Anxiety can have a negative influence on the strongest of people. It does not discriminate against anyone, and the consequence of it can devastate a life. If you are living with anxiety, the following article will provide you with some helpful advice on how to face and overcome it.

If you have an anxiety problem, then you should cut down on sugar and caffeine. Sometimes these things can make you feel even more nervous than usual. If you must have caffeine or sugar, then at least cut back. Your diet plays a crucial role in how you react to anxiety.

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.

If anxiety has taken over your life, get professional help. Nobody should have to suffer silently through the fear, or be forced to live a limited life due to anxiety. There is help available, so talk to a professional, or look online for a forum where you can discuss common issues with others. Doing nothing is condemning yourself to a miserable existence.

Keep yourself busy. Many times anxiety occurs because of having too much time to think about things. Keep busy with exercise or other types of hobbies to give you less time to think about negative thoughts. If you have less time to think negative thoughts, you will lessen your chances of experiencing anxiety.

Upon first waking, take a few moments to say affirmations about the positive aspects that you want to experience in your life that day. Vocalize how you want your day to be and the specific goals you have for accomplishing that day. Commit to creating a day that reflects the day you have imagined.

Don’t forget to play. With the hustle and bustle of your busy life, taking the time to play a sport, a game or an instrument might seem frivolous. Taking an hour to let your hair down and have fun can do wonders for your stress and anxiety levels, though.

Keeping busy all day is a great way to help with your anxiety. If you are just lounging around all day unoccupied, your mind will start to wander and begin thinking negative thoughts, causing you to feel anxious. Simple things that occupy your mind like tidying up the house or mowing the lawn may help you out greatly.

Learn to breathe deeply from your diaphragm. When you take deep, regular breaths from your diaphragm, you will increase your calming feelings and begin to relax. Focus on breathing from your midsection, near your belly button. The stomach should extend outwards, if the breath is coming from the right area.

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.

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.

Always keep your promises to yourself, as well as, to others. Anxiety can come on from feelings of inadequacy because you make promises to yourself or others that you fear you cannot live up to. If you promise yourself a vacation, for instance, do not let fear and doubt about going, cause you to break another promise to yourself. This will only lead to more anxiety.

Talk with friends and family about your anxiety. One of the best ways to get rid of it, is to let people know what you’re feeling. When you talk to people about your life, your mood picks up and this makes you feel less anxious, in general. You will get support from trusted friends and family and this helps in your battle against anxiety.

Perhaps the most important step with dealing with anxiety is admitting that you have a problem. Once you admit to yourself that you have an issue with anxiety, you can put yourself in a mindset where you are prepared to deal with it. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.

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.

Exercise is a great way to deal with your anxiety. Whenever you work out, you release a lot of tension or stress, which happens to be a major contributor to anxiety. When you get rid of this excess stress, you put yourself in a clearer state of mind, which should reduce the amount of anxiety you feel.

Make sure you are laughing as much as possible. Laughing a lot helps bring happiness into your life, which helps prevent anxiety. View funny TV shows, hang out with funny loved ones, or just read a funny book. Seek all sources of laughter and you will surely lower your anxiety level.

As stated earlier, anxiety can get its grip on anyone from any walk of life. Hopefully, this article has offered you some useful information you can apply to your own circumstances and use to live a happier life with less fear and anxiety and more productivity and freedom, as everyone deserves to.