Dr. Beau A. Nelson, Chief Clinical Officer – FHE Health and Sunlight Recovery
March 2024
Stress and anxiety are normal feelings that we all get from time to time. If the feelings are temporary and do not cause impairment, they go away, and we continue forward, no problem. If the feelings take over, then there is a problem. Stress and anxiety are a psychological and physical response to a threat, danger, or problem. This can be real or imagined, be something in our thoughts alone or something in our environment.
You can reduce internal stress (that you create), but you cannot always control external stress and anxiety (changing schedules, difficult people, management ineptitude, etc.). Learning ways to help manage stress and anxiety and learning helpful coping skills can make a real difference. We cannot have a completely stress or anxiety free life, so zero is not our goal. What you want to be able to do is to help control chronic stress or anxiety that impedes your normal life. Basically, it needs to be managed and appropriate to the situation.
This may sound like an impossible task, to manage your stress and anxiety, but it is not. You can do some practical steps to help to reduce anxiety and stress, here are a few research proven techniques that you can try to add to your routine.
- Cardiovascular exercise that gets your heart pumping is good for releasing stress and anxiety. A good fifteen-minute walk, working on a project in the yard, cleaning the house, or going to the gym, helps to expel the stress chemicals in our bodies, lifts mood, and clears out obsessive worry.
- Take worry breaks. This may seem counterintuitive as we are trying to reduce our worries, but research has shown that when you take 5-minute worry break – where you can worry and obsess as much as you want, then at the end of that time, it is done. You do not have permission to continue to think or ruminate, just move on until your next worry break (a recommended starting point is a couple of times a day).
- Breathe stress away. Yoga breathing, mindfulness breathing, or what is called diaphragmatic breathing is very good at reducing stress and anxiety. I use this with patients coming of anti-anxiety medication and if you stick with it and practice it regularly – it really works. The 4-7-8 breathing technique, also known as “relaxing breath,” involves breathing in for 4 seconds through your nose, holding the breath for 7 seconds, and exhaling for 8 seconds out your mouth (slowly). Make sure your tummy goes out and get a deep breath. Practice 10 times and help to relax your body and your mind.
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