Take control over your anxity

Manage Anxiety With These Exercises – Be In Control

Written by Valentina Dragomir, Psychotherapist | Fact Checked | See our editorial process

People suffering from anxiety can be overwhelmed by its presence in their lives.

If it is not properly managed when it occurs, anxiety can have a negative impact on people. Anxiety can occur suddenly anywhere and in any context a person may be: at work, at school, on an outing with friends, in the middle of a conversation, etc.

The good news is that by frequently applying some exercises for anxiety, we can regain the control and feel better.

Anxiety occurs especially when we think about a couple of important things for us: (it could be different for each person)

  • what we imagine it is going to happen
  • what we have to do
  • the expectations of other people we think we have to meet
  • or other things that worry us

Thinking about these things, sometimes can lead to behavioral and physiological reactions that we feel we cannot control. For example, shaking hands or feet, redness of the face, rapid speaking or heart beating, choking and other similar reactions.

Often, people who suffer from anxiety or an anxiety disorder, want to hide these reactions and go unnoticed. They can feel embarrassed if someone observes they have these reactions.

Here are three simple exercises to help with anxiety

How do we manage anxiety in public places discreetly? Here are three exercises to relieve your anxiety that are simple and easy to do.

List of people who you trust

Prepare ahead a list of 5 people you can call when you feel anxiety. Be sure that these are the people you can count on to listen to you when you feel anxious. Speaking to and listening to the voice of the person you are calling will help you reduce the intensity of your anxiety. It is important to know that someone is there to listen to you. No one will notice that you have anxiety. You are just talking on the phone.

Breathe

Relaxation or breathing techniques are very effective ways to manage anxiety. This happens because it helps the alarm system of the brain to calm down and consequently the bodily reactions of anxiety are reduced.

Breathing techniques can be used at work or while commuting, or wherever you are. You can breathe by sitting, standing or walking. You do that already anyway, right?

You can focus your attention on the place in the body where you feel your anxiety being localized and inhale deeply by (imaginary) guiding the air into that area of the body. Then exhale as deeply. Repeat this breathing exercise for a few minutes without forcing yourself. It only takes a few minutes (at least 2) to calm yourself down by doing this exercise.

Grounding yourself in the present moment

The last method on this list to manage anxiety is to focus on the present moment. When anxiety rages over you, it is usually because you are thinking of something that might happen in the future.

What you can do in this situation is to observe your thoughts without judging them and to keep your focus on what is happening now. This method helps by keeping your focus on something different than your thoughts, and anxiety can decrease in intensity.

The brain cannot focus on more than one thing at a time and this seems to be the reason why anxiety decreases.

Although these exercises can be efficient in the short term, they don’t guarantee healing in the long term.

Some exercises for anxiety may be effective for you, other exercises may not be. Some people effectively manage their anxiety at home. Other people need specialized support and psychotherapy to manage their anxiety. But it is important to know that psychotherapy is needed for the effective treatment of long-term anxiety.

Integrative psychotherapy is effective in treating the causes of anxiety. When needed, psychotherapy can be combined with drug treatment. This approach depends on the agreement between the client and therapist, and it seems to bring the best results in the least amount of time.

If you are suffering from anxiety and want to start a psychotherapy treatment, I invite you to contact me. For appointments I can be reached by e-mail [email protected] or by phone 0773 394 730.


Source

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