Is the pressure of everyday life keeping you up at night?
Are you having emotional outbursts as it feels like the walls are closing in dealing with everyday tasks?
Do your muscles tighten or tense up at the thought of an upcoming paper or project?
What you are experiencing are signs of you feeling overwhelmed. Here are three tips to assist in managing anxiety.
1.MAINTAIN A REGULAR ROUTINE OF PRAYER AND BIBLE READING
Maintaining a routine of spending time in God’s Word and prayer can center you and allow your perspective in a particular situation to be shifted. Establishing and strengthening your personal relationship with Christ can provide you with courage in times that you need to be brave. You can find support in times where you may feel like the situation is helpless. Hope when you may feel like the situation is hopeless. Increase your faith when situations appear to be impossible to overcome.
Studying God’s love can change how you see yourself and redefine how you view God’s love in your personal life and how you can show God’s love towards others. As you conduct these studies, you can create a vision board reflecting how God sees you. Having a visual picture reflecting images of how God sees you can be a daily encouragement that you can overcome the daily stressors of everyday life.
Meditating on the promises of God and speaking to them over yourself can help to remind you that where you start out at is not where you stay. This can be an encouragement when dealing with difficult challenges and facing stressors head-on.
2.BREATHING EXERCISES
The way that you breathe inhale and exhale can reflect the level of tension that your body is taking in. Breathing exercises are a form of deep relaxation technique that assists in managing anxiety. Breathing exercises can help to decrease
· Your heart rate
· Your respiration rates
· Your blood pressure
· Your skeletal muscle tensions
· Your metabolic rate
· Your oxygen consumption
· Insomnia and fatigue
· Migraines and headaches
· Asthma
· Headaches
· Self-blame
Studies show that breathing exercises can improve
· Skin resistance
· Increase wave activity in the brain
· Energy level and productivity
· Concentration
· Memory
· Stress builds up over time
· Self-confidence
Tension can show in shallow breathing and rapidly high in the chest. When you are relaxed, you breathe more fully and deeply. Abdominal breathing allows you to breathe more fully, deeply, and become more relaxed. This type of breathing:
· Increases oxygen supply to the brain and muscle
· Stimulates the nervous system
· Encourages greater feelings of connectedness between mind and body.
· Releases the body’s toxic substances in a holistic manner
Here is an exercise you can try:
· Put your hand on your abdomen and beneath your rib cage
· Inhale through your nose. Your hand should rise as you do this.
· Do a full breath. Pause. Exhale slowly through your nose or mouth
Studies show that regular practice of deep relaxation for 20-30 minutes a day can produce a more relaxed response.
3.RECOGNIZING AND MANAGING TRIGGERS OF ANXIETY
A trigger of anxiety is a fear of the unknown and feeling as if you are out of control. You may be constantly asking yourself what-if questions and playing different scenarios in your mind reflecting failure. This can lead to depression and muscle tension in your back, shoulders, chest, or stomach.
Creating a schedule where you include leisure activities can help you feel like you have control. The feeling of control and reduce stress and help you to have a more positive outlook in how you approach everyday activities. Having someone to talk to and develop a plan on how to manage your stress can help.
You’ll have a safe place to explore your feeling and discover an anxiety treatment plan that will meet your unique needs. Counseling can provide a place where you will know that you are understood and validated. Call 443-860-6870 and make an appointment for your no-cost initial consultation.
