Decrease Anxiety

Pick a few that feel doable to you. You do not have to do all at once.

• Decrease caffeine and alcohol.

I know that might be hard to read. All of my coffee drinkers are taking an audible sigh right now, but trust me. Caffeine increases anxiety. It changes the ways our minds and bodies process information. Have you ever felt jittery after drinking caffeine? This is the same type of feeling that can come with anxiety. Our minds don’t know how to differentiate the two and if our bodies are feeling it, our mind are as well.

Alcohol has the same effect-especially the next day. Alcohol interrupts our sleep and puts our brain through the ringer. Ever woken up after a night of drinking and felt more anxious? Worried about what you said or did the night before? Or exhausted? Alcohol also changes our brains and it can take a couple days to regroup after a night of drinking.

• Exercise.

I know it’s not everyone’s favorite thing to do, but even taking daily walks can help our anxiety. Our bodies are made to move, and when our bodies aren’t moving we don’t have a lot of blood circulating through our body and we need that blood to continue circulating to our brain-helping us process, regulate emotions, and calm our nerves.

• Sleep.

This is a big one. If you are someone who has an erratic sleep schedule, gets only a few ours a night, wakes up at different times, then this is for you. Our bodies work best on a consistent circadian rhythm, and our bodies need that sleep time to rid our bodies of toxicity, recharge, process the day before, and have enough energy to tackle the following day. WE NEED SLEEP. No matter who you are 7-8 hours a day is recommended. Less sleep has been found to reduce your lifespan.

• Socializing.

I know my introverts are rolling their eyes, but we are social animals. We need to socialize with other people. That doesn’t mean we have to attend all the parties, or constantly call our friends, but we do need to have a core set of people in our lives that we can get together with, enjoy activities with, and talk through things with. We are not meant to be in complete isolation. If you are noticing that you are withdrawing from people, now is actually the time to reach out.

• Nutrition.

Believe it our not, the food we eat is important. Our bodies need certain nutrients in order to properly function. If you aren’t eating enough fruits, vegetables, omega 3s (found in fish, nuts, olive oil, etc) , magnesium, iron, vitamin D, and B vitamins, then it is possible that is causing you to feel low energy, depressed, anxious, and have poor sleep. Make sure you are getting enough healthy food in your diet!

• Intrusive thoughts

Be mindful of your inner thoughts. Many times we think our negative intrusive thoughts reflect reality. We are all constantly thinking, our minds rarely turn off completely, so allow your thoughts to come in but you do not need to jump on the back of them and continue down their course. For example, you might have a thought saying, “I can’t drive into work today. The traffic is going to be so bad. I am going to have the worst day ever.” You are immediately noticing that each thought that comes after the first one is getting worse and worse. It is easy to let our minds spiral out of control, but just because we think it, doesn’t mean that is going to happen. We have the ability to change our thoughts, give less weight to some, and change our overall mood.

These are very important core areas that you can improve all on your own. However, I understand this can feel overwhelming and daunting. Enlist the help of family, friends, therapists, or doctors if you feel you need help getting started.

A lot of our anxiety also comes from past situations, the way our minds process information, our body’s automatic responses, genetics, etc.

Reach out to a professional if you feel you are needing assistance in working through anxiety.