Quick Tips to Help Regulate Your Anxiety

Quick Tips to Help Regulate Your Anxiety

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What is Anxiety

 Anxiety is our alarm system that alerts our bodies of potential dangers in our environment. Tell tale signs of anxiety are increased heart rate, sweaty palms, and a racing mind. Sometimes anxiety can give you a boost of energy to complete a task and sometimes it can cause you to shut down. 

What Causes Anxiety Disorders 

There is usually no specific reason one develops an anxiety disorder, but they are likely developed due to a combination of factors including genetic, environmental, psychological, and developmental. 

Diagnosis and Treatment 

For many who suffer from anxiety, do not seek help because they don’t realize that they have a condition that has effective treatments. The first step for treatment is seeing a doctor to make sure that there is not a physical problem that is causing you to have symptoms of anxiety. Secondly, you can seek psychotherapy like talk therapy or medication. Both of these methods have proven to be effective in helping treat anxiety disorders. Therapy like cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) can help a person learn a different way of think, reacting, and behaving to ease anxiety. Medication cannot use anxiety disorders but can help relieve some of the symptoms.

Tips to Cope with Anxiety

Sometimes in moments of anxiety, you will not have the ability to talk to your therapist to help regulate your emotions. In cases like these, it is beneficial to know some of the quick tips that can help you cope with anxiety. 

 
  • Avoid caffeine. The chemical makeup of caffeine stimulates your nervous system and often leads to heightened levels of anxiety.
  • Don’t abuse alcohol or drugs.  Depressant substances can help you feel calmer in the moment, however, they affect the long-term regulation of your nervous system by overloading your body with certain hormones. Afterwards, your body struggles to naturally produce these calming hormones leaving you even more anxious than before 
  • Practice meditation and mindfulness. Learning what relaxation techniques work for you can be an invaluable skill when you are in a state of high anxiety. Many people practice yoga, listen to music, or work out to ground themselves.
  • Control your worry. The old adage ‘worry is a downpayment on a problem you may never have’ holds true in the world of therapy. Pick a time and place to worry, think about your worries and what you can do about them, and leave your worries there and continue with your day. For people who struggle with anxiety disorders, worry is unavoidable, but by compartmentalizing it into a specific time and place in your day can help you enjoy the rest of your day without carrying around this worry. 

Mandy
Pfaff

Marriage and Family therapist, ma, lmft

As an avid researcher, I pull from 30 years of practice and study in various additional psychotherapeutic and health disciplines- incorporating nutrition and movement-based strategies, yoga, meditation, biofeedback, energy psychology and expressive arts.

How Does Yoga Help Your Mental Health?

How Does Yoga Help Your Mental Health?

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Yoga is an ancient mental and physical practice that has been around for thousands of years. Presently, yoga is practiced by more than 36 million Americans. Many practice it for both its physical and mental health benefits. Yoga incorporates physcial poses and mindful breathing to encourage a connection between the mental and the physical. 

Psychological Benefits of Yoga 

Aside from the physical benefits of flexibility, mobility, and strength, studies show that yoga can also: 

Relieve Depression:
Researchers have found that yoga is comparable to other treatments like medication and psychotherapy. In fact, yoga is also generally less expensive and lacks the negative sideeffects of medication. Yoga is an individual practice that requires dedication and perseverance. The self-determination required for this activity can help someone who struggles with depression find a sense of purpose as they work to improve their skill.

Reduce Stress:
Yoga is a form of active meditation. As you enjoy the relaxing benefits of meditation, you are also strengthening your body through static and dynamic movement. When Americans answered a survey about why they practiced yoga, 86% of them said that it helped them deal with stress. The stretching, tightening, and relaxing of muscles can help relieve bodily tension that manifests from prolonged stress. 

Improve Sleep
Yoga involves stretching and working muscles causing mental and physical exertion. Several elements of yoga such as mindfulness, breathing awareness and regulation, and weight loss all contribute to an increase in sleep quality. Additionally, some subpopulations benefit more than others from regular yoga practice. Studies show that adult women who practice yoga have reduced sleep disturbances and women in menopause have improved sleep and reduced depression and anxiety.

How to Use Yoga to Improve Your Mental Health 

The benefits of yoga aren’t limited to physical changes, at the root of the practice of yoga is the focus on calming the mind through meditation. In fact, there is science to back up the efficacy of regularly practicing yoga. Studies show that yoga can even slow the natural aging process by decreasing brain shrinkage and extending memory health and cognition. Starting your yoga practice can seem like a daunting task, however, as an individual activity, your practice should be catered to what you need. For people who are starting out, the first step is learning how to focus on breathing in and out. This alone can lower your heart rate, decrease stress and boost feel-good chemicals in your brain. Once you have established this foundation of mindful breathing, the rest of yoga will come easily.

Mandy
Pfaff

Marriage and Family therapist, ma, lmft

As an avid researcher, I pull from 30 years of practice and study in various additional psychotherapeutic and health disciplines- incorporating nutrition and movement-based strategies, yoga, meditation, biofeedback, energy psychology and expressive arts.