Anxiety is a phenomenon common to many. It results more commonly from feelings of worry, nervousness, or unease about something.
Most times people become unnecessarily anxious when they anticipate an outcome that they’re uncertain about. These likelihoods resulting from stressing yourself over uncertain outcomes consume your ability to focus, which may also result in full-blown panicking.
Getting over such unhealthy feelings sometimes doesn’t cost you anything special. Basic remedies for such horrible feelings could be as simple as doing simple exercises, dieting, and meditating.
Though mediation may not be recommended or advised in cases when you find it difficult to escape the stressors that are triggering you.
Nonetheless, we have compiled a veritable five ways to help you manage and overcome anxiety the better.
Below are five ways to get yourself over those anxious feelings.
- Doing a “5-Senses Countdown”
As funny as it is, doing a 5-senses countdown helps you relax your mind, and allays the horrible feelings of stress. Your 5 body senses are nose, eyes, ears, mouth, and touch. You can put this up in any order that you desire, what is important is that you do not rush through the process of making the count. Normally, you’re to use close to a minute on each of the senses. Doing the below doesn’t require you to say it out loud, you can say it in your head.
Say the following in your head.
5 thing you taste
4 things you smell
3 things felt
2 things seen
1 thing heard
Doing this simple countdown will in a way make you feel more relaxed. The importance of this mental exercise is that it helps to take your attention away from stressors and over-stimulation.
Another exercise that comes close to this is the Breathing Exercise. Breathing exercises could be taken as additional to the countdown exercise, or simply optional in case you can’t put up with the two at the same time. This makes for a better relaxing feeling.
- Art Therapy
Expressing yourself creatively is a great way to lower stress. Learning to play a musical instrument as an adult is shown to lower stress. The practice of “Art Therapy” includes drawing, painting, sculpturing, singing, and playing music, and is used to help those suffering from mental illness. Art therapy “helps people resolve conflicts, improve interpersonal skills, manage problematic behaviors, reduce negative stress, and achieve personal insight” according to the American Art Therapy Association. Whether you’re learning a new instrument or engaging in artwork, making Art Therapy a part of your routine will result in a noticeable change in your stress levels within a few weeks.
- Go “Earthing”
Most times, embracing Nature in its undiluted form has always been recommended for mental health improvement. This is also the case in the healing of issues relating to mental problems.
Going earthing for instance entails walking barefoot on the ground. “Ground” in this case means grass, sand, and even dirt but exclusive of concrete surface.
The concern of various researches on it shows the practice makes for the transference of electrons between the limitless supply of the earth and our bodies.
The transference is made possible by the conductive nature of the human body. Given this fact, the electrical current of the earth flowing through us can reduce inflammation, lower blood pressure, prevent sleep apnea, and lower stress levels.
Earthing can be traced to the culture of the “hippie”. What was once considered uncivil has now been adopted by scientific researchers as a means to improve your physical and mental health.
- Adopt an Animal
It should be no surprise that animals are great companions. However, you may be surprised to find that owning animals can be extremely beneficial for your mental health. In cases of mild anxiety, studies have shown that petting cats can lower blood pressure and help you relax after a stressful day. Dogs are used extensively in “Animal-Assisted Therapy” to aid in patients with severe anxiety, depression, and other mental illnesses such as PTSD and autism
