If you’re worried or nervous about something, you may experience emotions or have physical sensations that are unpleasant. In plain terms, anxiety is our normal biological reaction to feeling threatened. When you’re experiencing anxiety, you may feel nervous and on the edge or sick and light-headed.
Anxiety states can vary from mild, moderate to severe depending on the kind of physical and psychological sensations that you experience. You may start to question your ability to handle basic activities on a daily basis. In a quest to gain relief from such negative thoughts, you may even turn to drugs, alcohol, gambling, or even a self-imposed isolation. You may also develop pains, aches, and feel the need to end up in an emergency room at the hospital.
If you’re having difficulty controlling worrisome thoughts that interfere with managing your immediate tasks, then you may be suffering from generalized anxiety disorder. When you have this disorder, you begin to worry about routine tasks like career responsibilities, finances, health, and household chores. You then start to evaluate your competence and your performance in such tasks. You’ll also begin to question your mastery over your thoughts, emotions, and behavior. When you’re anxious, you experience a lack of energy, happiness, and purpose.
Causes Of Anxiety
It’s hard to really know why you experience anxiety as a mental health issue and some others don’t. However, there are a few possible factors that can cause anxiety. They are as follows.
- Daily lifestyle and habits
- Diet
- Genetics
- Physical and mental health
- Any past or childhood experiences
- Any drugs or medications that you might be taking
At times, you could worry more than others or it could just be a part of your personality. It could even be a mixture of both. During other times, you just may not be able to know why you’re feeling anxious at all because there may no obvious cause in the first place.1
Self-Care Tips To Relieve Anxiety
You can read and follow all the anti-anxiety advice there is in the world. However, none of this matters unless you’re ready to take proper action. If you wish to feel more relaxed, sleep soundly at night, and direct your efforts or energy into constructive tasks, you need to make a conscious effort to not waste time on tasks that don’t matter.
1. Start Eating Healthy
You must be familiar with the old adage – “you are what you eat.” Being more careful about your dietary choices is the first step toward increasing your energy levels and becoming more resistant to stress. As you eat healthily, you’ll become more mentally fit to tackle everything that comes your way. Remember to include as many greens and leafy vegetables as possible in your diet as they contain calming antioxidants and essential vitamins that help protect your mental health.2
2. Get Plenty Of Physical Exercise
Whether you love to play football, take a long walk, ride your bike, sweat it out in the gym, or practice martial arts, you need to do whatever it takes to release stress. Engaging in any physical activity will help you with anxiety relief and improve your overall wellness in a natural way.3
Even practicing yoga, meditation, and progressive muscle relaxation techniques can do wonders for you. A total mind and body workout should be your primary goal. Yoga and meditation helps reduce stress and anxiety levels while enhancing your physical and mental stamina at the same time. With progressive muscle relaxation, you learn to monitor and control muscular tension, thereby reducing worry, stress, and pain due to any physical ailments.
3. Spend Time Enjoying The Outdoors
A change of scenery like a fishing trip, a mini vacation, or even something as simple as a walk on a beach can do your mental health a world of good. Whether it’s a rainy or a sunny day, spend as much time as you can outside as it has a positive impact on your mental state.
4. Make An Effort To Socialize
Have you not had a decent conversation with your old school friend in a long time or not had the time to catch up with your new work buddies? Make a genuine effort to connect with people. Just a simple phone call or a message on social media would suffice. You could reminisce about the good old times or plan a little road trip for the weekend. Socializing can help ease your stress levels and promote happiness.4
5. Volunteer To Help Others
How many times have you thought about helping a blind man cross a busy road or helping a disabled person go up a flight of stairs? If you haven’t done any such thing already, it’s about time that you start to do so. Helping people in need will give you a sense of purpose in life. You’ll start feeling calmer and better about yourself too.
6. Do The Opposite Of What You’re Feeling
Do you usually isolate yourself or sleep to deal with any sadness or depressive thoughts? Learn to do the exact opposite of what you think you should do in such circumstances. Changing your negative behavior can help change your mental outlook. This, in turn, reinforces a more proactive behavior. To put things into perspective, you need to step outside of yourself and start creating a new reality of what’s possible. You need to realize that you’re no longer bound by stress-inducing emotions and that you can choose how you feel by changing the way you act or react.
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