How To Manage Your Anxiety

Nearly everyone feels anxious now and then. For some people, though, it shows up daily and reshapes how they live. Generalized anxiety disorder is a real diagnosis, and at its worst it can be disabling. Managing anxiety at that level usually means combining medical care with changes to daily habits. The habit side is where most of us have room to work, and a handful of these approaches can be put to use the moment the feeling starts to build.

Relaxation is the first thing to get a handle on. Anxiety keys you up, so finding a way to settle back down is the most direct response you have. Expect it to take practice. The method that works for one person does nothing for the next, so you may cycle through a few before something clicks. Keep the options on the healthy side; a glass of wine or a cigarette does not count. Deep breathing, yoga, stretching, tai chi: each gives the tension somewhere to go so you can head off an attack before it takes hold.

Looking after your body matters more than people expect. When you are eating sensibly, sleeping enough, and moving regularly, you are already lowering the odds of an anxious episode. Those three together leave you steadier and give you a reserve to draw on. At your physical best, brain and body cooperate, and you are less likely to get swept up by whatever you are feeling.

Isolation feeds anxiety and can open the door to depression, and depression in turn raises the chance of anxiety. So stay in touch with people. Grab a coffee with a friend, or phone a relative for a few minutes. You do not need a packed social calendar; an hour of real contact in a day is plenty. If your schedule is tight, lunch breaks are an easy opening. Spend them with coworkers and you get the connection without dropping anything else.

Redirecting your thoughts toward something positive is simpler than it sounds, which is exactly why it helps. Say traffic winds you up. While you sit there waiting for it to move, picture somewhere that makes you happy. That bit of mental distance takes the edge off and lets you keep your attention on the driving. The same trick works almost anywhere you notice anxiety starting to creep in.

There is also plain distraction. When you are anxious, every bit of your focus locks onto the worry and whatever is causing it. Spot the trigger, then deliberately set it aside. If work is the thing eating at you, push work out and let your mind land on something calm instead. Doing something with your hands helps too: play an instrument, draw, work a puzzle.

People call nature the original antidepressant, and the description fits. Time spent outdoors brings a kind of quiet that is hard to find elsewhere. Hike, ride a bike through a park, walk the beach. No decent park nearby? Sitting in your own backyard still counts, since you are out among green, growing things. If you have a family, a walk together in the park folds in company, nature, and a bit of exercise all at once.

Anxiety does not get the final say. The methods above can keep it in check, and for a lot of people it takes some combination of them rather than any single one. What they have in common is that they do more than calm the immediate feeling. They clear your head, so you come away steadier and sharper than before.

- Rosemary Kitchen