Anxiety is a feeling that is emerging a lot these days... so what can we do?
Anxiety has long existed through humanity. It has helped us adapt and survive to our environment over the years. Anxiety is an emotion, but we make sense of it as a feeling. Therefore, the way we interpret or not a threat is related to internal and external factors that arouse it. Anxiety has the role of preparing us to what could be dangerous and, thus, it is activated in light of a perception of insecurity or danger. It is not a minor detail that the danger can be real or imaginary. Unfortunately, the chemical reaction that we generate in our bodies through this mechanism is not healthy for us and over time, excessive levels of anxiety can harm us.
Our brain has been "wired" originally to protect ourselves of what could be dangerous or unknown.
That's why I suggest some activities to calm our body and put our minds at ease. These activities are associated to the stimulation of the vagus nerve that will help us decrease our levels of toxicity in our bodies.
Do something that matters to you, like singing, dancing, drawing
Breathe slowly
Move: you can practice yoga, martial arts (aerobic exercises)
Meditate
Laugh
Walk barefooted and feel the grass under your feet
Listen to relaxing sounds
Enjoy the sunshine
Look for positive social connections
Engage in rhythmical movement (aerobic exercises)
Get acupressure
Get a splash of cold water on the face or having a cold shower
Hum
Nurture your body with good quality food.
There are other things you can do to avoid feeling anxious. These techniques will encourage you to place your attention in other things or circuits to generate new habits:
Avoid/Decrease access to negative information (for example, time spent on watching the news, toxic friends.)
Limit the amount of time when using screens
Write what you feel
Exercise
Take a bubble bath
Listen to music
Listen to a podcast
Get some fresh air
Enjoy a cup of coffee.
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