How to Reduce Anxiety Eight Ways

Anxiety can lead to panic attacks and other physical problems. Reducing anxiety and stress is the best way to avoid health problems in the future. Unfortunately, just knowing how to reduce anxiety will not lower your stress levels; you must incorporate new habits and kick old and harmful habits to the curb.

How to Reduce Anxiety: 8 Methods

Listed below are eight tips for how to reduce anxiety starting today.

Create a nighttime routine

Starting your day on a positive and less stressful note starts the night before. Creating a nighttime routine relieves you of morning stress. For example, lay out your outfit for the next day, pack your lunch, set your keys where you can find them, and place your coffee tumbler by the coffeemaker. Do what you can for about fifteen minutes to make the day smoother.

Create a morning routine

If you want to know how to reduce anxiety, create a morning routine. Like your nighttime routine, knowing what comes next gets you out the door with a calmer disposition. For example, you get out of bed when the alarm goes off, work out for thirty minutes, shower and dress, eat the breakfast you prepared last night, and leave on time for work.

The morning goes smoothly since you already have your clothes picked out and your lunches and things ready to go. Consider creating routines for your children as well.

Clean your space

A messy and cluttered environment breeds anxiety. Decluttering, straightening, and cleaning your space is a helpful first step to reducing anxiety. You do not have to spend hours organizing your home. Work on an area in your primary living spaces for fifteen minutes at a time.

Take frequent breaks and tackle the space again. You could work in a decluttering session during your nighttime routine or once at the top of the hour on your days off. You will be surprised how much less stress you feel with a clean and organized home.

Minimize media exposure

It is important to stay up to date on current events. However, too much media exposure can lead to depression and anxiety. Go back to the time when people spent a few minutes reading the newspaper in the morning and watching the evening news for an hour. Today, we are bombarded 24/7 with news on every outlet and social media platform. Minimize your consumption by consciously choosing the format and time, blocking how long you will listen or read.

Create a playlist for stressful moments

Music can lift our spirits, boost our mood, and fill us with confidence. It can also help us relax and forget about our worries. Listening to music can release dopamine in the brain, activating that sense of well-being that we desperately need when stress levels are high. Create a playlist of your favorite songs that make you happy and relaxed.

Keep yourself grounded

When you focus on the past or future worries, anxiety grows. The best way to reduce anxiety is to keep yourself grounded in the present. Try the 5-4-3-2-1 method of grounding when stress levels build.

Take a few minutes to observe your surroundings. Name five things you see, four things you can touch, three things you hear, two things you smell, and one thing you taste in your mouth. Using all five senses brings you back to the present and helps alleviate anxiety symptoms.

Walk daily

A brisk ten-minute walk in the middle of the day can help your nervous system and stress response. If you can start your day with a walk, you will feel the effects for the remainder of the day. Walking boosts brain chemicals responsible for mood.

Your body melts away the tension. Aim for thirty minutes of walking daily. You can break this up into mini-sessions throughout the day if that suits your schedule. A quick walk can also lower your resting heart rate and blood pressure over time.

Take it to God

Take your worries to God. Try calling out to Him when you first wake up and before you close your eyes at night. God is aware of your circumstance but can give you the insight, strength, and peace to get through it. Make talking with God a part of your daily walk with Him.

Find a counselor

Has anxiety got you in a vice grip? Are you looking for more suggestions for how to reduce anxiety? Call our office today at California Christian Counseling to schedule an appointment with a Christian counselor in California. Your counselor will get to the root of your stress and teach you how to manage your anxiety levels.