15 Effective Exercises To Help You Overcome Your Daily Anxiety

Anxiety is the enemy of every modern person who is even a little indulged in the exhausting whirlpool of information overload, social media, deadlines, goals, opinions, globalisation. Anxiety on missing out, social anxiety, recognition anxiety; all piling up, forming an itch deep inside your guts, a difficulty to breathe.

So how to deal with it? I am not a stranger to anxiety myself, in fact, I have been subjected to anxiety a lot, often building up to panic attacks. So, I have gathered some “yes, do it at home” tips to share.

 

1. Start small and start digital.

   You can turn the main sources of your anxiety – apps -into your allies. Apps like Pacifica and Headspace help you overcome anxiety in combination with other methods.

 

2. Breathing.

   Breathe properly. Whenever you feel the anxiety coming, take a few deep breaths, and just focus on breathing in and breathing out. You’d be surprised what ten deep conscious breaths in a row can do.

 

3. Yoga or other exercise.

   That’s vital for any kind of a good mood, stress reduction, positivity and overcoming anxiety. Put that dark negative energy into movement, sweat it out.

 

4. Meditation.

   OK, I personally think that’s not as easy as it sounds. It’s very hard to force yourself into meditation if you are anxious, it’s very hard to sit still and keep your mind focused. First of all, it’s a matter of training, the more you do it, the easier it will be to calm your mind down later. In the beginning though it’s great to combine with other methods – like relaxing music and breathing.

 

5. Walks in the nature.

   That is a sort of a meditation, it even has a name – a walking meditation, a common Zen practice. Not to mention that it’s a great way to come up with creative ideas, and hence problem solution, which cause the anxiety in the first place.

 

6. Listening to relaxing music.

   That is very subjective. Some people can relax to drum’n’bass or metal. It is commonly acknowledged that classical music and “music for relaxation” (there are compilations on Spotify) work for everybody, but it can happen you hate it. Just try to find something that fits you – anything which moves you and takes you to a happy place.

 

7. Analyse. Yes, analyse.

   Why are you anxious? Look deep inside and try to find the source, and then turn it around – perhaps you can just get rid of the problem itself?

 

8. Talk to friends. Share.

   Now that you have analysed, you should share your findings. Pouring your heart out is great, and sometimes friends (and strangers) can give you a great advice.

 

9. Herbal teas.

   The most common ones and easiest to find are Chamomile and Lavender, I think.

 

10. Magnesium.

    Now this is just something scientific. Magnesium can be found in nuts, seeds, whole grains, avocados, but probably a food supplement would do it quicker.

 

11. Sleep.

    Sleep is one of the greatest remedies at all – while we sleep, our body restores cells and recovers from stress. Not for nothing they say “just sleep on the idea”.

 

12. Cut on coffee. Or any stimulating drinks.

    Especially energy drinks. It has been medically proven that energy drink consumption directly leads to anxiety increase.

 

13. I probably don’t have to mention this, but cut on drugs.

    That’s even worse than energy drinks for anxiety attacks.

 

14. Alcohol.

    This goes both ways. In the long term alcohol consumption increases the anxiety. However an occasional glass of wine can help you relax and feel more relaxed about the situation. One glass!

 

15. Get older.

    Seriously, the older you get the less important anything in the world seems, and you feel less anxious. Also you’ve probably been on this path before, and you know how to “get your shit together“ more efficiently.