Submitted 3 days ago by Kolanaki@pawb.social to [deleted]
As others have said, light exercise is okay at pushing the feeling down. Anecdotally, a change in scenery also helps me when I get that way. Go for a walk somewhere you haven’t been before and see what’s there.
Also the 54321 rule seems to help ground me if I feel myself start to spiral.
Name 5 things you can see Then 4 things you can touch Then 3 things you can hear Then 2 things you can smell Finally 1 thing you can taste
I have an “anxiety first aid kit” in my bag for exactly this when I can’t get out to greenspace. I have:
menthol cough lollies (smell, taste, feel)
headphones (hear), and earplugs (hear, for when I’m overwhelmed and need some quiet)
hand warmers (feel, one of my first signs is cold/numb fingers)
a nostalgic menthol rubbing oil that my mum used to use on my neck and chest whenever I was sick as a kid (smell)
peppermint oil for when I’m nauseous (smell)
I wear a ring (feel).
If I resort to headphones, I also use the Balance app and pick one for dealing with anxiety. It gives me something to focus on when someone is telling me what to do.
The 54321 exercise (or a variation of it, anyway) has gotten me through so much stuff. I recommend it all the time.
The version I was taught had me think of 5 things I can see, 5 things I can hear, 5 things I can feel, then the same with 4, 3 etc., skipping smell (which I can’t do) and taste!
Light exercize? The heavier the exercize the better. Light is a good start.
Body weight exercise routines are free and the equipment is cheap and require little home area. It’s one of the only things that helps me in high pressure days. And prayer.
Exercise, sunshine for vitamin D and pet some kitties for sure
If you’re broke, pretty much all of the usual external aids are out unless you already have them
Valerian nd kava have pretty potent anti anxiety effects. Pretty much the most potent ones, and the most reliable plant based stuff since even with the usual variances, you won’t have zero effect, nor too heavy.
So that kinda leaves you with non chemical options (just because they’re plant based don’t mean they ain’t drugs, ya dig).
Breathing exercises are the front line defense, even if you aren’t in practice, so you start there. Doesn’t even matter what kind, because there’s a chain of control. Control your breathing, control your heart rate and brain patterns. Control those, you control the stress chemicals being released, and that’s where the panic attack part really lives
It isn’t instant, but it works.
The problem is starting them. What I found helped a good bit when I could, was the opposite. Start out doing anything that spikes respiration and pulse. Sit ups, pushups, jumping jacks, whatever you can tolerate physically. Just crank out enough to spike your breathing and pulse a little. It serves multiple purposes, but the key to it is breaking the cycle of the attack. Usually, once you get that spike, you’ll be able to engage breath control easier than if you try starting that first.
Beyond that, you gotta find things to ground yourself in the real world instead of your head. Again the what doesn’t matter much, but I tend to find practical, hands on stuff works well enough. Like, sharpening knives grounds me (it’s my thing, what can I say). If there’s something that normally centers you and lets you kinda hit flow state, that’s the thing to try.
Shit, even something that’s mostly bad for anxiety can work if the ritual of it is calming enough. Like the process of making tea can help despite the caffeine sucking for anxiety.
None of it is easy without a breakthrough option though, and I’m not going to blow smoke up your ass and pretend otherwise. So if you do already have valerian, or an antihistamine, lead with that, but follow up with breathing exercises anyway!
You gotta use a multifaceted approach.
You mean social media. Common mistake.
Exercise is supposed to help.
5 minutes of meditation. It won’t solve the anxiety, but it will insert just enough perspective and space to help you recognize a couple things:
My therapist gave me a really helpful metaphor. Anxiety is kind of like putting your hand right in front of your face. It blocks everything else out. It’s all you can see. It’s all you can experience. While this isn’t the desired state, you also can’t get rid of your hand without losing a real part of yourself. So instead, what if you focus on inserting space. Move your hand further from your face, and it becomes an element of the environment. It’s a thing you can observe. It’s still real, and it’s still there, but it’s now more in perspective.
That’s what meditation, even 5 minutes, can do. It pushes your anxiety into perspective. It won’t get rid of it, but it will help you see it as an element rather than your entire experience.
Maybe a warm bath or gentle shower? Not too hot as I find steam makes it harder to breathe.
I’m part of the autistic spectrum (diagnosed as Asperger’s, but apparently that term has possible roots in Nazism and “racial superiority”, yikes!), and I found that going outside and taking a walk outside always helped me calm down. I remember whenever I got upset as a child and overreacted, the teacher would take me for a walk around the school, and I always felt better afterwards. I also liked eating my favourite snack to calm down, though that might just be because I like snacks.
Just my two cents. I don’t experience too many of the negative “symptoms” of autism anymore nowadays, but I hope you (or somebody else) finds this helpful!
Cutting out caffeine made a huge difference when I was getting debilitating anxiety about my old cat’s health (despite her being pretty much fine). Honestly, doing that was more helpful than therapy (though I’m not sure that I had the right therapist)
Other than that, going for a walk while on the phone with someone also really helped, as it kept me from spiralling thoughts and had me active.
In a pinch some really sour candy can help to knock you out of an anxiety attack too. You might want to have some on hand.
Exercise, a cat and forced social interaction with your local community. This feeling of angst is growing more and more among the population. My own opinion is the dissonance between how we would normally live our lives versus the bullshit that has grown all around us, causes a certain amount of despair. All the best.
Not food & stuff but maybe try to unsub from communites that make you feel bad for a while. Like politics and news (and you can join back later when feeling better)
Not fruit/veggie or tea, but something that’s probably going to sound insane.
You’re feeling strong anxiety. You want to get rid of it. This is called an avoidance goal. Avoidance goals, ironically, make us feel worse. How? Here’s an example:
This is one of the mechanisms that lead to generalized anxiety. It happens because our brains have ways of connecting ideas quickly.
So is there no escape? Yes there is.
Instead of trying to get rid of anxiety, we can see it differently. We can change its role in our lives.
And we can do it without avoidance goals. Instead, we can do it with approach goals. We can move toward what matters. We can move to living a valued life. We can get closer to the kind of person that we want to be.
We are not alone in this journey. There’s plenty of wise and rigorous people who have discovered the way out. Some of them have developed mindfulness methods. Others have developed acceptance and commitment therapy. There’s many other approaches that are evidence-based and have helped millions of people around the world.
Let me know if you want resources or have questions. I really hope you get to take steps toward the life that you want to live.
I really like this one, makes a lot of sense.
Music that takes focused listening, or else the kind that zones you out.
Music that you like. Music really does help lift the mood.
box brearhing
mindfulness meditation first thing in the morning dont reaxh for your phone, meditate for 15 to 30 mins instead
When I’m stressed out my potassium levels sink. Low potassium then affects my heart rate and this makes my anxiety go through the roof. If you feel like there’s a possibility that you have nutrient issues: bananas, nuts and so on can help.
For tea you may look into calming stuff like lavender (helps you calm down and sleep) or passion flower (is said to be a good remedy against anxiety) l. Try to take your time brewing and drinking it.
Warmth also helps to relax. If you have one and it’s not too warm around you, you can use a hot water bottle.
Try fasting. Wake up, have coffee or whatever, water, but no food. Nothing all day. In the evening, eat a couple of raw carrots if you can. Next morning, have some yogurt, small lunch, small dinner.
I dunno why this works for me, but I suspect it draws unconscious, autonomic anxiety from the nebulous mass of all possible problems and focused on one simple, easy to solve problem - hungry.
Like how slamming your fingers in a door can make your knee pain go away for a bit.
Apparently sour food helps.
Found some stuff called Fruit Riot in the frozen section, they’re fruit chunks coated in sour candy stuff. The combo of really cold plus sour helps when I’m in the middle of a bad attack, just hard to remember them when I’m already spiralling out.
Calming herbs: lavender, lemon balm, lime (linden) tree But any herbal infusion is probably better than coffee (and often cheaper). Chamomille, green tea, fennel for example you might find in a shop, they are not necessarily indicated as anti-anxiety, but still better than coffee.
From my own experience, quiet indoor activities that involve sitting are not so great for anxiety. Moving, talking walks, being outdoors, especially in nature, work wonders. What grows in your area? Maybe the anti-anxiety medication is right there (happy to help with identifying the plants you find).
Yeah, a run.
Cherries or dried cherries are good for pain, but for anxiety, exhausting my body calms my mind.
If you are not able to run, sex helps or yin yoga poses. But not as much as cardio. Get worn out physically somehow.
I’m not sure about this myself. I too suffer anxiety. I use medical marijuana, which helps. I think depression is the bigger factor for me. The breathing techniques can help in the moment. Just big deep breathes if nothing else. It may only help momentarily; I don’t know what else lasts longer. Good luck to you!
Usually what works for me, too. But I think it might have been electrolyes for this case; someone else suggested that, and it was something I had available so I drank a gatorade and I am starting to feel better.
That’s amazing! Plus, it’s what plants crave! Glad to hear something simple like that was able to get things started. Hope it continues to get better for you.
Before I got meds my go to when I woke up from panic attacks and couldn’t calm down was putting on an episode of ARIA: The Animation. It’s super chill.
There are some good ideas here, exercise and good nutrition among them.
You seem nice. You’re funny most of the time.
Lemmy isn’t a bad habit, but you might get a lot more out of interacting with real people.
You can do it. Get out.
I was trying out user tags on Lemmy to see how to do it and what they’re like. I was reading a post about how people put their shoes and socks on.
OP is now tagged as ‘Shoe sock’. The only tagged person I have.
I salute you, Shoe sock. 🫡
If you’ve got any Benadryl/diphenhydramine in your medicine cabinet, it has some anti-anxiety properties. Not really something you can take for too long, for obvious reasons, but it can help in a pinch.
Whisky
Maladaptive
Wine is fine. Liquor’s quicker.
All fine and good until you’re a bottle deep, are still anxious and the next morning you wake up with so much hangxiety that you made it worse in the end
Mindfulness
There are herbal remedies to reduce anxiety. However I doubt you will have some on hand unless you specifically found them earlier. I would recommend skullcap, passionflower, St Johns Wort, Tulsi and poppy tinctures which are all nervines. I might when suggest some lemon balm or anise hyssop as well which taste better and can be commands consumed in larger quantities.
If this is something you are interested in learning more about I would recommend Rosemary Gladstar: Beginner Guide book. She’s amazing and has some great simple recipes
Shame on you sweet nervirar!
Exercise and shower
Kava root.
Squirrelsdrivemenuts@lemmy.world 3 days ago
My therapist told me to start throwing a ball at the wall and catch it when I find myself in a downward thought spiral. It really works because apparently it’s hard to focus on a ball and have a mental breakdown at the same time.
Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
This is engaging the logical brain over the emotional. Great tip
WraithGear@lemmy.world 2 days ago
instructions unclear, ball is now embedded in the wall.