Your mind’s always running…full of worry about the hypothetical scenarios you create in your head. And it never stops. Not when you’re watching TV or when you’re trying to sleep at night. And god forbid when you’re on a date or at a social event.
You, along with 40 million adults in the United States, are suffering from an anxiety disorder. But you know this already, don’t you? And sure, medication be helpful for anxiety in many instances, but it doesn’t work for everyone.
If you’re fed up and don’t want to deal anymore, you need to learn how to calm anxiety.
Check out these 10 simple tips for instantly reducing your anxiety, and you’ll be feeling calm, cool, and collected faster than you can say “Om.”
1. Focus on Your Breathing
If you’re looking for a free, easy way to stop feeling anxious, our number one tip is to simply focus on your breathing.
Start by taking slow, controlled breaths in through your nose. Then, hold those breaths for a few seconds, breathing out through your mouth in a slow manner. You’ll find your worries melting right away.
2. Try a Little Meditation
Instead of immediately opting for medication.
Meditation is another free, easy anxiety remedy you can do anywhere and at (almost) any time. To be mindful means to be aware of your surroundings, be fully present, and not become overwhelmed by everything that’s going on around you.
You can practice this type of meditation while doing dishes, driving, or before an anxiety-inducing meeting or presentation. And no, you don’t have to close your eyes or be sitting on a yoga mat envisioning the “light” inside you.
3. Eliminate Clutter
Being surrounded by junk, clutter, or just a general mess can contribute to anxiety more than you likely even realize. Whether it’s a dirty carpet, cluttered workspace, or messy car, eliminating clutter from your life will leave you breathing a sigh of relief.
It’s one less thing you’ll have to worry about, after all!
4. Listen to Relaxing Music
When it comes to treating anxiety, anything you can do to treat it, however small, will have a positive impact.
Because music can have such a profound effect on the listener, it can be very helpful for treating anxiety quickly. Don’t put just anything on, though. You’ll want to make a conscious decision to listen to something that relaxes you or makes you happy.
If you’re not sure where to start or you don’t have anything relaxing in your library, try listening to this effective relaxing music.
5. Tame Your Anxious Thoughts
The truth is that anxiety’s all in your head. If you can learn to tame or tone down your anxious thoughts and mind, you’ll quickly find yourself feeling a lot better. But it’s often easier said than done.
The next time you feel anxiety starting to creep in, ask yourself questions like these:
- What evidence is there that something’s wrong?
- Am I blowing this situation out of proportion?
- Is there a reason I should believe that something’s wrong?
If you’ve asked all of the questions and are still feeling anxious, try a positive affirmation. Tell yourself that everything is going to be OK. If you have to repeat it 3,000 times to believe it, that’s fine.
6. Talk to a Friend
When you can’t get out of your head, sometimes talking to a friend about what’s bothering you can help put things into perspective and ease some of your worries.
Sometimes, though, you just want to be distracted from the thoughts racing through your head. Talking to a close friend is great for this, too.
Just let them know what’s going on, and if they’re a good friend, they’ll be there for you.
7. Get to Bed Early
Sleep deprivation affects so many different areas of our lives. From our diets to our moods and yes, even our anxiety levels.
No matter what’s on your to-do list, be sure to get to bed early if you can. Your tasks can wait until tomorrow, but your sleep cycle can’t. That’s the frustrating thing – once you’ve lost sleep, you can’t catch up and get it back.
Spare yourself from an increase in anxiety by regulating your sleep cycle and going to bed at the same time each night.
8. Wake Up Earlier
We just told you to go to bed earlier, and now we’re telling you to wake up earlier, too!
If you have a tendency to run late which results in anxiety and an irritable mood, you may benefit from setting your alarm, say, 15-20 minutes earlier and waking up then. You won’t be rushing around in the morning feeling anxious about running late to work or school, so you’ll set a better tone for your day.
9. Have Sex
If you have a partner who knows you suffer from anxiety and you’ve had a particularly troubling day, you can ask them if they’ll help soothe your anxiety by having sex with you.
As everyone knows, sex releases endorphins which can help you relax and calm you down. Engaging in sex is a fun, exciting way to help soothe any anxiety you’re feeling.
And if you don’t have a partner, you can always satisfy yourself!
10. Essential Oils
For anxiety, lavender essential oil can be a great natural remedy.
You can add it to your bath, a diffuser before bed (if you struggle with insomnia), or simply burn a candle containing lavender essential oils.
Try them out, if you haven’t!
Learn How to Calm Anxiety on Your Own
Learning how to calm anxiety by yourself may seem like a difficult or insurmountable task, but it doesn’t have to. Just work on putting these 10 helpful tips into practice, and you’ll be right on your way to an anxiety-free existence.
Do you want more insanely useful tips, like how 10 foolproof ways to get out of debt fast, for example? Then check out the rest of our website for more!
We know you’ll find some helpful advice. And you never know, you may even learn something new, too!
