Follow These 4 Effective Steps to Prevent Anxiety Attacks
Guess Post by Cheryl Conklin of Wellness Central
Anxiety is the emotion of fear and worry, which, on occasion, is easy to control. However, when this feeling becomes constant, it can have an overbearing impact on personal relationships, work, and quality of life.
To prevent anxiety attacks it is important to understand its cause and then make changes to overcome it. The Zinnia Practice shares four effective lifestyle changes you can make to manage anxiety.
Have a Good Sleep Schedule
According to the ADAA, anxiety, and sleep have a strong correlation. Feeling anxious can impact your ability to sleep, while lack of sleep can trigger anxiety attacks. To overcome this cycle, it is important to gain control over your sleep schedule by following these steps:
● Set a fixed time to sleep and wake up each day. This helps your body create a sleep-wake cycle leading to you feeling naturally sleepy at night.
● Focus on getting around seven to nine hours of sleep daily.
● Avoid food with high caffeine and sugar content such as coffee, chocolates, toffies, etc. before bed.
● Refrain from using electronic devices such as your mobile phone at least 30 minutes before bedtime. Blue light emitted from screens inhibit the release of melatonin, the sleep hormone, keeping you awake and suppressing sleep.
Practice Visualization
The goal of visualization exercises is to help you gain control over negative thoughts by imagining yourself in a relaxing environment. This environment can be a calm natural setting, a happy memory, or any other frame which invokes a positive response. According to research, our brain perceives visualized imagery in the same way as the actual experience. As a result, while practicing visualization, you may experience a drop in heart rate and an increase in deep breathing, naturally making you feel calm.
Practicing visualization two to three times a week can help keep anxiety attacks in check. Visualization should be done in a place you are comfortable in such as your bedroom or garden. Additionally, set a time when disturbances are minimal and you can fully concentrate.
Opt for Therapy
It is important to understand that you do not need to deal with your anxiety alone. While it is natural to feel nervous about sharing your thoughts and experiences with others, opting to go for anxiety therapy can help you improve your mental health. Therapy doesn’t always need to be a long-term affair as many individuals experience significant improvement within the first 8-10 sessions.
Make a Career Change
Working in an environment where you have an enormous workload, long hours, and low returns (in terms of recognition and pay) can lead to you feeling stressed and anxious. Additionally, job anxiety can reduce your self-confidence and productivity and lead to a lack of sleep and excessive worrying. When facing such a scenario, it is important to make a career change.
Choosing to pursue an online degree program could help you take a positive step towards overcoming job anxiety. Attending classes can expose you to an environment that is positive and productive. You could feel excited learning about new things and working towards moving up in your career. Additionally, with flexible schedules, you can learn at your convenience. While pursuing an MBA is a popular choice, other in-demand degrees include, MSc in Economics and an M.S. in Information Technology Management.
Adopting these lifestyle changes could help you to alleviate stress, have control over your mood and prevent anxiety attacks.