4 Easy Tips To Reduce Anxiety & Relax Your Nervous System

You know that feeling (anxiety or not) that comes over you when you’re about to go out into public? The one where you get a little nervous, your palms start to sweat, and all of a sudden you feel like running home? That’s anxiety. It’s a natural, an essential part of being human and as such, we should deal with it as best we can in order to live our lives to the fullest. But how often do we think about what causes anxiety in the first place? What can we do to reduce our chances of getting thrown into this anxious state in the future? If you answered “almost never” then congratulations! You are probably one of the fortunate ones who doesn’t suffer from social anxiety or any other related anxiety issues. For most people, though, managing anxiety is something that needs to be addressed from time to time regardless of its cause. In this article, we discuss 4 tips for reducing anxiety and making life easier every day.

1. Go for a walk.

This one should be obvious, but for some reason, it’s still pretty rare to see people doing it. Walking is a low-key, stress-relieving activity that can completely relax the body and mind. It’s also good for your posture, regulates your breathing, and helps kickstart your day. If you’re having a bad day or just want to take a relaxer, going for a walk is the ultimate solution. So go on, step out with your best friend, or go by yourself and just enjoy the silence and nature around you. You’ll feel so much more relaxed and happy than if you were in a crowd of people.

2. Plan your day ahead of time

A lot of people have the misconception that they should plan their days in advance in order to avoid anxiety or get a rise out of it. This is not the case at all. Being in an anxiety-inducing environment or going through a phase of high anxiety or even one step closer to an anxiety disorder can be triggered by a number of things such as a busy schedule, the need to take care of responsibilities, or simply the simple fact that you don’t know what’s going to happen next. If you really need to get something out of the way, try to schedule everything that day so that it doesn’t cause you anxiety in the future. This will also help you relax knowing that everything will be fine in the end.

3. Learn Something New

Anxiety can be triggered by a lot of things such as a challenge that you’ve never experienced before, a change in environment, or even a guilty conscience. If you’re in a public place, start learning something new. It could be the first step to managing your anxiety and lessening the chances of a full-blown anxiety attack. Learning something new can completely change your outlook and even decrease your risk of developing an anxiety disorder down the road. So, find a challenge that you’re willing to learn to overcome, and start there. Learning a new language, for example, can completely change your outlook on life as a Francophone and can help you deal with social anxiety in a more positive way.

4. Write down your worst fears.

This one is crucial if you want to reduce anxiety. In fact, writing them down is like releasing them from a tight grip that anxiety has had on you. All of your insecurities, negative thoughts, and general worries are released into the open where they can be heard and dealt with by yourself and (hopefully) overcome. It might sound really cliché, but writing them down really helps. So, take a deep breath, get those worries out of your head, and start writing. Get them out of the past, the present, and the future and start somewhere new. Write down your worst fears and doubts, and then cross them off. If you’re really really worried, cross two or three things off and start a new list. This will help you relax knowing that you haven’t been perfectly honest with yourself, that you don’t have everything perfect, and that you’re not perfect either.

Conclusion

In order to be able to relax and decrease the chances of having an anxiety attack, the methods that we have shared in this article are key. What if you have a lot of commitments? What if you have a family? What if you don’t like to spend too much time by yourself? The good news is that anxiety is not something that we are stuck with for the rest of our lives. In fact, with a little effort, we can tackle it head-on each day. With time and determination, we can overcome any challenge that comes our way.