How to manage anxiety from healthy habits?

Practices and routines that will enhance your ability to regulate stress and anxiety levels.

Anxiety problems are a very common source of discomfort. In fact, anxiety disorders are among the most widespread psychopathologies in virtually all age groups, and even cases in which we suffer from being anxious but have not developed a diagnosable disorder are extremely common (i.e., cases in which we have subclinical anxiety but it is a problem in certain contexts).

But fortunately, no one is condemned to suffer anxiety constantly or to have to adopt a passive attitude towards this problem. While it is true that no human being can totally control his emotions or his mental state in general, there are many things we can do to modulate stress, anguish, obsessive thoughts that feed back, etc. in the best possible way.

For this reason, in this article we will review several psychologically healthy habits that help us to psychologically healthy habits that help us to cope with anxietyeither managing it once it has appeared or preventing the possibility that it grows too much in us.

How does anxiety affect us?

What we know as anxiety is a consequence of Biological and psychological predispositions that lead us to enter into a state of alert when we detect that we must face a challenge, something that requires us to take control of our actions to avoid a risk or danger.

It is therefore closely linked to stress, a set of physiological reactions that makes us more sensitive to environmental stimuli and leads us to keep our muscles tense. that makes us more sensitive to stimuli coming from our environment and leads us to keep our muscles tense in order to react quickly, among other aspects related to our body's "alarm function". to react quickly, among other aspects related to our body's "alarm function".

Neither anxiety nor stress are problems that we should try to totally eliminate from our lives; on many occasions they predispose us to act quickly in the face of problems that must be solved as quickly as possible. However, it is important to develop the necessary skills to manage them psychologically.

Why is it important to learn to manage anxiety?

As we have seen, anxiety is part of the natural predispositions that are present in the functioning of the human body, and in most cases it not only does not harm us, but it helps us to face the problems and complicated situations of life.

However, sometimes sometimes anxiety leads us to internalize unfounded worries or dysfunctional ways of dealing with distress, so that it becomes part of our daily lives.so that it becomes part of the problem. For example, this is what happens when the fear of failure paralyzes us and leads us to avoid thinking about what we must solve, which makes the problem grow bigger and bigger because of the time we lose.

In fact, one of the characteristics of dysfunctional anxiety is its ability to make us enter a loop. This occurs when the actions we take to momentarily alleviate the discomfort it generates, make us more vulnerable to future anxiety problems in the medium and long term..

A couple of clear examples: smoking to try to relax or eating without being hungry, despite the fact that this is not good for our health and may even bring up feelings of guilt, dissatisfaction with our body, discomfort if we do not have access to these physical resources, etc. And the dependence that we establish with these "fixed" ways of dealing with stress or anguish also causes our environment to have more elements that remind us of what worries us.

That is why it is key to learn ways to take advantage of the potential of anxiety and avoid getting into one of those vicious anxiogenic circles.

Habits to favor the correct management of anxiety.

Although anxiety is largely a physiological phenomenon, this does not mean that in the face of the problems it sometimes causes us, we should resign ourselves to suffer the symptoms of anxiety.. The distinction between the biological, on the one hand, and what can be learned or corrected through behavior, on the other, is artificial, and that is why depending on what we do, we can experience the anxiogenic processes in a more or less appropriate way.

Thus, there are a series of habits that help us to regulate anxiety while maintaining a correct emotional balance and not reproducing patterns of behavior that contribute to keep it at high levels.

1. Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness has been shown to be very effective in learning how to regulate stress and anxiety problems, and even the discomfort generated by the discomfort of stress.and even the discomfort generated by chronic pain. This set of practices allows us to focus our attention on the here and now, avoiding being trapped in the loop of intrusive thoughts or in the confusion between what we fear the most and what is reasonable to expect in the future. It consists, fundamentally, in experiencing stimuli and our mental states as what they are in the present, without prejudging them or giving them moral qualities linked to what we remember or what we expect to happen.

2. Controlled breathing exercises

Controlled breathing and taking advantage of the full potential of our diaphragm is another way to place ourselves in the present at the same time that we favor in us a physiological state that corresponds to calmness.. It is a relatively simple and effective way to not get carried away by fear and focus our mind on what we can do in the here and now.

3. Fixed sleep schedules

Being very clear about the time to go to bed and the time to wake up is key to maintaining consistent sleep schedules. Keep in mind that lack of sleep makes us much more vulnerable to anxiety, since our body enters a state of "damage control", in which the priority is to give priority to the body. in which the priority is to respond to the demands of the present, and not to ensure our well-being by maintaining biological processes linked to medium and long-term health (such as the use of the immune system, a metabolism that allows rapid cell repair, etc.).

4. Make time for satisfying social relationships

It is not only that talking about our feelings helps us to assimilate them and to stop fearing certain contents of our memory thanks to the fact of putting words to what causes us distress; in addition, good company motivates us to improve, exposes us to inspiring examples and makes us more aware of the social support network at our disposal.

That's right, quality is more important than quantityIt is preferable to interact with friends and loved ones who truly support us and show affection and empathy towards us, whereas if we get used to interacting with those who only make fun of us or belittle our achievements, this erosion of self-esteem will harm us when it comes to managing anxiety.

5. Eat a proper diet and do not take drugs

As long as we do not obsess about avoiding going overboard on calories or consuming overly processed ingredients, eating a proper diet is a protective factor that helps prevent anxiety.As long as we don't obsess about avoiding going overboard on calories or consuming overly processed ingredients, eating a proper diet is a protective factor that helps prevent anxiety. In this sense, it is especially important to avoid drugs, which includes minimizing or completely eliminating the consumption of alcohol, a substance that does not cease to be physically and mentally harmful just because it is very normalized.

Are you looking for professional psychological support?

At Adhara Psychology we offer therapy services and training in Mindfulness and meditation, serving people of all ages from the humanistic approach.

You can find us in our psychology center in Madrid, or use the online sessions by video call.