5 ways to fight anxiety

Anxiety in ageing women is primarily caused by hormonal changes.

The fluctuation of estrogen and another key hormone, progesterone, in your body can cause feelings of anxiety or depression. 

This is why women going through menopause may feel more anxious than usual.

To help you identify anxiety attacks, here are some of the symptoms you might experience:

Physical symptoms:

  • a churning feeling in your stomach
  • feeling light-headed or dizzy
  • feeling restless or unable to sit still
  • faster breathing
  • a fast, thumping or irregular heartbeat
  • sweating or hot flushes

Mental symptoms:

  • feeling tense, nervous or unable to relax
  • having a sense of dread, or fearing the worst
  • feeling like the world is speeding up or slowing down
  • feeling like other people can see you're anxious and are looking at you
  • feeling like you can't stop worrying, or that bad things will happen if you stop worrying

Overall, not a very nice list of symptoms to be experiencing when you are chilling at home, or anywhere for that matter.

So, to help you curb and soothe any possible anxiety attacks, we’ve collated 5 top tips psychiatrists recommend to help with any anxiety you might experience:

#1 Exercise Often

Don’t neglect exercising! It's repeated time and time again how important exercise is for your mental health, and it simply cannot be emphasized enough. 

Working up a sweat is one of the most easy and powerful tools against anxiety, and is one you should seriously consider to add to your daily routine.

Exercise has been found to stimulate the production of calming neurochemicals such as endorphins and reduces levels of cortisol (the “stress hormone”). 

This is associated with a reduction in anxiety symptoms. It is probably the single most important thing you should start incorporating in your routines to fight back against anxiety!

#2 Avoid Emotional Crutches

A crutch is a strategy that reduces anxiety in the short-term.

However, as soon as you stop using that strategy, the anxiety returns. In this way, you don’t learn to cope in the long run. 

Even a seemingly “healthy” behavior could become a crutch if you rely on it too heavily and it stops you from learning to cope on your own. 

For example, always relying on a partner to relieve your anxiety when going out may work, but doesn’t teach you how to manage anxiety if they’re not around.

#3 Remember to breathe proper

Most people having anxiety attacks don’t realize it, but anxiety can actually change the pace of your breaths.

Those with anxiety tend to take faster and shorter breaths, which results in them taking in more oxygen than they need.

This is called “hyperventilation”, and it’s responsible for the many physical symptoms of anxiety attacks.

You can slowly reteach your body to breathe normally again.

Just spend 10 minutes a day breathing slowly, taking in full deep breaths into the abdomen can help your body get back into better habits.

Also, if you feel some of the symptoms of hyperventilation, slow down your breathing to reduce the severity of those symptoms.

#4 Avoid Overthinking

Normally, having some alone time can be very helpful when you are dealing with stress. 

But for those with persistent anxiety, being alone with your own thoughts for too long might be detrimental instead.

After all, anxiety has the potential to alter thought patterns. 

So if you have anxiety, your thoughts tend to be pessimistic, often focusing on worst-case scenarios. 

This can lead to further stress and anxiety.

So, if you are prone to overthinking, it can help to plan to keep your mind occupied. 

It’s still important to have time to rest and relax, but scheduled activities and commitments with your family and friends can provide a distraction from focusing on your anxieties, giving them less space to grow.

#5 Anxiety Symptom Familiarization

Stopping anxiety attacks takes time and effort, and isn't something that you can simply fight away.

But what you can do is to get used to each symptom so that they don't trigger panic. 

If you track your anxiety you may be able to identify some regular trigger points. You can do this with what's known as "exposure therapy." 

It's best to do this in the presence of an expert, but it is also something you can try in the comfort of your own home. 

Let's give an example that assumes that you get extreme anxiety that is triggered when you start to feel dizzy.

  • Learn a relaxation strategy that works for you, like deep breathing. Practice this so it becomes more and more automatic.

  • Find a safe way of deliberately making yourself feel a little dizzy. You could spin around in a chair for a short period of time.
  • Get up - if you feel anxiety, use your strategy and wait until you calm down. You will find that the anxiety cannot stay at a high level for a long time and starts to reduce.
  • Spin around in a chair again.
  • Get up - if you feel anxiety, wait until you calm down.
  • Spin around in a chair again.
  • Over time, you'll get so used to feeling dizzy and seeing that nothing terrible happens, that it won't cause as much fear. You can then try it in other styles and intensities too, such as spinning in a circle, or spinning in a chair in a public place. The more you're used to the symptom, the less likely it will trigger anxiety.

You can do this for any and all symptoms you experience. If you hyperventilate often, try hyperventilating on purpose. If you get panic attacks in certain locations, go to those locations always and often. As soon as the activity gets bored and tiresome, keep doing it, and eventually your anxiety won't be triggered at all.

PS. Women experiencing hormonal changes are prone to mood swings and sudden anxiety attacks.

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