Acute Anxiety
When anxious:- Take 3 deep breaths.
- Go for a walk rather than hiding in a cocoon.
- STOP: Stop, Take a breath, Observe, Proceed.
- Accept and move on.
- Take an "off-ramp".
Walk it Out
Just moving a little bit can help your body and your brain to rebalance. But if there's a lot on your mind, maybe a longer walk would help. I like going for walks because you don't have to use a lot of cognitive power to plan where you're going, unlike, say, running or skiing or biking. When you leave some brainpower free while you're walking, your brain can work through thinking about the things that are weighing on you. Sometimes after walking for an hour or two you might find that an idea just pops out of your thoughts that provides the way to handle what's bugging you. This doesn't happen as easily if you are focusing on a more intense activity or distracting yourself with music. On the other hand, sometimes completely shifting your focus can help too with regards to feeling better. But you'll feel more resolved if you leave some time to reflect on what is weighing on you.
"Off-Ramps"
With regards to the "off-ramp" strategy, the idea here is that you prepare beforehand some sort of thought that you can say to yourself when you feel acute anxiety coming to you. For instance, you notice yourself heading into an anxiety attack, and you have a reminder such as, "No I'm not in danger," or "No, things are ok." Thanks to K Michel for the suggestion to include this.Other Comments
I think the common theme for all of these suggestions is to find a way to halt and shift a pattern of thinking that can feel like being stuck in a mental feedback loop. If you're somehow stuck in a loop, you need to break out of it somehow, and that needs a shift: shift location, shift what you're doing, shift your internal dialog, etc. The 5 suggestions above may be able to help. Write them down and put them somewhere you can find them when you might need them.
If you've never had the experience of paralyzing anxiety, consider yourself lucky. I put the techniques above as a quick reference for getting back to being able to function from such a state. If this is a frequent occurrence for you, please consider getting support from a medical professional. Please remember that I'm "some guy on the internet" and any comments here are not a substitute for medical advice.
Strategies to Reduce General Anxiety Levels
If you're not in the midst of paralyzing anxiety, but still having a generalized experience of anxiety, here are some strategies that can help reduce this.
1. Sleep, Food, Exercise
Basic physical care of your body and your brain is essential to keeping anxiety well managed.
- Get enough sleep. The effect of sleep on the brain's ability to manage stress can be amazing to experience. There were times in my past when I've been stressed out and I didn't pay attention to my need for sleep. When I eventually slowed down enough to sleep a good amount every night, on a regular, routine schedule, my ability to manage and respond to stressors went up amazingly. Sleep brought me back from some pits of anxiety, and all I had to do was leave enough time to sleep.
- Eat enough, and eat well. Your body and your brain will function best if you are eating foods that provide a variety of nutrients to you, and if your blood sugar levels aren't spiking and crashing continually. You may also need to experiment with cutting back on certain types of foods. In this case limiting caffeine intake is a good place to start. I also notice that I do better when I limit my intake of wheat. I don't have to eliminate it (I really don't want to eliminate it: bread, pasta, and pastries are too delicious), but eating two plates of pasta in one meal turns out to be not the best idea for me.
- Move, get some exercise. Many times just going for a walk can be helpful. I've had times where I've been stressed out with a lot on my mind. After going for a walk for a couple hours, the thoughts worked themselves out and I settled back into the present. On the other hand, it can help to do something more active than walking in order to get your mind off of something, or to burn off some anger or frustration. I find that I need to break a sweat for 20-30 minutes at least twice a week in order to stay in the most resilient frame of mind for handling everything that life throws at me. I find that doing a few sets of squats with weights cures most everything, and going out for a half day of skiing, snowboarding, or mountain biking also works great too.
2. Defeat Anxiety with Logic
Here's an exercise to understand and manage sources of anxiety:
- List your worries and things that are bothering you. Get them all onto paper in front of you so that you can start to manage everything that is weighing on you.
- For each item on the list, think about the following questions in response to each item: What is the worst case? How would I respond if this happened? Are there any actions I can take now or plan for later that would mitigate the worst case? Have I been through anything similar and how did that end up?
- In some cases, you may need to recognize that the only thing you can do is to control your frame of mind. Do you have to be sad, or would you be able to make a joke and find some light, even in a tough situation?
- If you are not really able to take any actions, then the concern is out of your control. Let it go, and turn your focus to what you can change or do.
This exercise works well if you take time to think through and write out your answers. I like to do this in my journal, because then I don't have to think about where or how to file or organize my writing afterwards.
I think of worry and anxiety as an instinctual response that points out vulnerability... some subconscious part of your mind is pointing out that you are unprotected. You need to pay attention to these vulnerabilities, but you can take action to mitigate them. You can use the conscious part of your mind to validate and respond to each of those vulnerabilities, or to realize that they are unjustified or uncontrollable and move on from worrying about those things.
This book from decades ago has some additional exercises that may be helpful for managing worries.
3. Routines
Give some structure to your days and weeks.
4. Manage Your Information Flow
Check out this post for some suggestions on how to process information to reduce feeling overwhelmed.
5. Medical Support
If you have chronic anxiety that you just can't shake off, even if you've tried the other strategies above, you don't have to live that way, but you may need to find a medical professional to help you with this. For instance, a mental health counselor or psychologist can help you work through anxiety with strategies such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Furthermore, there are a range of medications available now that may also be helpful.
Last updated: 2017-1-14
