Currently Spiraling?
Here Are Three Ways to Calm Anxiety Now
On more than one occasion, I’ve found myself in an anxiety spiral, and ended up Googling things like, “how to make anxiety stop” or “why am I so anxious”.
Sometimes, completely unbeknownst to you, your nervous system detects a threat and gets all revved up. Hellooo anxiety. The thoughts in your mind may be going haywire. Maybe your body is all tense and panicky. Here are three things you can do NOW to help calm your system and reduce the anxious feelings.
1. Say to yourself, “I am experiencing anxiety”.
Here’s a mini neuroscience lesson to help you understand why this works:
The amygdala, a little almond-shaped part of your brain, is responsible for taking in sensory information from the outside world and determining if danger is present. And if it detects a threat, it sounds off the alarms. The threat could be a certain facial expression from your partner, seeing a garden snake in your yard, or an unexpected loud sound. It doesn’t matter. The amygdala then tells your body to react, in order to ensure your survival. Your sympathetic nervous system is activated, you get a hit of adrenaline and cortisol, and your body experiences a fight/flight/freeze/fawn response. This process is completely automatic, requiring no conscious direction from you. Oftentimes, the activation of the sympathetic nervous system is less obvious, and you may simply be feeling a little light-headed or notice your heart beating faster than usual. Or your thoughts may be stuck in a loop of worst-case-scenarios.
By labeling your experience, literally saying to yourself, “I am experiencing anxiety”, you re-engage your prefrontal cortex. This is the part of your brain behind your forehead that allows you to think logically and rationally. When it is engaged, you can get out of auto-pilot and gain some control over your experience. You can then make a decision about how to cope with the feelings of anxiety.
2. Find your breath, and extend your exhale.
When our sympathetic nervous system is activated, we tend to take quick shallow breaths. If a tiger is chasing us, these quick breaths oxygenate our blood and give us the energy to run like hell. If you are experiencing anxiety right now, simply locate your breath, without changing anything. Notice where you feel the air moving – in your chest, down your lungs into your stomach, out your nostrils. It may help to place one hand on your chest and the other on your stomach. Once you have turned your awareness to your breath, breathe in for 4 seconds, then out for eight.
IN… two… three… four…
OUT… two… three… four… five… six… seven… eight…
IN… two… three… four…
OUT… two… three… four… five… six… seven… eight…
When you extend your exhale, you activate your parasympathetic nervous system, which is the body’s calming or “rest and digest” system.
3. Practice grounding by utilizing your five senses.
This is another way to get you out of the auto-pilot fight/flight/freeze/fawn response and back into a conscious mindset.
Mentally note FIVE things that you can SEE around you.
(Pro tip: List five blue things you can see… or any other color of your choosing.)
Notice FOUR things that you can TOUCH or physically feel around you.
(Notice your feet on the ground or your bottom in the chair. Notice the pull of gravity. Notice the texture of your clothing, the couch, the pet next to you, an item on your desk. Notice the temperature of the room. Notice what it feels like to rub your thumb against each finger or your tongue against your teeth.)
Identify THREE things that you can HEAR.
(What sounds are near, and what sounds are off in the distance?)
TWO things you can SMELL.
ONE thing you can TASTE.
(Having something on hand with intense flavor, like a sour candy or extra-minty gum, can help. Or ice cold water, hot tea, etc.)
Bonus tip: I often recommend the meditation app called Insight Timer to my clients. You can access thousands of guided meditations for free. There is a search feature that you can use to really specify what you’re looking for. Try “anxiety SOS” or “grounding for anxiety”.
Anxiety is an emotion, just like sadness or joy, and we all experience it. It is crucial to our survival. As uncomfortable as anxiety is, remember that it in itself cannot hurt you. By practicing the above techniques, it is possible to harness more control over your experience of anxiety.
