Each one of us went through an anxiety attack even if we weren’t clear on what is happening to our mind and body. Feeling anxious is one of the corollaries linked to our natural bodily responses to external stimuli.
Sometimes, people end up in situations where it seems there’s no way out. Anxiety takes over with a feeling that things are hard and without any solution. At times, the anxious person hasn’t even fathom why such an uneasy feeling has taken control.
Physically, anxiety manifests by people start fidgeting with their hands, wriggling their feet, sweating, feeling hot, dizzy, and even ending down with tears pouring down our face. These are the body’s natural response to self-defense in crucial situations.
When this happens, it is necessary to take a deep breath and look back on a similar situation before finding out what was going on.
Ways to help with anxiety:
Reading books or lightly-themed magazines
Suggest online books or lend your friend or partner a light-hearted book that will engage their attention and fill in some of their hours.
Bring a comic or a magazine to share together.
To understand what triggers anxiety and its effects, you could do a bit of research for this topic online or in specialist books.
Exercising
Going to the gym or the park for a walk is beneficial because it helps release stress and feelings related to anxiety.
Stretching the muscles and being surrounded by people at the gym may open doors to getting new friendships, acquaintances, and new experiences.
Suggest your friend join you for long walks or bring exercising in their home (light yoga, Zumba, or playing a fit on a gaming device). The physical effort serves as an outlet to release all those negative feelings currently cluttering up their mind.
Yoga is widely known as one of the best remedies for anxiety. It helps release stress, ease pains, and keep the body in shape.
Change in routine
Doing things differently from the usual routine may also help to ward off anxiety. The objective is to keep the mind busy as the brain’s functioning plays an essential role in a person who suffers constant fear. Being under permanent pressure, by slotting some hours for relaxation into their schedule will regrow the person’s sense of being in charge.
Some people experience extreme anxiety due to work and unfinished tasks, be it at home or their respective jobs.
Some individuals have heaps of money, a big house, no debts, a loving spouse, children but their lives feel like being in limbo. They are aware that they can’t enjoy everything they’ve obtained because of the excess of work and duties that result in a lack of free time.
Anxiety and can lead to depression. People fear losing their family or relationship, their status in society, health, job, or assets.
Helpful advice when work seems to occupy the mind:
Prioritize and delegate tasks whenever possible.
Make lists to create a feeling of order.
Take small breaks between tasks.
Change your working area.
Ask for help from others.
Allow time for breathing.
Spend time with family and friends.
Other people feel anxious because they lack money, live in poor conditions, and poor health.
These cases occur everywhere in the world, and it’s hard to give advice that covers all areas; however, friends can help with:
Reinstall a sense of hope, explaining that these difficulties can be overcome with time.
Offer to help with part of their necessities. For example, add something on your shopping list that you can later give to your friend.
Facilitate learning for new skills – to get a new job.
Offer help for housekeeping duties from time to time.
Listen to their worries. Sometimes no action is needed. People need time to blow off their steam and share their thoughts.
Share similar experiences from the past (it might be something other members of the family or friends’ group encountered before).
Never procrastinate
Leaving some chores for later increase the level of stress and twists the mood. All those accumulated activities will still need to be dealt with later on. Being disorganized complicates even the simplest things :
Losing stuff (keys, books, money)
It is harder to remember daily chores like going to the bank, finishing homework, or washing the dog.
Forgetting essential dates (exams, birthdays, and celebrations), thus affecting social life.
Never finishing what was started.
Being late to meetings and work
Being there for a friend and offering support with anxiety is part of the healing process. It is crucial, though, to remember that if the positive changes are hard to spot or take a long time to occur, the person needs to seek a mental health practitioner or a doctor’s advice.
Diet changes
Mental health and general wellbeing can also be affected by what people eat and drink.
Drinking alcohol increases the feelings of anxiety and depression even though in the heat of the moment, having a glass too many seems to relax the body. The alcohol only slows down the activity of the brain, thus inducing the sense of loosening up. In just a few hours, the reality hits back.
Be there for your friend and prepare non-alcoholic drink options by using healthy drinks infused with vitamins.
Food should be eaten in small quantities, and processed meat and fats should be replaced with less fatty options. Adding vegetables, fruits, grains, and nuts whilst reducing the amount of sugar consumed will benefit the body and mind, creating a sense of comfort and vitality.
Counselling for anxiety
A doctor might suggest an appointment with a counselling service to ease and deal effectively with the anxiety disorder. This happens especially when a person’s life is affected by this mental health issue.
Counselling services can be found:
Online, by searching for each individual’s closest location you will find the nearest mental health service.
Through your local surgery or doctor’s office.
In the regional map of businesses or local magazine that comes through your door.
The counsellor might even suggest online meetings or courses such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy that can be accessed from home.
