Feeling Anxious? Here Are 6 Tips on How to Calm Yourself Down

Usually, the feeling of anxiety or unrest comes accompanied with unpleasant effects like a racing heartbeat, numbness and tingling, inability to rest, disturbed breathing patterns, rapid breathing rate, and migraines.

Anxiety might also place you in a state of uncertainty and in anticipation of doom.

If you are in such a worrying state, this post has discussed some of the most effective non-drug remedies that will help you calm down whenever you find yourself in the uncomfortable state of anxiety. The solutions may start working right away to reduce the unpleasant feeling.

How to Calm Yourself Down

1. Exercise

Exercise is a powerful antidote to anxiety.

Different from most remedies, activity delivers an immediate and long-term relief to anxiety. Some health experts say that regular exercise reduces mental fatigue, improves alertness and concentration, and supports overall psychological health.

On that account, exercise would be a useful remedy if restlessness has depleted your mental energy and your ability to concentrate.

On the other hand, some reliable studies report that regular exercise triggers the production of endorphins, essential chemicals that work with brain receptors to reduce the perception of pain.

Besides eliminating the perception of pain, endorphins can also activate the “runner’s high” feeling that gives you a positive outlook on life. So, if you have been feeling disoriented about the future, it would be a wise decision to get up from your comfort zone and engage in a workout.

Furthermore, some health experts argue that exercise is an effective antidote to stress, feelings of depression, disturbed sleep patterns, and low self-esteem. These unpleasant effects play a role in making people feel restless.

Some of the workouts that I would recommend are Yoga, a practice that makes you stay relaxed, a quick run or jog, and a workout that triggers the production of endorphins. You might also consider going for a hike, dancing, tai chi, or strength training. A 20 to 30-minute workout a day will help you calm down.

2. Manage Your Breathing Rate

Some panic situations like recurrent catastrophic thoughts, negative imagery, and phobia can trigger unpleasant effects like shortness of breath, numbness, confusion, and a racing heart.

Health experts attribute these symptoms to hyperventilation, a phenomenon that results when you breathe rapidly and shallowly using your upper lungs instead of breathing normally from your lower lungs.

Based on this assumption, learning how to control the rapid and shallow breaths can keep you calm during the dreadful panic situation by normalizing your breathing rate, slowing your heart rate, and reducing muscle tension. As a result, you will achieve mental and body calmness.

There are several breathing skills that can help you calm down when you’re experiencing panic attack symptoms. In this post, I will discuss natural breathing, deep diaphragmatic breathing, and the calming counts, they all work efficiently.

• Natural breathing

As the name implies, natural respiration refers to the normal breathing rate that is free of the influence of physical activity or anxiety.

If you want to breathe naturally during a panic attack, I suggest that you try to breathe in gently and slowly until you fill your lower lungs. After filling your lower lungs, try to exhale naturally in a relaxed manner. Repeat the procedure until you calm down completely.

• Deep diaphragmatic breathing

Deep diaphragmatic breathing is the second tactic that would protect you from hyperventilation during the panicky moments of your life. When done in the right way, this breathing tactic will lower your heartbeat while keeping you comfortable.

Deep diaphragmatic breathing entails taking a long but slow 3-second inhalation through your nose. Hold the breath for 3 to 5 seconds before breathing out slowly through your mouth while you relax your stomach, shoulder, and face muscles. Use this tactic for 30 seconds whenever you feel anxious.

• Calming counts

Calming counts is the third breathing technique that can help you calm down whenever you feel anxious. For this method, I suggest that you find a place where you can sit or lie comfortably.

In a relaxed position, take a long breath and hold it for 3 to 5 seconds. Then exhale slowly, making sure that you relax the muscles on your stomach, jaw, and face. Afterward, close your eyes and take ten natural breaths while counting 1-10. Repeat the procedure for 90 seconds.

3. Evaluate Your Work Schedule

A tight work schedule will often leave you restless or overwhelmed, especially when you fail to hit your target or that of your employer repeatedly. Besides failing to hit the target, toxic work environments and unfavorable working conditions can also leave you anxious.

Different from most stressors, overcoming work anxiety might be hard to control, especially if you depend on the job as your only source of income. However, this might not be a challenge as long as you are willing to motivate yourself or modify your regular working schedule.

Here are some of the tips that might help you minimize any work-related restlessness.

• Organize yourself

Before you start pursuing any goal, it would be imperative to spend some of your time on making an organized plan that can help you meet your goal within the stipulated time. For instance, you can divide the goal into small tasks that you need to achieve on a daily basis.

• Don’t give too much value to your job

Experts say that you are more likely to feel overwhelmed when you give too much value to your career as compared to other crucial obligations like relationship and health.

You might want to up your time management skills and try as much as possible to do your job as required to avoid colliding with your employer. Always communicate with your supervisor if you think that you have too much work to handle within a given time.

4. Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation is a mind-calming practice that can help you calm down whenever you feel stressed, anxious, and overburdened. Different from other forms of meditation, mindfulness meditation enables you to develop an inner balance between pleasant and unpleasant life events.

If you are new to the meditation practice, I suggest that you get a quiet environment that is free from distractors. While at the peaceful place, sit or lie on your meditation cushion and close your eyes.

Try your best to breath normally and forget about any other positive or negative thoughts. As a starter, I suggest that you start meditating for 3 minutes and then extend the duration gradually for as long as you want.

According to an article posted in Harvard Medical School, meditation deals with distracting thoughts and unproductive worries, and it increases self-awareness. As such, meditation is a great way to quell anxiety symptoms.

5. Stay Away From Settings That Make You Restless

Many people find it hard to calm down because they find it hard to avoid settings that might be triggering their anxiety. If you want to avoid such settings, I recommend that you take your time to understand the scenarios that could be making you feel restless. After that, try your best to avoid the stressors.

For instance, you should try to avoid negative people as they can invite more stress and tension into your life. As an alternative, spend any of your free time with people who can influence your life positively.

Besides avoiding negative people, you should also prevent inactivity, insomnia, poor diet, reckless behavior, unhealthy coping behavior like drug abuse, social isolation, and any other situations that can place you at a higher risk of being restless, anxious, or too worried.

6. Use Natural Remedies

Sometimes you may find it hard to stay physically active, stay away from your job, or even avoid negative thoughts. If you are in such a situation, then you should consider using some of the readily available natural remedies.

For starters, you could use any one of the natural remedies that I have suggested below:

• Chamomile

Chamomile has been in use since the ancient times. Some reliable studies report that a chamomile extract has a similar effect on your brain’s receptors as the drug valium that is used professionally to keep people calm.

As such, this natural remedy would be effective in treating anxiety related symptoms like insomnia and stress. A study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania reported that patients with generalized anxiety disorders showed an improvement after using a chamomile extract for eight weeks.

• Green tea

Green tea is a rich source of L-theanine, an amino acid that relaxes your mind as well as helps your body to fight the various symptoms associated with anxiety. Depending on your choice, you can use fresh green tea or supplements containing L-theanine supplements.

Besides green tea, you can also opt to consume L-theanine rich foods like nuts, whole grains, and broccoli.

• Lemon balm

Another natural remedy that can help you stay calm is Lemon balm. A study conducted by the National Institute of Health on laboratory-induced stress revealed that a Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) extract could help to keep anxious people calm and alert.

• Passionflower

Passionflower extract is a rich source of chrysin and benzoflavone, powerful organic flavonoids with sedative effects that can reduce nervous restlessness and improve sleep.

• Cannabidiol (CBD)

CBD is an extract from the Cannabis sativa plant, which can be used to relieve anxiety and induce to better sleeping. Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drugs. However, many professional researchers and doctors have confirmed its medical benefits and some states in America have now allowed the use of Cannabidiol for medical purposes. You can even grow cannabis yourself and extract the CBD at home. Afghan and Bergman’s Gold Leaf are some high CBD marijuana strains. Check out some of the most reliable seed banks via this list.

Related resource: thegreenmates.com

Final Thoughts

Anxiety is a common condition that comes accompanied by unpleasant feelings like stress, fear, uneasiness, and apprehension. If left unmanaged, anxiety can advance to severe mental disorders that can significantly reduce the quality of your life.

You can manage anxiety through regular exercise and the use of natural remedies like green tea and chamomile. Other ways to calm down are meditation, staying away from stressors, and elimination of stressful working conditions.

Did you know pets can help keep you calm? Learn more here.