Anxiety tips:
#Drink around 2 liters of water a day.
Staying hydrated is super important. It's good for your digestion among other things. Drinking water is vital for you body to function properly. We're mostly water like they say. Mild dehydration can make anxiety and stress worse.
#Don't use caffeine
Caffeine raises your heart rate and gives you more energy. You don't need the excess energy when you're a nervous wreck. Caffeine also increases the likelihood of heart palpitations, increases sweating and can make falling asleep more difficult. So avoid coffee, green and black tea, energy drinks and sodas like Pepsi, coke, mountain dew. I'm sure there are other sodas out there that contain caffeine.
#Don't eat sugar, or at least very, very little
Sugar is not only empty calories. It's bad in other ways. It causes inflammation in the body which is always a bad thing. It's bad for your eyes, your brain, your digestive system, your teeth. It's just fast burning energy. It puts your blood sugar off balance and messes swith your bodies insulin. All these things factor with your over all stability and can make you a LOT more anxious. Too much sugar can give you sweats, faster heart rate, heart palpitations, headaches. There is a reason that people get a "sugar hangover" It's just not good for you. Skip it if you can.
#Try to exclude white flour and gluten out of your diet
A lot of research has been made on gluten. It's over all bad for you. White flour is almost the same as sugar. It's cheap fast energy.
#Don't use milk products unless it's pro-biotic
Milk is for little cows. Not humans. The digestive system is not made for it.
#Take Vitamin-D, Magnesium citrate, zinc, Vitamin-B & vitamin-C.
And / or a good multi mineral. Stress puts a strain on your body. In turn your body flushes out a lot of minerals. Magnesium is very important I think as it counterbalances calcium. We get calcium from a lot of things and magnesium comes mostly from greens and vegetables. I know I haven't been eating enough vegetables in my life. So my stores were probably running pretty low. Needless to say I feel a lot better now that I take magnesium daily. Magnesium is though by some to be almost a "cure" for heart palpitations. It decreases muscle soreness and it's good for sleep. It's not a cure all. But it's done A LOT for me. So I wholeheartedly recommend it.
#Eat a lot of vegetables and fruits
Vitamins, vitamins, vitamins... Also fiber
#Don't use artificial sweeteners
This is just poison. Don't believe me? Do some internet searches.
#Eat slowly. Take your time, always chew very well and don't take another bite until the one you just swallowed reaches your stomach
You enjoy the food better. If you chew long and well you don't swallow as much air, you don't get as bloated. The slower you eat the less likely you are to over eat and feel bad afterwards.
#Meditate at least 20 minutes two to three times a week
It's the best way to calm down your mind. Just sit down (Or lie down) and close your eyes. Just be there. Don't try not to think. Just be there. Just breathe and be.
#Do breathing exercises daily
When I wake up in the morning. The first thing I do is take a deep breath. Then I breathe out every minute trace of air in my lungs. When I think I've let everything out I force even more air out of my lungs. This sort of "resets" my breathing as when I'm anxious I tend to not breathe out all the air in my lungs. So I just sort of half breathe. I do this in my sleep too.... You could also be dong this...
Breathe deep into your stomach. I could go on describing this in detail. But it's easier for both of us if you just Google "diaphragm breathing" It's just practice. And it really works.
#Be thankful for what you have. A LOT of people ARE NOT as lucky as you.
Yes. Life might suck hard as it is right now. At least you've most likely got a roof over your head. Running water. A family or friends. Food and all the other things that come with westernized society. Be thankful! Thankfulness has been connected to happiness in many studies.
#Exercise as much as you can. At least 3 times a week for a minimum of 20 minutes each time. At your own pace and level. This can be walking. Just something to get some fresh air in your lungs and getting your heart rate up a little.
#Don't watch a lot of television
This doesn't really need any explanations does it?
#Do something creative
Music, drawing, writing, filming, arts & crafts, ect, ect. Being creative is really giving. I play the drums and I always feel better afterwards. Creativity is a great way to let out some pent up energy.
#Give what you can to someone who needs it more than you
Giving is giving so give what you can to those who really need.
#Practice good posture. That means straight back and head held high. (This changed more then I could have imagined for my anxiety)
I'm really really serious about this. I never realized how important good posture was until I started practicing it!
#Don't use tobacco. (I felt a lot better in almost every way when I quit)
Speaks for itself. If you're not convinced. Do a basic google search on the effects.
#Realize that most anxiety comes from within you. Your attention controls it's intensity
Ever feel really anxious and then get a phone call? Then when the phone call is over you realize you're not freaking out anymore? Yeah....
#Do stretches for the whole body.
Like exercise, stretches make your brain release endorphins and dopamines. The feel good chemicals. It's also a great release for build up tension in the body. Here's some more info : ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretching#Benefits )
#Breathe out. Fully
I find myself holding in half a breath unconsciously. Breathe out everything. When you think you're all out of air. Breathe out some more.
This sort of resets my breathing. It's nice
#Don't view yourself as a victim. It gives you the idea that you have no control over this.
If you're powerless, you're powerless. You've probably heard of the placebo effect. The mind is a powerful thing. Turn this around and tell yourself "I'm capable. It will just take time."
#Realize that everyone that has ever been, everyone that is and every human that will ever be will die. So will you. Get used to this thought.
For most of my life, the thought of me dying never really occured to me. I remember laying in bed when I was just a kid (maybe 7 years old) thinking how weird and scary it would be to be enveloped in complete darkness and silence. From that point on I decided that I rather not think about it. People in my life passed on. I held in my greif and tried to ignore it the best I could. One day I had a massive panic attack. My heart was beating out of my chest. I had no idea what was going on. I thought I was having a heart attack. I thought I was going to die there and then. Well, needless to say I survived... But the fear of death always stuck with me. "It's going to happen" Just the thought of me dying would set off a wave of anxiety. Well one day I went as low as I've ever gone. For many weeks I believed I would drop dead without a moments notice. I spent my days in and out of hospitals, taking my blood pressure, keeping track of my heart rate, I hardly slept, I hardly ate. I felt like crap all day every day. With my heart pounding in my senses. At some point I just said to myself. "i'm going to die". I accepted it. Embraced it... Previously I would fall asleep thinking "Will I wake up tomorrow?" These days I say to myself. "Time to go to sleep". Don't think too much about this. Thinking about it gets you nowhere!!!
#Get to know and respect a higher power than yourself. Weather it be God, the Sun, nature or just energy. You are not the center of the universe
When I realized that just because I experience the world from the outside in it doesn't make me the center of the universe it pretty much set things into perspective. Now I don't know and it's really none of my buisness if you're religious or spiritual, agnostic or whatever. But the world is a bigger place than any of us can even imagine. To set things to scale. A human being is not even a grain of sand on the beaches of the earth when it comes to the size of the universe (multiverse?) or even OMNIVERSE! haha. We're a pretty small cog in the machine when you think about it. Don't let your role in things stress you out too much.
#Appreciate the small things. Good food, a hot shower, good talks with friends or family.
I always used to be in such a hurry. I never had time to spare. Even if I was just on my way home from work there was no time to waste because I had to go to the computer, watch something on TV or meet some people. I now know that none of these things really matter in the bigger scheme of things... If I was 5-10 minutes later then I thought I would be.
Go for a walk... Look at the sky. Admire the clouds grandeur. The world is an amazing place. Even the things we feel are most mundane. Just give yourself some time to breathe it in and appreciate the true complexity of things for what they are.
#Pain is an inescapable part of life. Get used to it.
No matter who you are or where you live. Everyone experiences pain to some extent. To some it's worse than others. And although pain is very unpleasant in the now. It will pass. And if it doesn't you will get more used to it. Pain is never pleasant, but in the vast majority of all cases it is at least manageable to an extent that you can live your life.
#There is no such thing as certainty.
Only one thing is 100% after you're born. But I won't get into that. Just because it's unforeseen does not mean that it's negative. Being afraid of what you don't know is closely linked to perfectionism as you somehow can't be prepared for what you don't know. And not being in control scares you. I've learned that perfectionism = depression & anxiety.
#Get enough sleep. Create a ritual for your body to get used to getting tired at the same times. This also goes for the weekends. Just because we've created a 5-2 work / rest system in our culture doesn't mean your body's internal clock follows that system
#Know that things take time. A broken foot can take months to recover fully. A broken soul takes a lot of time to heal too. And the same goes for your mind as your foot. You don't step on a broken leg and expect it to get better anyway.
#Accept what you're going through. These are the card's you've been dealt. Now play to win with what you have. Play safe.
Just take it easy. Don't be in a rush. We're (at least I am) so used to getting everything right now. Need entertainment? Just press the on button on your TV, need some information? Go on Google and it will do a quadrillion searches in under 1 second! Have a headache? Take this pill!
Many things in life just take and NEED time. Some things can't be forced. This was a hard one for me.
#If you have support. Use it. If people don't know you're suffering. Tell them.
You most likely can't do this alone. Share the load. But don't just put it all over on one person. Just let people know you're not well right now. They will most likely understand even if they can't relate to your problems. Having to hide the way you're feeling just puts even more stress on you. And that's not what you need. Also know that sometimes you just have to pull out of situations. Go half way and call it a small victory. If you're out with friends and you feel like you're going to explode. Just tell people you want to go home. It's quite simple really.
#Get out among people as much as you can. Even if it feels REALLY bad. This is desensitization and it's proven to work over many years and countless cases. It will get better.
Get used to it! No, I'm just kidding. But really... That's really what it is. Once you've realized and started to really believe that your fears are way out of proportion you need to slowly get back out there. At your own pace... But try to face your fears at least once a week. As time passes you will find it gets easier and easier with each time you put yourself out there.
#Learn to say "No" to people.
I've had to let go of some people in my life that were having a negative effect on me mentally. It's sad but necessary.
#Anxiety can be subconscious as much as it is conscious
Especially when you've been dealing with it for a long time. When I was getting over my constant generalized anxiety I would get these random panic attacks out of the blue. It could be my heart skipping a beat, a weird taste in my mouth, being a little dizzy or seeing stars in my field of vision. It could be almost anything and it would set off a panic attack almost instantaneously. The randomness of if scared me a lot. So I often ended up with a doctor or something like that. It always ended up being nothing but "a simple scare". With time I learned that these baseless panic attacks were nothing to be afraid off. They became smaller and smaller and less frequent and less powerful week by week.
I still get the odd taste in my mouth, heart palpitations, sharp shooting pains and super intense chills down my back now and then. But I know that that's just the way things are... Don't over analyze things like these. The human body is a pretty complexe machine. Think your car never ever misfires?
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Originally Posted by Eyji1
