Coping With Anxiety: Small Steps Toward Feeling Better
Anxiety is a normal emotional response to stress or a perceived threat. At typical levels, it can be helpful to motivate us to accomplish goals, meet deadlines, and avoid potentially harmful situations. However, anxiety can also involve a range of symptoms such as rapid breathing, increased heart rate, sweating or clammy hands, muscle tension, racing thoughts, fear, difficulty concentrating, and poor sleep.
When these symptoms become excessive or persistent, they can interfere with daily functioning. Daily functioning refers to the routine activities that help us take care of ourselves and meet our responsibilities—such as getting out of bed, brushing our teeth, eating meals, going to work, and maintaining social or personal commitments.
Simple strategies can help calm your body and mind. Try deep breathing, gentle exercise, keeping a regular sleep schedule (lack of sleep can contribute to some of the symptoms of anxiety) and challenging unhelpful thoughts.
You can find cognitive-behavioral strategies to help support sleep here however you can find short tips below for other strategies to help with anxiety:
Sit or lie down somewhere comfortable
Place one hand on your chest and one on your belly
Breathe in slowly through your nose for about 4 seconds, letting your belly rise
Hold the breath for a moment
Breathe out slowly through your mouth for about 6 seconds
Repeat this for a few minutes
Try to focus on your breathing as you do this. With each breath out, imagine your tension leaving your body. Doing this for just a few minutes can help you feel calmer and more in control.
Gentle exercise is a clinically supported strategy for reducing anxiety by acting on both the body and brain. Low-intensity movement (such as walking, stretching, or yoga) can lead to a reduction in heart rate, muscle tension, and stress hormone levels (like cortisol). Even brief sessions (10–20 minutes of light activity most days) can be beneficial.
An example of challenging an unhelpful thought is if you are worried about how you will perform in an interview the next morning, you might think about oversleeping or saying the “wrong” thing. You can gently challenge these thoughts by reminding yourself that you have prepared as best you can; you can set an alarm to wake up on time, and the interviewer is interested in learning about you—not expecting perfection.
I often compare practicing CBT strategies as practicing for a sport or instrument, with regular practice and consistency, you will see progress—give yourself time and patience.
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