Anxiety Strategies: The Ultimate Guide to Help Reduce Anxiety

How do you cope with anxiety and reduce the anxiety when it feels so strong and overwhelming?

There are many different tools, techniques and support that you can seek if you are struggling with anxiety. It can be quite a journey, as there is no quick fix and not all the same tools work for everyone. 

Fortunately, there is a lot of research about anxiety and ways you can help yourself, including a variety of anxiety management strategies. However, the hardest part of this journey may be committing to trying, and to being patient with yourself. As with anything, it is going to take time to find what works for you, so it is important that you don’t give up on yourself. The more you experiment with these strategies for anxiety, you will begin to build resilience. You will soon be able to look back and see a difference in how you manage your anxiety.

This blog post will talk a little bit about the things you can do in the moment, and in your general life to help you both short-term and long-term to address anxiety, help reduce the anxiety and provide yourself with anxiety strategies.

This post will cover:

• The first step of understanding what anxiety is and why it occurs
• Becoming aware of your own anxious thoughts and behaviours
• Understanding your triggers
• Learning how to feel safe and ground yourself
• Creating a toolbox of strategies
• Summary list

All in the hope to help you not become debilitated by anxiety on a daily basis.

Anxiety strategy #1: Set expectations

There may be times when it becomes really difficult and unbearable, and you may feel like giving up. This is normal, but if you keep on trying (not necessarily all the time every day) you will start to feel a difference. When this happens, you can start to build momentum in your life and learn how to manage your anxiety so you can get back to a little normality. 

Persistence and effort will ultimately lead to more positive changes. You will be able to shift the direction of your life from being stuck in a vicious circle, to building your tolerance and overcoming things you perhaps believe are not possible at this time. 

Sometimes it might feel like you continue to go around in circles, but every time you are triggered and able to shift your awareness or your actions even slightly, when you take a step back, you will be able to see that it is no longer a circle that you are stuck in, and instead, you are riding a spiral upwards. Sometimes we get so caught up, that we cannot see that we are making progress. Every action, no matter how small it may feel, will take you in the right direction.

No journey is ever linear, but it can go upwards. Breaking the cycle is key.

There are loads of tools and techniques out there, but not all of them will work for everyone. These are some of the tools and techniques that have personally helped me. This list is not exhaustive. This is not medical advice, and does not replace the need or requirement to go and speak to your Doctor. 

Anxiety strategy #2: Understand your experience with anxiety

When learning how to reduce anxiety and how to cope with anxiety, it is important that you become aware of your own anxious thoughts, behaviours and triggers. Basically your experience with anxiety – as this will be completely unique. By learning this early on, you can find the most effective anxiety strategies that are going to work for you. If you try to replicate the quick fix method you find on the internet, there is a chance is may not be suited to your experience. To understand your experience, you may start by identifying how it shows up and what your triggers are.

Identify anxiety

When you are struggling with anxiety, you can often find yourself in a vicious cycle of worry and fixate on all the things that are wrong with you. An important first step is to try and pause for a moment and bring awareness to what is going on in your mind and body. Conduct a full body check in. What is going on in your mind and body right at this moment? (Thoughts, bodily sensations, etc.)

This moment of awareness can help you break the pattern of getting caught up in the rush of anxiety, as you separate yourself from the (perfectly human) reaction and is the foundation to making change. Make a note of what is going on with your mind and body during this course of anxiety. Journaling can be a particularly helpful practice here. Not only will you be able to offload and put a stop to the cycles of worry going around in your head, but the more you do it, the more likely you are to start identifying patterns and themes. 

Identify your triggers

Sometimes anxiety can come on suddenly, while other times it may be related to a recent stressful or alarming event. It is a good time to make a note of what may have caused the anxiety at this moment. For those who are not aware, this simple activity, over time, can help you to find a pattern so that you can take appropriate action. It will also help you to continue making changes towards interrupting the autopilot your body typically runs on. 

Triggers can be different for everyone. For some, it may be a particular train of thought, or perhaps a certain person or environment. It does not always have to be a high stress or alarming event. While the human body is wired to be anxious as a reaction to a threat, threats are going to look different for everyone. 

With time, you can start to notice patterns and become aware of what triggers, or exacerbates your anxiety. This can be a long and tedious process, but this is part of really digging in and making foundational changes. Making the triggers known is not so that you can avoid them (well maybe some!) but so you can adapt what you do, or how you approach those situations. You can then set goals to work towards and seek the right kind of support. Sometimes avoiding your triggers, or avoiding that something triggers you, is not the most productive thing to do.

There are models of psychology that can help you learn what to do in situations where you are triggered, so that you can practise this coping method, and then slowly begin to expose yourself to your triggers, so that you can build your tolerance to the uncomfortable symptoms and begin to learn safety in your body. 

This might be more difficult for some people, where anxiety can be chronic. Physical and mental symptoms of anxiety show up constantly, or sometimes, days, weeks or even months at a time, and what feels like no real or obvious reason for it. However, it is important to get to the root cause. When you dive deep into the world of anxiety, there are actually a plethora of different issues that can be causing your anxiety, in addition to things in your environment. There is increasing research into what can trigger anxiety, so there may well be something, other than an event, that can be causing it. For example, hypoglycemia, blood sugar imbalance, nutrient deficiencies, poor gut health, dysregulated nervous system, stress, trauma, predispositions, genes, and much more. 

Below is a helpful prompt to help you get started with identifying your anxious patterns. The order that you experience your anxiety might be different, so aim to fill in the boxes as you see fit. With time, you’ll soon start to notice your own patterns/cycle.

Anxiety strategy #3: Zoom out

Part of an effective anxiety strategy, is seeing the whole picture. When you are stuck in an anxious cycle, it can feel like a downward spiral. Your are stuck in your own fear loop and you need to break the cycle, if you want to reduce your anxiety and learn how to cope with anxiety. One way to do this is to try and “zoom out” and see the whole picture, and consider the truth behind your thoughts. This can help give you a little perspective and start to bring you back to safety.

Consider the truth behind your thoughts 

Considering the truth will help change your perspective.

When you continue to overwhelm your mind with the same thought patterns over and over again, you are ingraining them into your mind so they become automatic, and they can impact your mood and state of being. More often than not, the worries are only one side of the story.

Awareness is step one. Then you can begin to challenge these thoughts, interrupt the cycle and begin to look at the bigger picture.

When you begin to challenge your thoughts, while at first they will seem fake and likely you will come up against a lot of resistance, you begin to create a more balanced way of thinking. This is a well researched concept called neuroplasticity. 

This will take a lot of time and consistency to start to see a difference. You can begin to challenge the thoughts by:

• Identifying what they are
• Asking yourself if they are true/what evidence is there to support this thought
• Reframe the thought 

You don’t have to replace it with a positive thought, and this is not suggesting that you just ignore or try to block out the thoughts, but sometimes these thoughts are nasty and anxiety provoking. So where possible, try to think of something neutral. You should be careful of toxic positivity in this case, as you are trying to be more realistic, rather than lie to yourself and ignore your concerns. You may also wish to use statements such as “I am safe”, repeated to yourself in the moment. This is helpful because in many cases of anxiety, your mind is overestimating the threat at present and/or your ability to handle it. 

It can be a great idea to write your thoughts and the process of gathering facts or reframing them. Below you can see an example of a thought diary.

Take time to reflect

Reflecting is a great practice. It doesn’t have to be in the moment. In fact, you are not likely to have the capacity to do so (but if you do and find it helpful, then go for it!)

Schedule time to reflect on your experience with anxiety over the past 1-3 weeks. This will enable you to consider the circumstances and reactions with a fresh mind. Think about what coping mechanism you turned to, and what you can try to do next time. This will help you learn about what works and doesn’t for you, and will prepare you for next time.

Anxiety strategy #4: Bring yourself back to safety

The root of anxiety is fear. Your body goes into survival mode, because it has perceived a threat. This means that your autonomic nervous system activates your fight-or-flight response, which is designed to keep you safe. This is why you experience a range of symptoms, as your body is preparing for survival.

So what is the opposing thing to do, to help you reduce anxiety? This would be to show your body that you are safe. You can tell yourself you are safe (which is also a great thing to do), but you can take this a step further by using physical strategies. Signalling to your body that you are safe, will help you significantly reduce your anxiety. This works by activating your rest-and-digest response in your nervous system. It is important to do this, so that you do not remain in a chronic state of survival. Here are a few ways you can do this.

Ground yourself 

One way to signal safety to your body is by using grounding techniques. Grounding techniques bring you back to the present moment. When you are away in your anxious thoughts or wrapped up in fear, you are not present. Grounding is a great strategy for anxiety as it helps you to refocus, create space, calm your racing mind, and signal safety to your body.

Grounding yourself can be a great way to help you in a strong and overwhelming moment, to cope with anxiety naturally. I personally find this to be one of the most helpful things to do. Many people (including myself at first) may not like this suggestion, but there is science behind why this is often a suggestion by practitioners.

You may have commonly heard phrases such as “go outside”, “have you tried yoga?” “have a cup of tea”. I personally don’t think people mean harm by suggesting these – they can actually be very mindful and grounding tasks if you understand the what and the why behind them. They may also take a few goes to settle into and start to notice a difference. 

Depending on where you are, how much time you have and what is accessible to you, you can try a grounding technique. There are many to choose from and personally, I have a list that I utilise, depending on the situation. These include:

• Using your senses
• Breathing techniques 
• Anchoring 
• Movement

There are many others, such as going into nature and meditating. I think it is really important to think about what reactions your body has, and what kind of activity can counteract that and feels good for you. For example, your mind might be racing too much for meditating, so going for a walk or moving your body might be the key for you. Remember to find what works for YOU.

Use your senses 

Name 5 things that you can see, 4 things that you can hear, 3 things that you can smell, 2 things that you can touch, 1 thing that you can taste. Alternatively, name 3 things that you can see, 3 things that you can touch, 3 things that you can hear. The point is to use your senses to bring your mind and body into the present moment. 

Breathing techniques 

Breathing techniques will help with anxiety, as it can act as a counter to the physiological state that your body enters when you are stressed. When you are anxious, you will likely be experiencing a range of symptoms, e.g. racing thoughts, dizziness, hot flushes, racing heart, etc. This is your body preparing for danger with the fight-or-flight mode. Utilising breathing techniques can signal to your body that you are safe and bring you out of the alerted state. There are a number of breathing techniques you can try. I personally find it helpful to lay down while doing them and closing my eyes. Some that are simple to remember are:

• Deep belly breaths: breath in slowly to fill up your belly, and slowly breath out. Place your hand on your belly to help. 
• Sama vritti (box breath): breath in for a count of 4, hold your breath for a count of 4, breath out for a count of four, and hold again for a count of 4. 

Or you can simply take some long deep breaths, and extend your exhale.

Anchor 

Breathing and the use of senses can be an anchor into the present moment. This can help you reduce some of the worrying and racing thoughts. There are also other anchors, which is totally unique to you. Some people will press their finger and thumb together, others will touch a necklace or item of clothing. 

Anxiety strategy #5: Movement 

When you are anxious, racing thoughts and bodily sensations can be worrisome. If you can find the time and space for movement, this is a great way to disperse some of the energy charging through your body. When your body is in fight-or-flight and is preparing for danger, parts of your body are gearing up. If you can exercise, walk, dance, or anything that moves you, you can help you relieve some of the anxiety that you are feeling.

This can be helpful if you get worried and feel uncomfortable when the bodily sensations are present. When you bring more attention to them, they feel stronger, and you are effectively keeping that loop going. You are making it worse, with more thoughts and worries. It is also a good distraction. If you opt for something like yoga, you may also feel calmer. And if you opt for something like dancing, you might even end with a smile on your face. 

Movement also encourages the release of hormones, such as endorphins. Many studies have shown that movement can help relieve stress. 

Practised individually, or in combination with each other, rhythmic movement and deep breathing are just two ways that you can relax your body and ground yourself. Rhythmic movements such as yoga, qigong or tai chi have been shown to provide people with mental focus, muscle relaxation, fluid movements and deep breathing. These can benefit your body by inducing calm. Walking is also a great way to relieve tension in your muscles.

As well as using these in the moment, it can be particularly helpful to try and build a small practice of at least one of these relaxation and movement techniques into your routine. It doesn’t have to be anything big or fancy, but if you can start with 5 deep belly breaths in the morning as soon as you wake up, you can start to build a habit, and momentum. When you start to play an active role in your health and wellbeing, you may find that symptoms start to ease and you can build resilience. 

Anxiety strategy #6: Speak and/or connect with someone

Your problems won’t disappear if you speak to someone. But, more often than not, when you are able to share a problem, it might take a little bit of the weight you are carrying off your shoulders. It can also help to put a stop to the remuneration and vicious cycle that you create in your head that feel like they won’t stop. 

A big part of anxiety is worry. For some people, worry can manifest with a very critical mind that goes around and around in circles. Talking to someone can be helpful. 

You can find a friend or family member that you feel you feel safe around and can completely trust. You can also seek the support of a therapist or a support group. 

I know that therapy is a luxury service, as it can be extremely expensive to pay for if you cannot obtain it via the NHS or get put on their very long waiting list. I felt this way too. I have found some therapy services that offer discounted services that make it much more accessible. Some even offer a pay what you can service based on how much you earn. (I have not personally used all of these or am I affiliated with them, they are just from research and shared with the intention to help). There are also mental health helplines to help you if you feel in a more urgent state.

Some of these include: 

• Online Therapy UK
• All Saints Counselling Service 
• Counselling Together
• Petersfield Counselling Service 

Anxiety strategy #7: Refocus of attention

I say this one with caution. I don’t mean to distract yourself to ignore your problems.

What I mean is, sometimes with anxiety, you can get stuck in a very vicious cycle. You can become completely consumed by worries, behaviours and sensations. If you can find something that you enjoy, and will distract your mind for a short moment away from your anxiety, you can start to break that cycle you have found yourself in and bring yourself back to the present moment.

It might well provide you with a well needed break from the overwhelm and anxiety that you are experiencing. But of course, does not address the root of the problem.

If you can do something small, such as watering your plants or going for a walk with a friend, you may also be able to benefit from a moment of mindfulness or enjoyment. 

Anxiety strategy #8: Create a lifestyle that supports your overall wellbeing

There is a lot of research that shows the links between sleep, food, exercise and other lifestyle factors with anxiety, whether it is the cause of anxiety or it is heightening how you feel. Leading a healthier lifestyle can definitely improve the way that you feel overall, and can reduce the exacerbation of symptoms. 

Sleep 

Good sleep hygiene is vital. It is the time that the body uses to recover. Everyone will require a different amount of sleep, but it is important to find what works for you and create a positive habit around your sleep. Quality, as well as the quantity of sleep you get is vital. You will feel much better, with more energy and a clear head. Without sleep, you will find yourself more irritable, anxious and a whole host of other things. If getting to sleep is an issue because of your anxiety, perhaps speak to your Doctor, or try some of the grounding and breathing techniques above.

Food

Food is fuel for your body. The right kind of food is rich in nutrients and minerals that are vital for the body to function as it provides it with energy, as well as the ability to do its job, such as regulating important neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. 

Certain foods eaten in excess, such as sugar and caffeine can heighten anxiety due to the change in blood sugar levels that trigger cortisol and adrenaline to release into the bloodstream. 

Food has also been directly linked to your mental health. 

Exercise 

Studies have found that exercise can also help with anxiety by reducing the symptoms, as well as acting as a preventative measure to the risk of future physical conditions associated with prolonged anxiety. 

Stressors

Part of leading a healthier lifestyle is decreasing the stress that you endure. Stress can impact you negatively, and actually change the structure of your brain. These changes can influence the neurotransmitters that are produced in your body and in turn, impact the levels of anxiety you experience. See if you can reduce the unimportant and unnecessary stressors in your life. 

Nature

It can also be important to spend more time in nature. Research has shown that nature can reduce muscle tension, blood pressure and stress hormone production. See if you can replace 5 minutes a day of scrolling on social media with going out into your garden or going for a short walk.

Create a safe environment for yourself

If you are struggling with prolonged anxiety, it is likely that you experience a lot of fear and worry, amongst a variety of other symptoms that can lead you to avoiding situations. A safe space means you can retreat in a place that is free from judgement, and makes you feel supported.

This safe space has to be both in your home, and within yourself. Take some time to revamp your home, or just your bedroom if that’s all the space you have, to make it your own personal oasis. Declutter the space and make it easier to clean, hang photos, paint it your favourite colour, hang curtains, light candles, pin fairy lights, whatever makes you feel good and comfortable. There are also many other external, outward things that you can choose to create safety with, for example, by surrounding yourself with good and trustworthy friends.

Finding safety within yourself will mean something different for everyone, this will be a personal journey. 

Anxiety strategy #9: Seek support

It can be extremely helpful to seek support for your anxiety from a professional or specialist. They will know a variety of tools and strategies, they will be able to help you navigate your anxiety in a safe place, and work through it with you. Support might look different for everyone. Some people find support in therapy treatments such as talk therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy or hypnotherapy. They might take you through a range of tools to use, or help you gain a new perspective and understanding. While others might find support in support groups with like-minded people, or things such as yoga. 

Anxiety strategy #10: Create a toolbox for your anxiety 

There are many other ways you can help ease your anxiety. It is important to experiment with different ways to find something that works for you, so you can rely on it whenever you need it. I think there is a short-term and long-term approach here that run parallel with each other. There are going to be things that work for you in the moment. There are also going to be things that don’t, but will serve you greatly overall by incorporating into your lifestyle. Make a note of the things that do help, and create your own internal toolbox for anxiety.

One suggestion to approach these techniques – is to see what will help you long-term, and what will help short-term. For example:

Short-term (in the moment of anxiety) you might:

• Write down your thoughts to offload
• Challenge some of the thoughts for truth/evidence/neutrality
• 2-5 minutes of a breathing technique, or pop in a podcast and go for a walk

Long-term (to help your overall anxiety) you might:

• Review your journal over a week or two for patterns and triggers
• Reflect on how you dealt with situations and what you may choose to do next
• Make sure you are regularly excising, fuelling your body with good food, getting enough sleep and surrounding yourself with the right kind of people
• Practice a grounding exercise (this can help you prepare to use it in the moment, it can also help you to stay in a more grounded and present state for longer)

Essentially, you want to be helping yourself in the moment, but also creating a better baseline for yourself.

Your comfort zone

This is a task that you have to treat wisely. I feel that for some, if you struggle with constant anxiety, you are always out of your comfort zone. So the strategies mentioned above are to help you get back into a place of safety and comfort. Once you experience more of this, it might be a good idea to take yourself out of your comfort zone, but in a positive, and productive way by doing something small, but scary. This can help you build resilience, and experience the normal sensations in small bursts that humans are built for. 

Anxiety strategy #11: Be kind

Remember, above all, to be kind to yourself. Try to give yourself just a little compassion. Anxiety and other mental health struggles are hard. In fact, they can feel much more than that. You don’t need the added pressure of being your own worst critic. 

Where possible, try to stay consistent and be patient with yourself. Unfortunately, anxiety is not something that will disappear overnight. The more you can make small positive lifestyle changes that create a safe environment for yourself, revise your thoughts, and complete small tasks such as deep breathing, you are able to start breaking the vicious cycle and feel differently. 

I hope that there is something here that can help you on your journey. If it doesn’t resonate or you are not ready, then consider returning to this at a later stage. 

Anxiety strategy #12: Look at what’s under the surface

For some, it can be helpful to explore the anxiety and what is under the surface. After identifying your anxiety and your triggers, you may find that helpful enough.

Some people may have developed anxiety due to other reasons, like past trauma, a dysregulated nervous system, unmet needs, and more.

It can be helpful to explore any underlying issues, or else a surface level “fix” isn’t going to change anything. When you learn about your mind and body, the wiring of your nervous system and more, you can support your anxiety long term.

Anxiety is an alarm, and is normal to experience. It is part of being a human and can help you learn and grow. However, it should be experienced constantly or for prolonged periods of time. If your alarm system is stuck, or excessively going off, it may require some exploration so you stop detecting threats in your environment.

Summary

For those who don’t want to read long posts, or like a little checklist at the end, here you go 🙂

• Identify anxiety – is what you are experiencing anxiety? What is going on in your mind and body? 
• Identify your triggers – keep a diary and note when you anxiety arises and find patterns to address your anxiety 
• Consider the truth behind your negative thoughts – thoughts can unfortunately keep us in that vicious cycle of anxiety.  Ask yourself: Is there a threat? Are your thoughts facts or opinions? How can you neutralise these thoughts? You may come up with your own questions that are relevant to your experience. 

• Ground yourself – bodily sensations can be tough to deal with, use a technique to help you bring your body out of a state of threat
  • Use your senses 
  • Breathing techniques 
  • Anchor 
  • Movement 
• Speak and/or connect with someone – Break the cycle and relieve a little of the weight off your shoulders
• Refocus of attention – carefully distract yourself by refocusing your attention (not to ignore your problems though!)
• Review your lifestyle – Lifestyle can cause anxiety, or make it worse. Consider how you are spending your time and what areas could use a little work. You may be surprised at how much things like poor sleep hygiene, poor nutrition, increase of stress and lack of movement can impact your mental health!
  • Sleep 
  • Food
  • Exercise 
  • Stressors
  • Nature
  • Create a safe environment for yourself
• Seek support – a specialist who works with anxiety may be able to help you address your anxiety on a deeper level, navigate it and help you to develop appropriate tools and strategies
• Create a toolbox for your anxiety – experiment with different things that help you both long term and short term, and make sure you use these strategies when you need them
• Your comfort zone – anxiety can make you feel like you are constantly out of your comfort zone. Work to bring yourself back. Then work to positively and productively take yourself out of your comfort zone to build resilience. 
• Be kind – Life is tough. Anxiety is tough. Be kinder to yourself, please.