Everyday ways to cope with Anxiety

 Anxiety is anticipatory fear; the worry that a fear-inducing situation might arise. For example, we might feel fear upon seeing a snake in our backyard, and this could lead to anxiety about entering our backyard at all. Fear usually diminishes as the threat is neutralised, whereas anxiety is more persistent. Anxiety can also become pervasive, such as when anxiety about snakes in our backyard can lead to anxiety about snakes in all outdoor spaces. newcastle mental health services

For many, anxiety can develop into a feeling of imminent and inevitable doom. Anxiety is not always pathological, however. Anxiety has a vital adaptive purpose, which is to motivate us to prepare and plan for possible threats. Our body responds accordingly, mobilising energy to allow us to take actions such as using heavy-duty shoes when outside, and cutting long grass and other hiding spots. When we’re adequately prepared, our anxiety ideally diminishes to a more manageable level.

However, if anxiety remains chronic, it can become harmful, leading to health problems such as decreased immunity and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Our brain becomes primed to see neutral or even positive experiences as threatening, which can lead to mood disorders including generalised anxiety (unspecified and chronic feeling of impending disaster), social anxiety (persistent fear of negative judgments from others), or panic disorder (episodes of intense symptoms such as dizziness, sweating, trembling, chest tightness, and pounding heart).

Anxiety management, with or without a formal clinical diagnosis, is best managed in three ways; addressing acute symptoms, improving resilience, and reducing overall anxiety.

Acute anxiety symptoms occur when our system is already overloaded, so our goal is to soothe our heightened state.

Some techniques that are helpful include:

Deep breathing or splashing our face with cold water to slow down our heart rate
Replacing anxiety-inducing thoughts (e.g. “I can’t cope”) with more helpful thoughts (e.g. “I will figure this out”)
For some, medication can be helpful to reduce acute stress symptoms.

Improving resilience and reducing overall anxiety involves:

a) developing a routine to lower daily stress before it escalates into acute symptoms b) addressing thought patterns that exacerbate anxiety or interfere with our anxiety management routine

For example, we can:

Get regular physical activity, which releases accumulated tension from stress
Aim for regular sleep, by improving sleep hygiene (e.g. going to bed at the same time each night, keeping noise and light to a comfortable level)

Improve our diet to include more fibre-rich whole foods that support a healthy microbiome and reduce inflammation, while also reducing or eliminating those things that worsen anxiety (eg. caffeine)
Engage in immersive activities that clear our mind and make us fully present to the moment, such as playing a musical instrument, drawing, dancing, gardening, etc.

Regular meditation that allows us to practice self-awareness, allowing us to better recognise early stages of anxiety and unhelpful thoughts. Through meditation, we might realise that we tend to minimise our own struggles, preventing us from developing coping strategies, or we might identify biases around mental health (e.g. viewing anxiety as a sign of “weakness”) that prevent us from seeking support

Regular social connection, which lowers heart rate and blood pressure

Medication can also be helpful for some people in lowering their anxiety threshold

Our experiences of anxiety will differ throughout our life, and what may seem manageable today can feel intolerable tomorrow. There is no universally perfect way to manage anxiety; only the way that is best suited for us, at this phase in life.

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