Tips and Strategies to Manage Anxiety and Stress

Anxiety and stress have become a common day problem, not only with adults but teenagers as well. To keep your mental and physical health intact it becomes necessary to know the tips and strategies to manage anxiety and stress. The article will focus on the ways to cope with anxiety and stress to help you have a stress-free life but before that let's know the difference between anxiety and stress. 

Difference between Anxiety and Stress  

Anxiety hints at the feeling of worry, and fear, which is constant and remains even if you are tensed or stressed. It leaves you feeling uneasy and restless, unable to determine what to do. Often anxiety develops into disorders like do you know what is an anxiety attack? An anxiety attack is a brief encounter of excessive, uncontrollable fear. Hence, it is essential to control it before it turns into a disorder. 

On the other hand, stress is pressure which causes irritation, frustration, and anger. It is triggered by some causes and eventually leaves. Both together cause harm to mental and physical health. You can consider getting stress management counseling to learn how to tackle it, however, following the tips and strategies to manage anxiety and stress also works.

Tips and Strategies to manage anxiety and stress 

Anxiety and stress can lead to a severe decline in your happy-go-merry life. Here are some tips and strategies to manage anxiety and stress.

1. Try to talk things out 

One of the foremost tips to deal with anxiety is to avoid isolation and withdrawal from your family and friends. Often anxiety and stress cause us to avoid meeting people and stay on our own but it deteriorates the situation and increases the stress level. Instead, try talking to a loved one about what's running in your mind. 

This is how to reduce anxiety naturally by letting things out from your heart. Human complexity doesn't allow them to communicate properly but talking about things that are causing you anxiety allows you to clear your mind and get rid of unnecessary thoughts. Share things with people instead of piling up the feelings. 

2. Get yourself plenty of sleep 

Do you know how to manage anxiety? One of the techniques to do so by having plenty of good sleep is known to be a natural escape and also calms you down. A human needs almost 7 to 8 hours of sleep to keep the mind and body healthy, and that too good sleep. Focusing on improving sleep-wake cycles helps in keeping the body fit and managing anxiety and stress levels. 

Deep sleep, where there are no rapid eye movements lowers your heart rate and blood pressure, significantly decreasing anxiety levels and therefore managing it as poor sleep quality stimulates the brain excessively and increases stress levels.

3. Go for yoga and meditation 

Among different coping strategies for stress, one of the additional strategies is forming a regular habit of yoga and meditation. There is no doubt yoga and meditation are extremely beneficial for both your mind and body, they not only keep your body fit and healthy but also make your mind calm and peaceful. 

When it comes to how to reduce anxiety, doing yoga and meditation is one of the best coping techniques you can adopt. The benefits of following it in terms of anxiety and stress are that it soothes your soul, clarifies your thoughts, keeps you calm, improves productivity and concentration and reduces stress and anxiety. 

4. Working on journaling your thoughts 

Among the various tips to deal with anxiety, one of the tips to manage stress or anxiety is journaling. During stress or anxiety, your mind gets cluttered with thousands of thoughts that keep running aimlessly and disturb you. It might not be possible to instantly talk to someone, so what you can do is write them down. 

Writing the thoughts is a way to express and let out your thoughts which creates space in your mind and gets you to calm down. Journal all the feelings and later on try to understand the main problem and solve it. This is how to manage anxiety regularly and it also helps you understand your trigger points.

5. Know about what triggers you 

Knowing about your triggers is one of the tips to deal with anxiety. There are always some trigger points that hit your anxiety or stress levels. For example, some people get stressed over piled up work, thus the piled work becomes a trigger point for them, whereas for some a place, thing or any feeling can be a trigger point for their anxiety. 

Identifying your trigger points is essential to avoid anxiety and stress or heal from them. So people who get stressed over the pile of work should avoid procrastination and schedule their things to complete them on time. It is one of the ways to relieve stress by controlling the things that you can do.

6. Learn to let go of things that you can't control 

When it comes to how to manage anxiety, it is essential to understand that things that you can't control should be allowed to let go. There are two kinds of situations, one that can be controlled and another that cannot be controlled. Things that build up stress or anxiety and cannot be controlled like worry about the future, exam result stress, and contemplating past mistakes should not be given much thought and allowed to pass out. These are some of the mistakes that increase your anxiety level. It is not easy to suddenly stop having such thoughts but it is important to try, acknowledge the thoughts and let them pass on.

7. Set boundaries for people 

The natural tendency of people is not to maintain any boundaries and cross the limits in almost everything. Often when people cross the boundaries or things don't end up on good terms it leads to anxiety and stress. One of the coping strategies for stress and anxiety is clearing, maintaining boundaries and not allowing people to cross it. 

Know when you must say no and adhere to saying NO. Do not allow people to ruin your peace of mind or give you unnecessary stress by having them stay in their circle. Have defined and clear terms of how much interference you want and from whom and this is how to reduce anxiety. 

8. Keep your busy and avoid overthinking 

Another significant tip among various other tips to deal with anxiety is to keep yourself busy and avoid procrastination. A cluttered life is a symbol of a cluttered mind causing stress and anxiety hence do not push your task for the next hour, or day when you can do that now. Doing so keeps you occupied, and reduces the chances of overthinking since procrastination is one of the signs that you keep on overthinking every time, and completion of the work clears your mind. So, keep yourself busy and work on improving yourself but do not overload yourself and have proper time to relax. 

9. Put a limit on your caffeine intake 

Many people believe that caffeine and beverages help reduce stress levels however the result is the opposite. It has been found that the intake of caffeine causes the body temperature to rise, sleep deprivation, increased heart rates and blood pressure which all result in anxiety and stress. 

Putting a limit on your caffeine intake is one of the ways to relieve stress, as the above-stated changes do not take place. Further, caffeine is not good for your health as it might increase the risk of panic or anxiety attacks. When it comes to how to manage anxiety, the first thing you must do is cut caffeine, alcohol and smoking.   

10. Stay more with nature and less on the phone 

The increased use of mobile and social media is proven to increase stress and anxiety levels. Excessive screen time causes the person to restrict their physical activity and slow down the body's functioning. The delusional life shown on social media also causes many teenagers to experience anxiety and stress. One of the coping strategies for stress or anxiety is to allow yourself nature's company and reduce screen time. This is one of the mistakes to avoid when dealing with anxiety, surround yourself with the natural world and engage in physical activities, this way you can also connect to yourself and experience peacefulness.

11. Go for slow breathing and counting 

One of the most advised anxiety management techniques to reduce stress and anxiety instantly is to go for slow breathing and counting. Whenever someone encounters a panic attack or goes through anxiety, taking deep slow breaths by counting each one of them helps to relax quickly and divert the mind. 

It is essential to shift the thought process to calm down the stress levels. This is one of the ways to relieve stress. In the long run, the other techniques become very helpful but at the time anxiety strikes deep breathing quickly reduces the heart rate and blood pressure levels. 

12. Go for a fun recreational activity 

One of the coping strategies for stress is to have or develop a new recreational activity. Most of the time when our work or study load increases so much that builds up anxiety or stress, in such cases having a recreational activity or a favorite hobby helps to reduce the stress levels. 

Try adopting some hobbies like playing a musical instrument, dancing, singing, painting, crafting or writing, all these help in shifting your focus and allow you to enjoy your life. Using these ways to cope with anxiety and stress not only provides pleasure but also eliminates overthinking by keeping you busy. Therefore, try to have a hobby or indulge in co-curricular activities. 

13. Seek therapy or counseling session 

Many people are unable to manage their stress and anxiety levels and it extends to the level where their normal life routine, relationships, and health both physical and mental starts deteriorating. In such cases seeking outside help becomes necessary. 

When it comes to how to reduce anxiety in such situations, then going for anxiety disorder counseling or stress management therapy helps. They help you pinpoint the trigger points, and causes, and evaluate your symptoms providing you with all the necessary help to overcome and learn how to manage or deal with excessive anxiety or stress. You can also contact us for counseling sessions. 

14. Maintain a healthy lifestyle 

One of the anxiety management techniques that help you in the long run with not only reducing your anxiety and stress but also having a healthy body is maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Having a healthy lifestyle refers to eating a balanced diet food with lots of green vegetables, fruits and nuts, and dairy products and also avoiding smoking and drinking with a proper sleep schedule. Your lifestyle has a huge effect on your mental health influencing anxiety and stress. Poor eating habits can cause obesity and high cholesterol levels which can increase stress levels. This is one of the ways to cope with anxiety and stress. 

15. Try to have a positive attitude in Life

One of the most important tips and strategies to manage anxiety and stress is to always maintain a positive attitude. It is believed that whatever you think and manifest happens in your life, therefore when you surround yourself with negative thoughts and feelings you are likely to experience negative things in your life building anxiety and stress. 

Surrounding yourself and always keeping a positive attitude towards things allows you to see things in a new light and avoid unnecessary stress. Following these anxiety management techniques will make significant changes in your thought process and reduce anxiety. 

Conclusion 

Anxiety and stress are triggered more by mental fear which can be controlled by practicing the tips and strategies to manage anxiety and stress. The competitive, fast-paced, and changing world puts forth new challenges every day and hence it becomes necessary to prioritize physical, mental and emotional well-being. It is essential to know how to overcome anxiety. Talking to a loved one, journaling, having a healthy lifestyle with good sleep, avoiding caffeine, triggers and procrastination, and letting things go, yoga, deep breaths and meditation are some of the ways to cope with anxiety and stress.