3 Easy Strategies to Decrease Anxiety
A Maryland therapist explains how to bring yourself a moment of calm.
Repeat these activities as often as you need to, to maximize your calm throughout the day.
1: Close your eyes…and breathe.
Sometimes everything feels too intense. There are too many people, too much light or sound, and too much movement. In these moments, it can help to shut off one of your senses for a moment. Get yourself to a place where you are physically safe, and give it a try.
For example, you might shut off your vision by covering your eyes with your hands or closing them. You could also use noise canceling headphones to shut off your hearing.
Now breathe. This combination can be really powerful. Shutting off your senses and deep breathing can 1) instantly reduce overstimulation and engage your parasympathetic nervous system and 2) start to regulate your body to decrease cortisol (stress hormone) and adrenaline (flight or fight). The result is a moment of feeling less stressed.
I know deep breathing helps to regulate anxiety. But how is it different than my normal breathing?
Good question! Your normal way of breathing is generally perfectly fine. But when your body starts to get stressed due to anxiety, your breathing changes too. It may get more shallow (using only the top of the lungs) and more rapid. Intentionally breathing more deeply counteracts both of these reactions to counteract the anxiety.
To confirm that you are breathing more deeply, place a hand on your belly. Now breathe in a way that makes your belly expand when you inhale, and relax when you exhale. Then use when of the following strategies to control the pace of your breathing.
Box breathing to self regulate
Box breathing means to breathe in, hold, breathe out and hold while tracing a square shape. You can do this with a finger in the air or on your palm. Kids may find it easiest to use an actual pencil and paper. Repeat the cycle until you feel more regulated, holding your breath on the top and bottom of the square and breathing in/out on the sides (or vice versa).
Infinity breathing can also help soothe anxiety
Infinity breathing is similar to box breathing, but without holding your breath. Use your hand to trace a figure 8 on your hand, breathing in as you trace one end of the 8 and out with the other. Once your body feels more regulated and you feel more calm you’ll naturally return to your normal breath.
2: Use Grounding Techniques
This one is almost the opposite of the first strategy. It connects you to what is happening around you, rather than inside you. In a deliberate and mindful way. This is called grounding. Grounding techniques include the 5-4-3-2-1 shown below.
Use the 5-4-3-2-1 method to mindfully observe your surroundings:
Start with the easiest sense: sight. Simply name or identify 5 things you can currently see. This could be the lamp in the room or the carpet on the floor, a friend nearby, or the color of your shoe. Anything counts.
Second, touch 4 things within the vicinity. Notice the sensation of each. This could be the desk you’re sitting in or the palm of your hand.
Third, listen for 3 sounds around you. It could be the hum of the radiator, the chirp of the crickets, or even your own breathing.
Fourth, smell 2 things. It could be the inside of your mask (maybe not the best smell, but it will certainly focus your attention away from anxiety) or the scent you put on this morning.
Last but not least, taste. Taste 1 thing. Taste is an important sensation we often forget until we start eating food or drinking something. You might taste water from your water bottle or perhaps your morning coffee or breakfast. No food or drink in sight? Simply notice whatever taste is in your mouth.
TLDR: 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique:
5- sight (things you can see)
4- touch (things you can touch)
3- hear (things you can hear)
2- smell (things you can smell)
1- taste (things you can taste)
3: Create and visualize your happy place
This one takes a little more work but it works after practice. Try it first when you aren’t experiencing much anxiety. You can then return to it when you are anxious.
Let’s start now. Take a moment to visualize a place that makes you feel happy. It could be something familiar like your house, somewhere that fills you with joy including a beach or park, or something wholly imagined like the Shire from the Hobbit.
Imagine it in many different ways. Imagine moving through the area. Imagine the touch, smell, and other sensations of the landscape and the items in the room. Make this visualization as powerful as you can, so that it almost feels real or easy to imagine as real.
Notice how it makes you feel. Notice if your body feels more relaxed and you feel happy. If both of those feel true, then you’ve hit the mark with a good visualization that can be used in a time of crisis and anxiety.
Continue to practice visualizing that happy or relaxed place for 4-5 minutes each day at a set time over the course of two weeks while relatively relaxed. The more days of practice pass, the easier it should be to step into the visualization and be flooded with the sensation of relaxation and peace.
But I’m always anxious! Can I still try this one if I’m stressed?
Of course! But if it doesn’t work well, try one of the other strategies first. Get your breathing on track, or ground yourself where you are. Then try creating your happy place.
Just remember to keep practicing. The more times you engage in the practice (even if it’s every day for the rest of your life) the easier it becomes. Allow yourself to walk and sense the landscape of your visualization. You can close your eyes and visualize if this helps.
Once you’ve gotten solid footing in your visualization so to speak you can start to feel the anxiety decrease and the stress melt. Try this visualization technique in a low-level anxiety inducing situation first. If it works for you then, work your way up slowly to a high-level anxiety situation.