20 Tips for Anxiety

Top 20 Tips to Relieve Stress and Anxiety

Anxiety is as natural as breathing! Although we often view it as negative, anxiety is not all bad – it helps keep us motivated and focused, it changes our behaviour in a productive way i.e. look how anxiety gets us going when we are nearing an assignment or work deadline!

However, if you are wasting time thinking about worst case scenarios or catastrophising – here are 20 top-tips to help alleviate those anxious feelings:

1. Reduce caffeine. It’s found in energy drinks, chocolate, tea, and coffee. High caffeine intake is linked with raised anxiety levels.
2. Exercise that gets your blood pumping and increases your heart rate is perfect for alleviating anxiety.
3. Spending time with people who know and love you (just as you are) is comforting.
4. Avoid alcohol as it’s directly linked with feelings of anxiety and low mood and only provides a temporary distraction from anxious thoughts and feelings.
5. Learn how to slow down your breath. Breathing slowly into your tummy a few times every day when calm is a new skill you can develop for use when anxious.
6. Spend more time outdoors. Nature is therapeutic. Get sufficient sunlight every day.
7. Improve sleep. Numbers 1-6 will improve sleep. Don’t worry in bed, instead write down your difficulties and decide to tackle them during daylight hours. Go to bed and get up at the same time every day and avoid screens late at night.
8. Speak nicely to you. Anxiety is not to be feared. Remind yourself that you are okay. Think of the encouraging things someone else might say and say them to yourself.
9. Eat well and regularly i.e. fresh, brightly coloured, unprocessed foods. Reduce refined sugars.
10. Listen to a mindfulness meditation or calming music which have a direct impact on our brain. Take timeout every day just to be with you. Developing patience to sit still (and no 5) is beneficial for our bodies and our minds.
11. Do what makes you feel good and lifts your spirits e.g. gardening, baking, knitting, tinkering with the car etc. A practical distraction is calming.
12. Write down your worries. If they are inside your control, then act by setting mini-goals to tackle the issues.
13. Smell something wonderful like fresh flowers or coffee beans. Light an aromatherapy candle that was created with relaxation in mind (lavender). Smells and aromas help relax us.
14. Focus on what’s going right or things you’ve done well in the past. You’ve made it this far. Try to focus on the little things you get right during the day as they help to feed your self-esteem and perk-up your mood.
15. When you were young, did you “take a line for a walk”? It involves drawing circles or shapes on a page without lifting the pen from the paper. Then colour-in your work of art! Colouring can improve focus and reduce stress levels.
16. Write a ‘note of reassurance’ to yourself when you feel positive. Put it in your wallet. Read it when feeling panicky or afraid to remind you that you can get through difficult times.
17. Limit time on social media.
18. Develop gratitude (linked to no. 14). Be thankful for what you have, your family, friends, home, health, body, limbs, liberty etc. Write down three things every day that you appreciate or for which you are grateful.
19. Consider a talking therapy such as counselling. Chatting with someone who understands what you’re going through, in confidence, can improve your mood and help you regain control over worries. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) can also help you challenge negative or unhelpful thoughts.
20. Smile – a big eye-wrinkling smile! It is contagious and can perk-up your mood.

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