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Anxiety is nothing new. The US Census Bureau reports that over 40 million American adults struggle with an anxiety disorder. We feel it plenty of times, whether it’s due to something simple like an upcoming job interview or giving a presentation in front of hundreds of people.
At times, your anxiety may get out of hand and make it difficult to take action. In this situation, learning to regain control of your thoughts can thwart anxiety and allow you to perform better than if you were anxious. However, if you suspect that you struggle with an anxiety disorder that impairs your ability to function, consider enrolling in a URP mental health program. Now, let’s take a look at 7 ways you can recover from anxiety quickly.
Table of Contents
Take Deep Breaths
We’ll start with the basics: breathing. Even though deep breathing sounds like a cliché, it’s highly effective. When you’re anxious, it activates your sympathetic nervous system, which handles your fight or flight response, which includes physiological actions like hyperventilation and increased heart rate. By deliberately slowing down your breathing to copy a more relaxed breathing pattern, you calm the sympathetic nervous system.
There are different exercises for deep breathing, but box breathing is the simplest to remember. It has four steps as follows:
- Inhale as you slowly count to four. You’ll feel the air enter your lungs.
- Hold your breath while counting to four.
- Exhale through your mouth slowly for four seconds.
- Hold for four seconds before starting over.
Write Down What’s Making You Anxious
Often, your anxiety can spiral out of control before you’re able to figure out what you’re anxious about. In this case, recognizing that what you’re feeling is anxiety and narrowing down what you’re anxious about is helpful. It’s similar to writing in a journal about your feelings to help you work through your emotions. This is helpful because it allows you to get some perspective; you realize that you’re feeling anxious now and that it won’t last.
Practice Progressive Muscle Relaxation
When you’re exposed to stress, your body responds by making the muscles contract, priming them to fight or flee. Meanwhile, tense muscles signal to your brain that it’s under stress, which causes the cycle of muscle tension and stress to continue. Progressive muscle relaxation is used to calm down your body and mind by contracting and relaxing different muscle groups. With this technique, your muscles can signal to the brain that it’s no longer stressed, thereby calming the stress response.
Use the 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Strategy.
To keep your anxious thoughts from taking control of your mind, you need to ground yourself in the present moment. It gets you out of your head and brings you back to the present by making you focus on things in your surroundings. Perhaps the most popular technique is the 5-4-3-2-1 strategy, which engages all five senses.
- Spot five things around you that you can see. This can be a stray hair on the floor, the embellishments on your bag, or a little birthmark on your hand.
- Acknowledge four things around you that you can touch. Maybe it’s the desk in front of you, the texture of your jeans, or the carpet under your feet.
- Name three things you can hear around you. These sounds could be coming from the outside, like the sound of traffic or your ceiling fan. Or, they could be coming from the inside, such as the sound of your breathing.
- Think of two things you can smell, whether it’s freshly brewed coffee or the smell of shampoo coming from your hair.
- Name one thing you can taste. It doesn’t have to be anything you’re eating now, and it doesn’t have to be food. It can be the aftertaste of your morning coffee or the taste of toothpaste after brushing your teeth.
Get Some Exercise
Did you know that sitting around all day can make you more anxious? All that saved-up mental energy has to go somewhere, which is why experts recommend engaging in a rigorous activity. Getting some exercise can also distract you from negative thought patterns that feed your anxiety. Studies show that activities like yoga and fitness exercises can have immediate effects on stress.
Seek Out Distractions
If nothing’s helping you relax, try distracting yourself with another activity. For example, listening to some relaxing music can provide you with a sense of relief. Similarly, you can try cleaning your room or watching something funny on TV to take your mind off negative thoughts. Another common distraction is to spend time with your pet. Studies show that animals can improve your mood and alleviate feelings of loneliness.
