Anxiety is widespread, and it affects one in 13 persons. It manifests differently, sometimes through a panic attack, other times through nervousness in your stomach, shaking hands, overwhelming tensions, beating heart, etc. It causes overwhelming discomfort and can significantly reduce the quality of life of a person.
How to stop overthinking and anxiety? Let’s find out!
But, first, here is some information about the anxiety you should know before we learn hot to calm down anxiety attack.
What is Anxiety?
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), anxiety is an emotion of fear and tension, followed by some physical manifestations, such as high blood pressure.
Occasional fear and tensions are normal emotions, but once it becomes too overwhelming and too often, a person is at higher risk of General anxiety disorder (GAD).
Here are some of the symptoms of GAD:
- Continuous tensions
- Continuous feelings of fear, uncertainty and irritability
- Problems with sleep and concentration
People who suffer from GAD experience these symptoms to severe levels. It can affect their ability to develop relationships, do their work, and complete everyday tasks so it is necessary to learn how to calm down an anxiety attack.
Types of Anxiety
There are several types of anxiety that you may need to learn about as you learn how to stop overthinking and anxiety, including:
- Generalized anxiety disorder – GAD
- Social anxiety disorder
- Selective mutism
- Specific phobia
- Separation anxiety disorder
The first two types are the most common, with a wide range of symptoms.
5 Ways of How to Calm Down an Anxiety Attack
The following are simple methods you can practice to ease the feeling of fear and worry while also learning how to stop overthinking and anxiety.
Skip the Extra Coffee
There is nothing wrong with starting your day with a cup of coffee. Coffee contains caffeine, a stimulant that keeps you awake. But, research shows that too much caffeine increases the feeling of anxiety.
Therefore, you don’t have to give up on coffee, just drink three or fewer coffee cups per day.
One of the ways you learn how to calm down an anxiety attack is to not take in stimulants that make the sensation worse.
Walk it Out
Workouts are excellent for anxiety and have both long-term and short-term positive effects on your mind and body. But, if you feel anxious, you don’t have to grab your fitness equipment and rush to the gym.
How to calm down an anxiety attack, a slow walk can help. A slow walk around the neighborhood will help you feel better and relax your muscles. You can listen to music while you walk to block the outer noise.
Exercising three times per week for half an hour is an optimal workout schedule, but a ten-minute walk when you feel overwhelmed will make an instant difference in learning how to stop overthinking and anxiety.
Focus on Something Else
If you feel extensive fear or worry and experience trouble calming down one of the ways you can learn how to stop overthinking and anxiety is to try to distract yourself and focus on something that will keep your hands busy. It is called a distraction technique and is a simple trick to drive your attention away from your overwhelming feelings.
You can draw, wash your hands, brush your hair, or anything else you can think of.
The technique stops your brain from focusing on thoughts that increase anxiety. This also how to calm down anxiety attack by distracting yourself with something else.
Breathe
When your emotions and thoughts become unbearable, your breathing changes and your brain doesn’t get enough oxygen which stops you from thinking clearly. How to calm down anxiety attack means learning to use your breath to slow down your anxiety.
Therefore, it is important to practice a simple breathing technique that will help calm you down, lower the heart rate and stop your blood pressure from going sky high.
How to stop overthinking and anxiety using your breath looks like this. When your breathing becomes rapid, close your eyes and slowly take a deep breath through your nose, hold your breath for several seconds, and exhale slowly. Repeat the technique as many times as you need until you feel your vision clears, your hands stop shaking, your heart rate stabilizes and the unbearable feeling decreases.
Final Thoughts
Dealing with anxiety is challenging. When anxiety strikes you need to instantly know how to calm down anxiety attack, the last thing you are capable of is thinking clearly and helping yourself. Practicing the mentioned techniques that are simple to remember and focus on in those moments to feel better especially during relaxed times. This practice will allow you to do this as a an automatic response. As you learn what works and what doesn’t work to ease anxiety write them down as you learn also how to stop overthinking and worry.
How do you deal with anxiety? Please share your tips below!
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