1. Talk about it. Speak with a trusted friend or family member, or with a therapist who can give you support and feedback.
2. Meditate or deep breathe. Breathing deeply can help to balance out your nervous system and can help you to be more present and less lost in your worries.
3. Relax. Find a mindful way to engage your senses. Have some herbal tea, take a bath, listen to some soothing music or get out into nature.
4. Alternative Healing. Explore things like acupuncture, hypnotherapy or massage.
5. Get some exercise. Getting your heart rate up for about 20 minutes or so has been shown to have an immediate effect on anxiety and depression.
6. Eat a balanced diet. Your eating habits can certainly affect your mood.
7. Balance your sleep. Too little sleep will make you anxious and irritable and you just won’t feel like you.
8. Deal with the problem. The key here is to deal with life as it comes.
9. Stop avoiding. The more we avoid things that make us anxious, the more we can box ourselves in – and then we start getting anxious about being anxious!
10. Listen to your gut. This is probably the most important thing to learn – to trust yourself. If something doesn’t feel right, it probably needs to change. Your gut will tell you what to do.
Kirsten Helgager, Psy.D. – PSY27247
Clinical Psychologist
AToN Center 888-535-1516
