10 ways to reduce anxiety.
Kavya Dhananjay Gagangras
(Counselor)
Anxiety is one of the emotions that a human being feels, which is also called universal emotions, including anger, fear, etc. The feeling of anxiety has been around since ancient times. The emotion that comes when we are faced with or aware of some danger. Small amount of anxiety should be necessary because if we do not feel anxiety at all, we will not prepare for the impending danger, we will not protect ourselves.
But if this concern is in the right amount, it has its benefits. If anxiety becomes too much, it starts affecting our mind, body and overall living conditions. Many people get various diseases from this. Such as insomnia, generalized anxiety disorder, phobia etc. A person’s life is disrupted due to such an illness. In anxiety, a person tries to avoid things as much as possible. Which affects his life. That is why anxiety should be dealt with at the right time without letting it grow. For that, let’s see what things should be included in our life.
1. Don’t just sit in one place: People with anxiety often have a lot of overthinking, sitting in one place and repeating the same thoughts over and over again. What will happen to me? if the water doesn’t come on time? I will be late for work, many thoughts keep running in our head. That is called ruminating. So, if you want to get rid of anxiety, then you should see if you can do something about it without ruminating thoughts in your head. If not, plan it, get rid of the worry, do something else and focus on it.
2. Pay attention to the feet: Worry involves negative thinking about the future that ignores the present, so it is necessary to stay in the present to overcome anxiety. For this, close your eyes and focus on your own feet. Pay careful attention to the movement of the feet when it is stressed and when it is relaxed. It helps to be mindful.
3. Walk: Walking for at least half an hour every morning can reduce your anxiety. Walking is a great exercise to relieve stress and anxiety. The sweat produced by walking releases endorphins and calms your mind and reduces stress.
4. Do household chores: Doing chores around the house is a great mindful exercise. Mindful means living in the present. Which is very much needed to relieve anxiety when we do various household chores like cooking, cleaning, washing clothes etc. we are engrossed in that work and less chance of other thoughts.
5. Five finger breathing exercise: This exercise is used to relieve anxiety and stress. This is a breathing exercise. Anxiety causes physical symptoms such as restlessness, bloating, sweating, so various breathing exercises are prescribed to keep oneself calm, to gain control over the body. One of them is five finger exercise. In this, by placing another finger on each finger of your hand, slowly bring it up and take a deep breath and also bring the finger down and exhale. This exercise should be done by concentrating on all the five fingers.
6. Stay close to nature: Staying in nature can reduce your stress to a great extent. So walking in nature at least once or twice a day or taking a walk in your own garden pleases your mind. This reduces cortisol which is a stress hormone and calms our mind.
7. Know yourself anew: Many people do not have a developed sense of self. We don’t know what we like, what we don’t, what we can do. It often causes anxiety. So getting to know yourself anew, pursuing a hobby that you like, seeing how you can improve where you are falling short, and trying to do so can reduce your anxiety.
8. Engage yourself in different things: Enjoying engaging yourself in something different makes you creative. Also we continue to enjoy the present moment.
9. Aromatherapy: The smell of flowers awakens certain centers in our brain and calms our mind. This is called aromatherapy. It has the fragrance of various flowers and it relaxes our mind.
10. Accept the situation and deal with it: As mentioned earlier anxiety is mostly about trying to avoid things. Anxiety is the feeling that something I don’t want to happen in my life and it’s bad if it happens. Here the situation is avoided. But it only harms us. Therefore, it is appropriate to accept the situation as it is. We will accept the situation as much as we can and we will find ways to get out of it.
Lastly, it is very important to change the thoughts because thoughts have the most influence on our behavior and emotions, so it is important to change the thoughts that cause excessive anxiety, that are wrong predictions.