5 Easy Life Hacks to Beat Anxiety

Anxiety is a mental health concern that is often characterized by excessive fear, worry, and nervousness. These symptoms can also come accompanied by restlessness, increased irritability, and concentration difficulties.

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, anxiety affects a whopping 40 million adults in the United States and is the most common mental health concern.

The statistics could even be higher since almost everyone has had a mild anxiety attack at some point in their lives; it could have been before a speech or an activity you were engaging in for the first time.

You probably did not recognize it because you chalked down the mild anxiety as regular fear.

People who experience severe anxiety, on the other hand, have not been so lucky. The anxiety they experience tends to be more pronounced as it mimics a heart attack; some people have even been rushed to emergency rooms because they thought it was a heart attack.

The world is increasingly becoming empathetic to people who suffer from anxiety. More companies are endeavoring in creating a safe space for them.

These good intentions have worked for some while for others it has not. You can use the following life hacks to beat anxiety if you belong to the latter group:

Alter Your Diet

Including certain foods in your diet can help you reduce the chances of experiencing anxiety.

These foods contain certain chemical substances that enhance cognitive function and increase hormones associated with mood control. There are several foods that you can explore to help reduce your anxiety.

• Dark chocolate

Eating dark chocolate has been known to increase serotonin levels in the body. This serotonin, in turn, helps to reduce the stress that leads to anxiety.

Dark chocolate also has flavonoids – substances known for reducing neuroinflammation and the death of cells in the brain.

It is due to these reasons that companies are embracing dark chocolate. Paul Masson Brandy adds dark chocolate to its brandy to give it a soft chocolate aroma just like Tesco chocolate biscuits.

• Turmeric

Adding this spice to your food will help alleviate anxiety as it contains an active ingredient known as curcumin. This ingredient helps reduces oxidative stress and inflammation.

• Chamomile

The phrase ‘relax and drink some chamomile tea’ is commonly thrown at friends or colleagues when they are having a fit, and for a good reason.

Chamomile has flavonoids in them which help the body to relax. Perhaps the phrase should be modified to ‘drink some chamomile tea.’

Other foods that can help you manage anxiety include yogurt, eggs, fatty fish such as sardines, and pumpkin seeds.

Exercise Regularly

Anxiety typically leads to the buildup of tension in your muscles. This tension can be a constant reminder that something is amiss in your world and even instigate social anxiety when you are mingling with friends.

Exercising enables you to stretch these muscles and release the tension out.

Exercise has also been known to release endorphins which trigger positive thoughts and feeling into the body.

The effects of endorphins released during exercise are especially strong as they are meant to ensure your body can continue undertaking the strenuous activity.

Exercise also leads to higher physical and mental energy. The reason for this invigorated feeling after working out is that the body releases endorphins.

These endorphins work with the receptors to minimize the awareness of pain. Your body is thus able to push past its normal limits.

A great way to exercise is by riding out in the wilderness. It has been scientifically proven that riding a bike lowers the level of stress.

You can then use this newfound energy to complete school assignments or work projects in time. This will help a great deal with your anxiety as you will not have to worry about meeting deadlines consistently.

Write down your emotions

Sharing past traumatic experiences that cause anxiety is often a tall order especially when all you are thinking about is steroids.

Many people are afraid that their secrets will be exposed to the public or that the person listening will not understand them. The result is typically keeping all these things to themselves, and this exacerbates the anxiety.

We have come to tell you that there is a way out. You can release all the pent up energy by writing down your feelings. The writing can consist of two sections: situation and thoughts.

The situation section is for describing the positions you find yourself in, that cause you anxiety while the thoughts section is for expressing your feelings at the moment.

Writing this down will enable you to find a clear course of action to take to remedy the anxiety.

Expose yourself to the fear

It is often said that the only way you can overcome your fears is by facing them. This is also true for anxiety.
A person who experiences social anxiety can overcome it by being more outgoing.

A person who develops anxiety when reading a speech can conquer it by choosing to read more in front of people.

These activities will be scary at first but eventually putting yourself in these situations will help you master anxiety; you will ultimately realize that fear is nothing but air.

Remove anxiety-inducing things in your environment

Many things in your house could cause you anxiety. Top of this list is a clutter. Many people have reported that clutter in the home induced their anxiety and they felt a need to get rid of it immediately.

Therefore, clearing your clutter is the first step for people who experience anxiety when they are at home.

A noisy television when you live alone can also be a cause of anxiety. Your brain is conditioned to silence when you are at home; a noisy TV gives your brain the signal that someone might be in the house.

Turn off the television when you are not watching it to prevent this from happening.

Conclusion

Anxiety can lead to a crippling feeling that prevents you from doing tasks required of you. This can lead to a situation where management perceives you as lazy.

However, the above life hacks will enable you to manage it well enough to perform your routine activities without any hitches.