What helps you be less anxious?

132 points · 11 comments · view on lemmy.world

11 Comments

PineRune@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 9h

It's called masking and it works as far as making other people think I'm not having an active anxiety attack.

sidebro@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 10h

Letting people finish talking and thinking about what to say after that. Not while they are still talking, or even in the shower the morning before.

foggy@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 4h (1 reply)

Nobody wants to hear it: exercise.

Walk up a steep hill for an hour or two a day. Rate your mood every day. Watch the results form clear as day.

I used a mood tracker for over 5 years. Every May I would hike a nearby trail every morning. Looking at 5 years of mood tracking data, I was always happier than average every May. It lasted into June. Was gone by July. Every year.

If you push your cardio to the point where all you can think about is your next breath, it forces you to meditate. It forces presence. It trains you to break the ruminative thought cycles.

So, again, no one wants to hear it. But exercise is by far the best solution to anxiety. Plenty of research backing this up.

I know the article says depression. It's a meta analysis. Anxiety is also covered in some studies analysed here.

aaaa@piefed.world · 2 pts · 40m

In my experience, it hasn't helped reduce anxiety, and it only provides multiple new vectors for the anxiety to manifest: performing a mindless task that leaves me in my own head with few distractions, and trying to force myself to keep up a routine that I generally despise

You call it meditative, but it's never worked out that way for me, no matter how hard I push myself

gandalf_der_13te@feddit.org · 4 pts · 11h

certainly doomscrolling on instagram. gotta internalize all that hate, baby

werty@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 9h

Finding an effective anti depressant after 40 something years. It's much easier to function without the feeling in my chest telling me everything is wrong.

mrmisses@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 11h (1 reply)

Weed.

PineRune@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 9h

Oops it triggered the paranoia-causing area of my brain and now I'm having a panic attack.

HopeOfTheGunblade@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 10h

I mean in fairness we're being a few different people and it's going swimmingly, sooooooo.

swelter_spark@reddthat.com · 1 pts · 8h

Eating salads, and being socially and physically active.

Beth@piefed.social · 1 pts · 6h

Keeping my thoughts in the moment. Framing all my worries as minor inconveniences with contingency plans. For attacks, go ahead and do something inconvenient like sit in the shower with your clothes on.