferers across the globe. The important thing to realize, however, is that by acquiring thorough knowledge of the subject and potential treatments, it is possible to emerge from the darkness and conquer anxiety permanently. Use the advice in this piece, and start changing things for the better.

Avoid leaning on drugs or alcohol to treat your anxiety, as this will only lead to other problems. Anxiety should be treated professionally, or dealt with in a manner conducive to your well being. In addition, relying on substances to get over anxiety will cause you to become addicted and even worsen your anxiety.

Separate yourself from things that cause you anxiety for a few hours every day. If you find that thinking about something too often is making you anxious, go on a walk or somewhere you like for a while. Thinking about something too much can just make it worse, so keep your mind occupied.

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.

One of the ways that you can feel better during the day and help reduce anxiety is to stretch the moment that you wake up. This can help limit any strain on your body when you go to work or school and can help generate the relaxation of all your muscles.

Eliminate negative vocabulary from your speech. Just using negative words, can bring you down and when you feel down, you are more likely to have an anxiety attack. Replace those negative words with words of encouragement or simple positive words. Use them in your conversations, as well as, your inner chatter.

When you start feeling anxious in public, find ways to distract yourself. When in line at the store, start looking at the items hanging near you or the products in your basket. Observe the ceiling, count the number of checkstands, and do anything else you can to preoccupy your mind and keep it from dwelling on anxious thoughts.

Learn to exaggerate your fears. This may sound crazy, but it has been proven to work. If you are afraid you will trip when walking down the stairs at an event, imagine yourself not only tripping, but rolling all the way down the staircase and taking other people down with you. Make it a funny, extreme mental picture, and you will feel your anxiety melt away quickly.

Reduce the anxiety in your life by learning to say no to situations that cause you stress. There is no reason to feel that you must be available to fulfill every request that is asked of you. Learn not to accept responsibility for more than you are able to handle comfortably.

At times you will find yourself in different positions during a panic attack. If you have an anxiety attack, do whatever you can do in order to keep you distracted. Count down from 100, do math problems in your head, talk about good times you’ve had recently, and anything else that you can think of that could distract you in a positive manner.

Did you know that it is almost impossible to suffer from depression and anxiety when you are laughing? Laughter is great medicine for fighting anxiety. There has been a lot of research on the subject, but it does not take a scientist to know that when you are laughing, you are not depressed.

Whenever you are feeling high anxiety, try to take deep breaths. Take these breaths from your stomach and hold it in for a few seconds before releasing it. It is recommended that you do this 5 to 8 times. This can really help relax you, and make your anxiety disappear.

Take more Vitamin C. Did you know that humans are the only ones that can not make their own Vitamin C? In contrast, when many animals are under stress, their bodies produce large quantities of Vitamin C. So, if you are under a lot of stress or experiencing high anxiety, take a supplement that is high in Vitamin C to help.

Learning how to deal with stress is the key to reducing anxiety. Many people experience something known as floating anxiety because they are unaware of where the stress is actually coming from. This can be dealt with by finding the source of stress through professional therapy or other similar methods.

Regular exercise is helpful in dealing with anxiety. Exercise is a “stress buster” that may help with your symptoms. To ensure you get great results, do your best to get in a 30 minute cardio workout several days each week.

One way to cope with anxiety is to just breathe! By focusing on your breathing and taking slow, even breaths is one of the easiest ways to relax. Start by counting to five as you inhale, then exhale for the same amount of time. You’ll start to feel calmer, and you’ll buy yourself some time to deal with a difficult situation.

Try to reduce your consumption of caffeinated beverages. Caffeine increases your state of awareness and stimulates the production of adrenaline. If you suffer from anxiety, you are already in a state of heightened awareness and your adrenaline levels are already too high most of the time. Therefore, consuming any beverages with caffeine in them could cause your anxiety symptoms to spiral out of control.

There is no doubt that anxiety has been the cause of untold misery and stress in the lives of countless individuals. Sufferers should take note, however, that all is not lost. By acquiring a better understanding of the condition and possible ways to address it, there is a high probability that anyone can reverse the tide of suffering. Apply the tips in the preceding article to your daily life, and you will have the power to achieve real results.