Managing Your Anxiety

Feb 7, 2016 by admin

If you suffer from excessive worry or fear, you may have wondered how to cure anxiety. A lot of it has to do with your attitude. It also helps to know a few simple coping strategies. Here are 4 ways to get started managing your anxiety.

 

Assess your life and identify the cause of your anxiety

Perhaps you are going through a difficult time financially or are worried about an important meeting coming up. A little stress now and again can be a good thing. It can motivate you to create a budget to overcome your financial issues, for example, or prepare more thoroughly for that important meeting. But if it is keeping you up at night, it is likely to do more harm than good. Whatever it is that is causing your anxiety, it needs to be acknowledged and addressed before you can overcome it and move on to more productive thoughts and activities. Once you have figured out what it is that is bothering you, coming up with a plan to deal with it can help you control the situation while largely eliminating your anxiety.

 

Breathe

Most people react to an anxiety attack by either holding their breath or breathing rapidly and shallowly. This causes a rise in blood pressure, heart rate and stress hormone levels, making the anxiety attack worse. By practicing relaxing breathing techniques every day you will be better prepared to control your breathing during an actual anxiety attack. To practice, concentrate on taking slow, deep breaths for several minutes, 2 to 3 times a day. When you feel an anxiety attack coming on, focus on your breathing to slow down and even stop the attack before it gets out of control.

 

Exercise

Another thing to focus on when figuring out how to cure anxiety is exercise. Exercise is a great way to clear your mind and recharge your body. It forces you to focus more on your physical actions and less on your thoughts. Exercise also increases blood flow and oxygen levels throughout the body and releases endorphins, the very same chemicals released during moments of pleasure. All of these things can help improve your frame of mind and help you think more logically through the issues causing your anxiety, while also improving self-esteem, making you more likely to be confident in your ability to cure your anxiety.

 

Change your attitude

A negative attitude can feed anxiety by making you concentrate on only the worst of all possible outcomes or situations. When you make the effort to transform your negative attitude into a positive one, you are better able to work towards overcoming your anxiety. Instead of focusing on the worry, use your energy to try to figure out how to fight it.

 

Anxiety can be a good thing, like when it pushes you to do your best at a job interview, but too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Excessive amounts of anxiety can interfere with normal daily function, sleep, and relationships. When examining how to cure anxiety, remember to identify the cause, breathe for relaxation and clarity, exercise regularly and think positively. If you do these 4 things, you will be well on your way to conquering your anxiety.