Introduction
Anxiety is our body’s natural response to stress that comes from tough situations. A little bit of it is OK, even helpful for us. For example, you will pay more attention and do your best to prepare yourself for an interview if you are feeling anxious.
But if it’s too much or you are facing feelings of fear, tense, restlessness, panic, or dread in even normal situations— you must learn how to deal with anxiety before the symptoms become severe. Untreated anxiety can negatively impact your personal life, work, and relationship with your loved ones.
In this article you will learn 12 powerful anxiety management techniques that are easy to follow and can significantly improve your life.
Key Takeaways
- Anxiety is a mental disorder and can badly impact a person’s abilities of learning, thinking, working, and other daily normal activities.
- According to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), there are several types of anxiety including Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), Panic disorder, Agoraphobia, Social anxiety disorder, and Selective mutism.
- Anxiety disorder can be treated with some life adjustment and healthy routines, however in case of severe symptoms—medication or professional counseling may be needed.
- The psychological symptoms of anxiety include feeling fear, panic, dread, irritability, overwhelming, and difficulty in concentration.
- The physical symptoms of anxiety and panic attack include feeling tense, restlessness, dry mouth, nausea, numbness, cold and sweaty hands/feets, and shortness of breath.
- You can manage anxiety attack symptoms though some effective yet simple ways including learning about anxiety, practicing mindfulness & meditation, practicing relaxation techniques, correct breathing techniques, taking counselling and therapies (Cognitive & Behavioral), eating healthy diet, staying physical active, set healthy boundaries, and taking prescribed medication when needed.
Why am I Feeling Anxious?
Anxiety is a mental disorder that often comes in response to several situations, events, or thoughts. Anxious people respond to such things with fear, dread, panicky or in some critical cases caught their hand and feets cold and sweaty, feel numbness, tense, restless, nausea, or shortness of breath.
For example you have to take a flight, you may feel fear of getting late and missing the flight. When you have some outdoor plans with friends in somewhere like a crowded place you may feel overwhelmed and panic about your dressing, look, conversation with strangers or how they will treat you. In an alarming situation or when you hear shocking news especially about your loved ones you may feel numbness, tense, shortage of breath, or may get a panic attack.
Even some people feel fear and panic for no reason. This stress comes from just nonsense and negative thinking. Like thinking about your loved one who is traveling, that may he/she is in an accidental car. Thoughts about your dating partner that he may cheat you or will leave you.
Based on symptoms and causes, the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) classifies Anxiety in several types. These are:
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): In this condition, the anxious person feels fear, worrying and overwhelming everyday things, like jobs, school, chores, health, and family responsibilities.
- Panic Disorder: The main indicator of this condition is unexpected, multiple panic attacks. THe attacks are usually not due to any underlying mental or physical condition and that happens without any warning.
- Agoraphobia: This isn’t just about “open spaces”, instead it’s a deep fear of being trapped in a place where you can’t escape or get help. People with agoraphobia force themselves to stay at home because they feel like a threat when visiting crowded or unfamiliar places.
- Specific Phobias: We all have things we dislike, but a phobia is an intense, life-disrupting fear of a specific object or situation. Except for agoraphobia, almost every major fear—from heights to spiders—falls under this one umbrella.
- Social Anxiety Disorder: Also known as social phobia, promotes intense feelings and ongoing fear of being judged or watched by others.
- Selective Mutism: This mostly affects young children’s cause them trouble in talking in several situations due to fear or anxiety of negative response from listeners.
Anxiety is one of the most common mental disorders that affect many individuals all over the world. A study from Cleveland Clinic shows that up to 12% of the US population is affected with specific phobia, 7% have social anxiety, 3% have generalized anxiety, 1.7% have agoraphobia.
Psychological & Physical Symptoms of Anxiety
Depending on the type, the signs and symptoms of anxiety vary both psychologically and physically.
Psychological symptoms of anxiety include:
- Feeling fear, dread, or panicky
- Feeling irritable or overwhelming
- Feeling loss of concentration
- Overthinking or persistent obsessive thoughts
Psychological symptoms of anxiety include:
- Stress-induced irregular heartbeats
- Shortness of breath
- Nausea
- Dry mouth
- Numbness
- Cold and sweaty hands and feets
- Tensed muscles
- Feeling restless and can’t fall asleep
You must seek professional healthcare help when frequently noticing these symptoms.
How to Deal with Anxiety Disorder: 12 Effective Tips
Tip 1: Learn About Anxiety and Identify Your Triggers
Learning about anxiety and identifying the situation that triggers your symptoms can be advantageous for an anxious person. Take this step as one of the most effective and powerful coping mechanisms for anxiety.
Once you understand the psychology of the body’s natural “fight-to-fight” response to the difficult situations. You can identify whether its normal or an anxiety disorder, because anxious people will get triggered inappropriately by the situations that are generally harmless.
A person who knows and understands their anxiety triggers can heal soon and better than those without any knowledge.
Tip 2: Stay Present With Mindfulness Techniques
Anxious person spends most of the day alone, sticking with anxiety promoting thoughts. Mindfulness is an easy yet powerful technique that can bring you back to the present moments and untie your mind from those anxious thoughts that make you feel helpless and worried.
You can practice any mindfulness technique, anywhere, anytime to calm your mind. For example in mindful observation, you just pick any object you see and just start observing it deeply—its color, texture, material, and design etc—and stay actively present with it for at least 2 minutes.
Other mindfulness techniques include Grounding (5-4-3-2-1 Technique), mindful breathing, body scan, and mindful eating. Mindfulness also beneficial in dealing with depression.
Pro tip: You can combine mindfulness with exercises and workouts for example during dancing, you can pay attention to the music, artist voice, and your body movements. In the same way when cycling, you can observe your speed, legs rhythm, your breath and heart beats etc.
Read More: Tips on how to mindfully tackle nervous breakdown
Tip 3: Practice Relaxation Techniques to Calm Your Anxiety
As we’ve discussed, anxiety doesn’t just stay in your head—it causes real physical symptoms like intense muscle tension. The good news is that specific relaxation exercises can manually release that tightness and calm your nervous system. These muscle relaxation techniques include:
- Isometric Relaxation Exercises
- Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)
- Visualization Exercises
- Abdominal Breathing
- Yoga and Tai Chi
Tip 4: Challenge and Reframing Anxious Thoughts With Cognitive Therapy
Think of your brain like a specialized filter. When you have an anxiety disorder, that filter is damaged; it lets in all the “scary” information and blocks out the “safe” information. Cognitive therapy is the process of repairing that filter.
The core idea is simple but life-changing: Your thoughts aren’t facts. For example, if a friend doesn’t text you back immediately, your “anxious filter” might tell you, “They’re mad at me,” or “I’ve done something wrong.” This thought triggers a feeling of dread, which leads to the behavior of checking your phone every 30 seconds.
In therapy, we use Reality Testing. You look for evidence. Has this friend been busy before? Have they ever actually said they were mad? By challenging these unhelpful beliefs with “Rational Self-Talk,” you stop the emotional spiral before it even starts. You aren’t just “thinking positive”; you are thinking accurately.
Tip 5: Consider Counselling with Professional About Your Anxiety
Professional counseling acts as a specialized toolkit for your brain. When you’re trapped in an anxiety loop, your perspective becomes “distorted”—you see threats where there are none and feel helpless even when you have options.
A therapist provides an objective “reality check,” helping you identify the specific thought patterns and core beliefs that are fueling your distress. Whether it’s through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or structured talk therapy, a professional helps you build a custom roadmap to recovery that is much more effective than trying to “white-knuckle” it through sheer willpower.
Tip 6: Change Avoidance Behaviors That Fuel Anxiety
While Cognitive therapy deals with your thoughts, Behaviour therapy deals with your actions—specifically, the habit of avoidance.
Avoidance is the “fuel” for anxiety. Every time you stay home because you’re afraid of a crowd, you tell your brain: “You were right to be scared; we only survived because we ran away.” This makes the fear bigger next time. Exposure Therapy is the antidote. It involves “desensitizing” your nervous system by facing your fears in a controlled, step-by-step way.
Here is how to build a “Fear Ladder” in real life:
- The Ranking: You list your triggers from 1 to 10. If you have social anxiety, a “2” might be saying hi to a cashier. A “10” might be giving a speech.
- The Small Start: You don’t jump to the speech. You start at level 2. You go to the store and intentionally say, “Have a nice day.”
- The Stay: This is the most important part. When the anxiety spikes, you stay in the situation. You use your breathing or grounding techniques and wait.
- The Realization: Eventually, your heart rate drops. Your brain realizes, “Hey, I’m still alive. Nothing bad happened.”
- The Repeat: You do it again and again until that “2” feels like a “0.” Then, you move up to level 3.
Tip 7: Learn Correct Breathing Techniques to Calm Panic & Anxiety
When you are panicking, your breathing naturally becomes shallow and rapid. This is called hyperventilation, and it’s a biological trap. By breathing only from your chest, you dump too much carbon dioxide and take in excess oxygen. This imbalance actually tricks your brain into thinking you’re suffocating, which causes your heart to race even faster and creates that “smothering” sensation.
But you can break this cycle by simply switching to Diaphragmatic (Belly) Breathing. Place one hand on your chest and the other on your lower stomach. As you breathe in, focus on making the hand on your belly move outward while the hand on your chest stays still.
This deep, rhythmic movement sends an immediate signal to your brain to “stand down” the fight-or-flight response. If you find this mental health exercise difficult, simply holding your breath for a few seconds can help normalize your carbon dioxide levels and stop the dizzy, tingly feelings of a panic attack in their tracks.
Tip 8: Stay Active to Improve Mood and Reduce Anxiety
Think of exercise as a natural “drain” for the excess adrenaline and cortisol that anxiety dumps into your system. When you’re in a state of high stress, your body is physically primed for action—it wants to fight or run. If you stay still, that energy has nowhere to go, which leads to jitters, racing thoughts, and physical tension. By moving your body, you essentially “burn off” these stress chemicals, forcing your nervous system to return to a state of calm.
Regular physical activity also triggers the release of endorphins and serotonin, which act as natural mood stabilizers and improve your sleep quality. You don’t need to run a marathon to see results, even a 10-minute brisk walk can interrupt a “worry loop” and help you feel more grounded.
Recommended Exercises for Anxiety Relief:
- Brisk Walking
- Jogging or Running
- Cycling
- Swimming
- Yoga
- Resistance Training (Weightlifting)
- High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
- Dancing
- Somatic Pilates Exercises
Tip 9: Eat Foods That Support a Calm Mind
Magnesium is a vital mineral that relaxes our body muscles and its deficiency can cause anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Also, the adequate amount of calcium and vitamin B is crucial to prevent anxiety symptoms.
Make sure to include brain healthy foods in your daily diet such as wholegrain, fruits, leafy greens, colorful vegetables, fatty fish, and low-fat dairy products.
When you consume healthy foods, it’s also important to know what foods can worsen your anxiety symptoms. Avoid alcohol, cigarettes, and caffeinated drinks. Because caffeine triggers the adrenal glands to release adrenaline (a main stress chemical).
Read More:
- Hungry After Eating: Understanding and Overcoming Post-Meal Hunger
- Micro-Biting: Understanding Eating Disorders and Table Habits
Tip 10: Set Healthy Boundaries to Reduce Anxiety or Panic
Completely isolating yourself can make your anxiety symptoms horrible. Instead make some boundaries and limit your interaction with those you don’t trust or stranger ones. While sharing your feelings, thoughts, and problems with your loved ones, those you believe comfortably.
When a good listener gives you a space without judging you, your fear will go away and stress will calm automatically. You can ask them to share their perspective on the situation you are currently trapped in. Their realistic advice may help you in brainstorming the solution easily and more efficiently.
Read More:
- Top 15 Low Stress Jobs That Pay Well and Perfect for People with Anxiety & Depression
- Jobs for People with Anxiety: A Complete Guide to Low-Stress Work That Fits Your Needs
Tip 11: Reduce Overthinking With Structured Problem Solving
When anxious people get a complex task, instead of trying to solve the problem they just get worried and waste their time in just negative thoughts of pushing themselves down. When you face such a situation, first stop overthinking and instead of watching your task as a whole, try to break that down into small parts. This will boost your confidence of capability to complete the task even in a better way, that calms the stress and general anxiety.
Tip 12: Consider Medication Options for Severe Anxiety
In case of severe anxiety symptoms, your healthcare professional may prescribe certain medication. But remember, do not see medications as a permanent or long term solution. Researches have proved that psychological therapies such as CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy are much more helpful in treating anxiety, panic, and depression.
Medications such as tranquillisers or antidepressants are briefly prescribed by doctors to deal with anxiety symptoms, while therapies and counsellings are given a chance to take effect.
Read More: Discover Support & Guidance with Trusted Therapists in Sherman Oaks
Note from Health Conscious
You are not that one who is pathetically hurting yourself, it’s an underlying mental health issue. However the above suggested tips are really effective on how to deal with anxiety or panic attacks, but in case of intensive symptoms you must see your healthcare professional. They will prescribe medication or refer you to the psychiatrists or therapists for the treatment depending on your anxious condition and state. Doing so you can get back yourself to a better and healthy life. You will start feeling better after those medication and counselling sessions.