Anxiety: Top 5 Ways to Instantly Calm Your Mind!

The COVID-19 pandemic may have caused numerous changes in your life, this infectious virus has produced a number of psychiatric and mental illnesses in addition to raising worries about public health. When the condition is uncertain, your daily routines are disrupted and you’re confronted with financial strains, social isolation, and anxiety usually occurs at this time. It is a sensation of disquiet that can range from minor to severe, such as worry or fear.

Anxiety is common in people’s lives, but if you find that you have uncontrollable, constant anxiety, it can affect your normal life. Find out methods to alleviate worry, in Anxiety: 5 Top Ways to Instantly Calm Your Mind!

1. Name & Accept Your Anxiety

You could help yourself by accepting that your anxiety does exist. It’s not a good idea to try to ignore your nervous thoughts and sensations; this will just make things worse.

Usually, it’s easy to think to yourself, “Oh no, it’s going to happen again, and it’ll be terrible.” It’s also simple to become engrossed in negative thinking. What you should do is embrace them for what they are – your honest thoughts and feelings.

Try to write your own feeling diary, record any negative thoughts in detail, then replace or question these ideas, ask yourself things such as: Is this something that might happen in real life? Is it true that thinking about this will benefit me in any way?

Who we choose to be is shaped by how we view ourselves and secondarily, the world, that is why negative ideas must be challenged and recognising anxiety should help you to relax quicker.

2. Deep Breathing

Based on the section of your lungs you use, there are two styles of breathing. When you’re exercising or under stress, you’ll normally breathe through your upper lungs or chest. This is referred to as chest breathing.

This style of breathing is generally shallower and quicker, and your sympathetic nervous system goes into overdrive under certain conditions, signalling your heart to beat faster and your breathing rate to rise, causing our fight-or-flight response.

On the other hand, deep breathing from the diaphragm rather than the chest is known as diaphragmatic breathing, and it can help calm your sympathetic nervous system, which can help you feel less stressed or anxious.

Therefore, try to inhale and exhale slowly, evenly, and deeply for several breaths for 60 seconds when you feel anxious. It can help you with everyday anxiety as well as more severe issues like generalised anxiety disorder.

3. Listen to Music

Just one song may bring you back to a more composed and healthy place, whether you’re on edge or need a lift. Music has the great potential to raise your mood, reduce stress, help you rest better and improve your wellbeing.

In clinical practice, the professional and evidence-based use of music treatments to achieve customised goals within a therapeutic partnership is known as music therapy. It is used to treat a wide range of diseases and individuals. Songs may assist you, and others quiet their nervous systems, relaxing and healing their souls.

However, you don’t have to see a therapist. You may also utilize music to boost your mental health on your own. When you feel anxious next time, try listening to some soothing and relaxing music, perhaps jazz, classical, or even new age instrumentals, or write a song yourself!

4. Diverting Attention

Any activity that you participate in to divert your thoughts away from your current emotions is referred to as a distraction technique. Instead of focusing all of your attention on the anxiety, you redirect it to something else. You may regulate your powerful emotions by diverting your attention elsewhere when you distract yourself.

So, remove yourself from the situation by looking in a different direction, walking out of the room, exercising, repeating a positive mantra (affirmation) or playing video games to entertain yourself if anxiety occurs again.

5. Meditate

“Meditation, which is the practice of focused concentration, bringing yourself back to the moment over and over again, actually addresses stress, whether positive or negative.”

Meditation was created thousands of years ago to aid in the comprehension of life’s holy and mystical powers. Meditation and yoga is widely utilised these days for relaxation and stress reduction.

During meditation, you concentrate your attention and clear your mind of the muddled ideas that may be bothering you and producing tension. Physical and emotional wellbeing may be improved as a result of this procedure.

Studies reveal that regular meditation practice rewires neural circuits in the brain, improving our ability to control emotions; similarly, anxiety is a mental condition characterised by an inability to control one’s emotions. Hence, meditation is one of the most efficient ways to relieve anxiety.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has had much impact on our lives. We should do all we can to calm down, adjust our mindset, deal with the crisis positively and live well. Do you often feel anxious in your daily life? Which hacks help you perceive things better so you can get through it easier? Let us know in the comments below and join in the conversation on FacebookTwitter & Instagram!

Zhe Deng

Zhe is currently a student majoring in Psychology and Education at the University of Auckland. She is passionate about helping people to improve emotional health especially now with COVID-19. She also has a keen interest in physical exercise and enjoys badminton, table tennis and swimming. Zhe hopes to make valuable contributions to improving people’s well-being by passionately sharing her practical experience and knowledge accumulated so far.

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