Anxiety is a state of severe emotional turmoil which creates feelings of nervousness, fear, worry, uneasiness and overreaction to problems or situations. Feeling worried before facing something challenging or very crucial such as an important interview or an examination is acceptable. Mild or occasional anxiety is a general phenomenon and can be considered as normal to a certain extent.
But at the point of time when the symptoms of anxiety start to interfere with your daily routine or don’t let you sleep, then it’s high time you do something about it. Getting panicky about situations can make them exaggerated and worse instead of sorting them out. Anxiety curtails our thinking ability and leads to overreaction. Feelings of anxiety can have more serious impacts of our life than we had imagined. It is good to get yourself some medication in state of chronic anxiety. But problems in life are never-ending, and you must learn not to panic so that you can handle situations more effectively.
Following are a few simple self help ways to stay calm and fight out your anxiety
- Know your emotion – learn to recognize your symptoms of anxiety. If you are pacing back and forth, experiencing a pounding heartbeat, shouting unreasonably, you are probably in your state of panic! Recall such events and it will help you know what triggers anxiety in you and what are its symptoms.
- Take a few deep breaths – Settle down in a comfortable place and take a few deep breaths. Have a glass of water! It will help to burn the adrenaline released by your body when you panic and will help you stay calm.
- Practice fighting anxiety – For this you would a friend’s help. Put yourself in a hypothetical situation which makes you anxious. Now practice how to fight it out. Do it repetitively. The idea might sound silly but it will actually work wonders for you in real situations of panic.
- Pen down your problems – Sit back and pen down your troubles. And now figure out whether they are actually so scary. If you give it a deep thought, then you’ll find that half of the things are even beyond your control. Stop worrying about them.
- Accept failures – You do not need to panic if you have failed in one or two tasks. Thomas Edison failed a thousand times before he figured out the correct method of making a light bulb. So its okay to fail once in a while. Learn lessons from your failures. They’ll take you closer to success.
- Everything doesn’t need to be perfect – Nobody can be perfect at everything he/she does. Let a few things be not perfect. Trust me! Life won’t change much.
- Sleep a lot – Take plenty of sleep. If you have a habit of compromising on your sleep every now and then, then stop doing that. Insufficient sleep triggers our emotions, often the unpleasant ones.
- Be careful of your diet – Pay attention to what and how much you eat. Deficiency of magnesium in your body can be the nutritional cause of anxiety. Include magnesium and vitamin rich foods in your diet. You can also consult your doctor for magnesium supplements.
- Exercise – especially breathing exercises are a good way to detoxify our body. They also burn stress hormones and release neurotransmitters that lift up your mood. Exercising regularly is one the best natural ways to overcome anxiety.
- Spend time with family and friends – Take some time out from your busy schedule and spend it with your family members and close friends. Having healthy and lively conversations is a great stress buster. You can easily let go half of your worries by sharing them with your loved ones.
