Around 40 million Americans live with some sort of anxiety disorder, a number which is frightening. Anxiety disorder can range from GAD, which is an intensely worrying feeling that you have no control over, to panic disorder which is sudden episodes of extreme fear, trembling, shaking or sweating, accompanied with fast heart palpitations. It’s important to understand that if you do suffer from an anxiety disorder, a good long-term solution should be therapy or medication.
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Changing your lifestyle such as changing your diet can show great results long term. Lowering the amount of caffeine and alcohol consumption has also proven to have a positive effect.
But there are also steps which you can take to help reduce anxiety the moment it starts.
Contents
1. Understand what’s happening
During a panic attack, you can often feel like you’re dying or having a heart attack. Remind yourself what’s happening, that it is temporary and it will go away soon. Also, keep in mind that a panic attack is the opposite of dying. In that time your body is activating its flight response, and that’s the system that will make sure you stay alive.
2. Rethink your fears
People suffering from anxiety often think of the worst case scenario in any situation. Stay confident and tell yourself that you are not anxious and that you can make it. This helps a lot if you are about to present something in front of the whole class or at work. Positive thoughts and rethinking your fear will train your brain into a more rational way of thinking during an anxiety attack.
3. Breathe in and out
One of the most important steps, deep breathing calms you down. We’ve seen it on movies, and we’ve seen it with our own eyes. There are specific breathing exercises you can learn to help, but you can also focus on evenly inhaling and exhaling.
4. Walk it off
When we experience anxiety, it’s because we have too much adrenaline build up in our body. A walk or an exercise can help lower the levels of adrenaline. A study has found that people who took walking trips to parks or woods produce less stress than when in the city.
5. CBD Gummies
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Many people are choosing CBD as a medication for anxiety and panic attacks and that is something also recommended by Mission Organic. Recent studies have shown that CBD can decrease anxiety and it doesn’t get you high. People have been buying CBD products like CBD Gummies to help reduce their stress levels and anxiety.
6. Watch a funny video
If you’re feeling anxious then laughing is often an excellent cure for anxiety. Researches have found that laughing has lots of mental benefits and one study has shown that laughing can lower anxiety levels as much as exercise can.
7. Visualize calmness
Visualize yourself in a calm place. Picture yourself in a forest next to a river, visualize the sound of birds singing and leaves blowing. Practicing this exercise can help a lot when you’re anxious.
8. Acceptance
Anxiety is a feeling and understanding that anxiety is real, happening, and just an emotional response, you start to accept it. Accepting anxiety doesn’t mean you like it, it means that you know it’s there and it will go away, just like any feeling. Accepting the reality is key, and in that reality, lives anxiety. Anxiety is not ideal, but you can tolerate it if you accept it.
