Sep 1512 min read

Top Tips On How To Manage Anxiety

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Anxiety can make life a misery. The constant worry, fretting and fear wears you down physically, mentally and emotionally. Many anxiety sufferers say that it’s like living under a dark cloud. The looming shadow cast by anxiety blots out the lustre of life making the days drab and dreary.

But as any sufferer will attest, anxiety can impact our lives in many other negative ways. People have reported anxiety attack symptoms so severe that they thought they were suffocating. Some have even said that it can feel like having a heart attack.

Then there’s the physiological toll anxiety takes. Because anxiety induces the stress response, it triggers the release of cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that has been implicated in causing inflammation as well as eroding the telomeres – the shoelace-like structures that keep your DNA from unravelling.

In this article, we will explore a range of alternative therapies that have consistently proven to help people manage their anxiety. These therapies have been shown to exert a positive impact on physical and mental health.

How to manage anxiety quick finder

How to manage anxiety tip #1: Practice mindfulness

How to manage anxiety tip #2: Set goals

How to manage anxiety tip #3: Learn to relax

How to manage anxiety tip #4: Improve sleep hygiene

How to manage anxiety tip #5: Start a hobby

How to manage anxiety tip #6: Diet and exercise

How to manage anxiety tip #1: Practice mindfulness

Anxiety is often triggered by thoughts and not reality. A person may become anxious during a social event because they think that they are being judged by those around them. Thoughts about future interactions with a work colleague or manager may elicit an anxious response. Yet often times what we later find is that there was nothing to be worried about and our anxiety was unfounded. But even on reflection of this contradictory outcome, anxiety still rears its ugly head next time.

Mindfulness meditation may offer a solution to this problem. Jon Kabat-Zinn, who is widely credited with bringing mindfulness to the West, describes it as a method of ‘paying attention in a particular way’ to the ‘present moment.’

The power of mindfulness stems from its ‘nonjudgemental’ outlook. When a negative thought pops up – my manager’s mad at me and I know we’re going to have an argument – mindfulness helps bring our attention to the fact that this is just a thought and not reality.

Technically referred to as the ‘refractory period,’ this brief pause enables us to check the thought before it spirals out of control into a torrent of negativity.

Though the refractory period is fleeting, it leaves the door ajar just long enough for our rational mind to step in and cool things down. ‘Maybe my manager isn’t mad at me. Maybe I simply read their reaction wrong.’

Scores of studies substantiate Kabat-Zinn’s claim that ‘Mindfulness provides a simple but powerful route for getting ourselves unstuck’ and ‘mastering’ our mental and emotional states (Mindfulness Meditation For Everyday Life).

However, while the application of mindfulness is as simple as focusing attention on a sensual stimulus or the rhythmical patterns of our respiratory system, few find meditating easy. Try for yourself. Set a two-minute countdown timer and see how many breaths you can count before your mind strays. You did well if you reached 25.

It may come as a surprise that focused attention is so challenging. What’s often overlooked is that ‘Mindfulness requires effort and discipline’ because the ‘forces that work against our being mindful, namely, our habitual unawareness and automaticity, are exceedingly tenacious.’

Meditation for anxiety

The best way to be more mindful is by introducing short bouts of meditation into your day. Start with a minute every morning for a month. Be resolute. On waking, once you’ve shrugged off the boon of sleep, set a sixty-second timer and peacefully observe the ebb and flow of your breath: inhale . . . exhale . . . inhale . . . exhale . . .

When the habit has formed, incrementally increase the duration of your meditation session by a minute a month. Ten minutes is considered the optimal duration.

For a complete step-by-step guide on how to harness the power of mindfulness, see Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness Meditation For Everyday Life.

How to manage anxiety tip #2: Set short-term goals

Feeling out of control over the course your life takes can contribute to anxiety. Finding yourself stuck in a job that you don’t enjoy. Facing the drudgery of a daily commute. Fighting through the throng of chores, commitments and responsibilities – that other people pushed on your plate.

For many, life can seem like a prison: they are trapped in a cage from which they cannot break free.

Diminished autonomy bolsters the belief that we are powerless; powerless to make changes; powerless to take a different path. Powerless to determine our own fate. This can breed a negative mindset where we only see failure and unfavourable circumstances.

‘Anxiety is kept alive by negative thinking,’ (How To Master Anxiety).

Setting short-term goals can help us reclaim some control. Deciding on a goal and pursuing it puts us in the driving seat. We are now determining the direction of travel. Each time we achieve a goal, however seemingly insignificant, it strengthens our self-efficacy.

How to set good goals

It’s worth bearing in mind that goal setting can be a double-edged sword. An audacious or ambiguous goal, one that will almost certainly never be achieved or cannot be measured, may adversely impact our self-efficacy. Failing weakens our confidence which can deter us from trying in the future.

To avoid this, Charles Duhigg, in his expose on how to improve productivity, recommends starting by setting yourself one or two small short-term goals. The goals should be clearly stated and stress-tested against the SMART principle. All goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound (Smarter, Faster, Better).

Below, I have created three pairs of goals. The first contravenes SMART whereas the second satisfies at least three requirements.

Goal 1: To be healthy.
Goal 1: To eat a healthy breakfast (of porridge and a piece of fruit) every morning. To start after my next trip to the supermarket.

Goal 2: To start being more mindful.
Goal 2: To implement a five-minute mindfulness meditation session into my morning routine. To start tomorrow at 6:30 am.

Goal 3: To stop being anxious all the time.
Goal 3: To identify one anxiety trigger and begin strategising a method to mitigate or remove it. To action immediately:

How to manage anxiety tip #3: Learn how to relax

Learning how to relax is an effective method for managing and mitigating anxiety. People who are often on mental high alert tend to spend more time in a stressed and anxious state. The constant compulsion to be on the go, to get to the next task, to tick off the next to-do can exacerbate anxiety. This in turn feeds a negative cycle. After all, there is always another job that can be crammed into a schedule, which means we can always work harder. It just never ends.

If you see shades of yourself in this description, you may also suffer some of the attending health impacts. According to Robert M. Sapolsky, author of Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, people who are wound up like a coiled spring are significantly more likely to suffer migraines, gastrointestinal complaints (such as IBS) and feel fatigued. In addition, it is not uncommon for those stuck in a cycle of stress and anxiety to experience memory loss and brain fog.

While participating in relaxing activities will not eradicate stress and anxiety, they can certainly alleviate the severity of the associative symptoms. In an interview, a world-famous musician said that his go-to strategy for managing his mental health is to spend an hour playing the guitar. This, he said, never fails to blow away the blues.

But what if you don’t play a musical instrument? In what ways can you relax?

Well, as with goal setting, there is a right and wrong way to relax. For example, after a tough day in the office, relying on alcoholic drinks or psychotropic substances to ‘unwind’ may offer short-term relief at the expense of your long-term health. The same could be said of resorting to takeaways and convenience foods to relax. Though the impacts are not as severe, regularly consuming such foods is linked to many health problems (Ultra-Processed People).

According to the authors of How To Master Anxiety, beneficial ways to relax include:

Socialising with friends and family
Reading novels
Playing games
Cooking
Meditating
Practicing yoga
Listening to music
Taking walks in nature
Participating in low-intensity activities such as cycling and swimming

How to manage anxiety tip #4: Improve sleep hygiene

Anyone who’s had a bad night’s sleep (which is probably everyone) knows just how horrible it makes you feel the next day. Any task involving even a modicum of intelligence is like trying to crack Fermat’s Last Theorem. In addition to being cognitively incapacitated, our emotional brain is also sluggish. Social situations can be as painful as pulling teeth. And a quip from a colleague that previously would’ve been taken as a joke has inflicted a mortal wound. (Well, at least until your psychological systems are reset after a good night’s sleep.)

The detrimental impact of bad sleep can be so severe that it induces its very own anxiety. ‘Sleep anxiety,’ as it’s officially called, is where people become worried that they won’t sleep – because of the fear of suffering the inevitable consequences (outlined above).

Worrying before we tuck up for the night puts us in a stressed state, which makes it harder to drop off. And so the vicious cycle starts: bad night’s sleep > suffer the next day > worry before bed > whip yourself into a stressed state > struggle to sleep > and so on.

It won’t come as a surprise to learn that poor sleep hygiene can exacerbate mental health problems. Studies outlined in Mat Walker’s book, Why We Sleep, show that disturbed sleeping patterns dysregulate our psychological equilibrium. For people with pre-existing mental health concerns – such as anxiety and depression – this only makes matters worse.

Thus, one of the chief methods for managing anxiety is to improve sleep. When we’re well-rested, we can think more clearly. We’re also less likely to react emotionally to internal and external stimuli. These positive outcomes not only attenuate anxiety but better enable us to fight flare-ups.

If you struggle to get your 40 winks, I’ve put together a guide to getting a better night’s sleep. The guide is comprised of findings from hundreds of studies that investigated what factors contribute to healthy sleep hygiene. These findings are discussed more fully in Why We Sleep.

A guide to get a good night’s sleep

Abstain from caffeinated or sugary drinks for a minimum of 6 hours before bedtime. Why? Because caffeine can continue to stimulate the brain for up to 6 hours after ingestion.
Avoid bright lights – including ‘screen time’ – for an hour or two prior to tucking up. Bright light can adversely impact how the brain regulates sleep hormones.
It is good practice to create an environment conducive to inducing a restive state an hour before going to sleep. For example, let’s say that you usually climb into bed at 10 pm. At 9 pm you would ensure that all devices are turned off and lights turned down before reading a pleasant book (I recommend Evelyn Waugh's Decline and Fall) or engaging in a relaxing activity such as mindful meditation.
Avoid strenuous physical activity at least 2 to 3 hours before boarding the sleep train. Exercise induces a heightened arousal state which may delay disembarkation.
Impose a zero-tolerance attitude on napping throughout the day. Though there is evidence that suggests short midday naps can boost mood and increase cognition, for light sleepers or people who struggle to sleep napping can make it harder to drop off later.
Implement a sleep routine and rigidly stick to it. According to sleep scientists, we can train ourselves to sleep not only better but more deeply. The most effective way to achieve these outcomes is by establishing a routine. Contrary to popular best sleeping advice, even if you are not tired you should still follow your routine.
Resist the temptation to hit snooze and don’t make a habit of lying in. While it’s probably not going to hurt once a week – say, as a Sunday morning treat – sneaking in extra Zzzs can disrupt sleep cycles. (Discover more about why sleep is so important.)

How to manage anxiety tip #5: Start a hobby

Hobbies are the spice of life. They provide us with an outlet for creative expression and a pleasant means of whiling away the hours that are both productive and developmental. (Caveat: depending on the hobby, of course!) Moreover, hobbies can enhance so-called ‘soft’ or ‘transferable’ skills. These can include but are not limited to, our ability to get on with others, complete complex tasks and how we perform on a professional level.

(A personal example. One of my most treasured hobbies is reading psychology journals. As well as keeping my mind active it enables me to stay up to date with contemporary research which I can integrate into my practice.)

In the context of anxiety, hobbies are particularly helpful because they provide us with an external focus. It makes sense that this would be beneficial when we reflect on the fact that, like smoke and fire, anxiety flares up when negative thoughts generate emotional heat. Turning our attention to a hobby, such as a stimulating book or musical instrument, can starve anxiety of the negative energy that it feeds off.

Finding flow

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi brings our attention to another way that hobbies promote positive mental health. In his book Flow: The Psychology Of Happiness, Csikszentmihalyi talks at length about how ‘flow states’ facilitate ‘feelings of concentration and deep enjoyment.’ He goes so far as to claim that finding flow in everyday activities can teach us ‘to live in harmony with ourselves, our society and, ultimately, the greater universe.’

That naturally leads to the question of how to induce a flow state. While flow cannot be turned on at the flick of a switch, it is most frequently reported during meaningful and challenging activities. For example, musicians often find flow when performing a favourite song. They talk about how time melts away as they become immersed in the music. Similar experiences have been expressed by artists, writers and chess players.

But flow isn’t a product solely of cerebral pursuits. Sports practitioners also consistently report flow states – although they may refer to it as ‘being in the zone.’ Csikszentmihalyi reminds us that it is not necessarily the activity that’s important, but more so how it engages our brain. Sudoku, knitting and boxing can kindle flow if you find those activities enjoyable and stimulating.

How to manage anxiety tip #6: Diet and exercise

The health benefits of a good diet and regular exercise are vast. From reducing our risk of developing many of the worst diseases to tackling obesity and boosting confidence – the list goes on. And the more research investigates the impacts of diet and exercise on health the longer that list grows.

In 2017, after reviewing hundreds of research articles, Dr Greger felt confident enough to write that ‘Our diet is the number-one cause of premature death and the number-one cause of disability,’ (How Not To Die).

Of exercise, a prominent physician said that if the associative benefits could be condensed into a pill, it would be the most potent disease-fighting drug ever developed.

However, because the majority of the reported benefits of diet and exercise centre around physical diseases – cancer, type 2 diabetes and CVD – these important lifestyle factors are often overlooked by people searching for alternative therapies for mental health disorders.

Yet, according to The Lancet, mental health ranks in the top ten of ‘leading causes of burden worldwide.’ I doubt that many people suffering from depression and anxiety would know or even believe that changing their diet and engaging in regular exercise can make a difference in their mental wellbeing.

But, according to one prominent study, those who consume a higher portion of vegetables are considerably less likely to develop mental disorders by as much as 62% (How Not To Die). In the Journal of Nutritional Neuroscience, authors of a large-scale literature review concluded that a diet rich in fresh fruit and vegetables may present ‘“a non-invasive, natural, and inexpensive therapeutic means to support a healthy brain.”’

What of exercise? How does keeping fit and active help to attenuate anxiety? Exercise tackles the problem from several angles. First, engaging in regular exercise improves our body composition (the ratio between fat and fat-free mass (aka muscle)) which in turn boosts confidence. Higher levels of confidence strengthen inner resolve and reinforce our belief that we possess the power to manage our mental processes.

Second, physical activity provides a positive outlet for the pent-up energy that the stress hormones create when you are in an anxious state. 'Giving your body some kind of work out (sufficient to induce a bit of puff and sweat) will help to get those trapped stress hormones out of your system,' (How To Master Anxiety).

Now all that’s left to do is to make dietary changes and start an exercise regime. To help get you started, I’ve put together a basic meal plan and training programme. These resources should be viewed as guides only. Feel free to tailor them to suit your dietary and exercise preferences.

Meal plan

Exercise programme

About Dr Laura Allen –

A Chartered Psychologist & Integrative Therapist, Dr. Allen specialises in a broad range of therapeutic methods. She is a published author of numerous research papers in the field of Positive Psychology. Dr. Allen works one-to-one with clients and supervises other practitioners. She is also a proud member of the British Psychological Society assessment team supporting psychologists in training.