Bonjour,
Its that time of year where exams are approaching and anxiety is rising so here's a few tips (mostly stolen from various NHS based places as i'm no expert, in fact i'm far from one!) on how to cope and not let it take over your life.
Eliminate anxiety-inducing food and/or drink from your diet.
It sounds simple, but changing what you ingest daily can have a huge impact on your anxiety levels. Rethink your consumption of the following common anxiety provokers: Coffee, sugar and starch and alcohol
Incorporate mood-enhancing foods into your diet.
Keeping yourself healthy with a balanced diet can go a long way toward stabilizing your mood. If you’re getting the right nutrients, your body will be better able to ward off anxiety during stressful situations.
Try exercises that relieve anxiety.
Studies have shown that regular exercise relieves symptoms of everyday anxiety and also helps to treat anxiety disorders. It improves feelings of well-being both in the moment and for hours afterward.
Use deep breathing exercises.
Breathing deeply and slowly has immediate effects on your stress level. Most people practice shallow chest breathing, drawing breath into the upper portions of their lungs and exhaling at a rapid rate. When we’re feeling stressed, we tend to breathe even more quickly, which stresses us out even more. Instead, focus on bringing air into the lower portion of your lungs, breathing as deeply as possible. This helps decrease your blood pressure, relax your muscles, and calm you down.
Do something you love.
Often times anxiety builds up when you don't get a chance to detox from life's problems. Take at least ten minutes during your day to practice a hobby or past time which brings you peace. This may be reading, sports, playing music, art, anything really. Giving yourself an outlet will help to remove the anxiety from your mind both immediately and in the long run.
Induce relaxation at home.
When you're at home you should be totally anxiety free; your home should be your sanctuary. When you are dealing with a lot of anxiety, take some time and relax at home. Take a hot bath, listen to calming music, and avoid anything that might worsen your anxiety. Make sure that you give yourself ample time to enjoy these things throughout your day or week.
Don't overwhelm yourself.
If you keep a busy schedule, bring work back with you from the office, and stress about perfecting your school papers, you're likely often overwhelming yourself and creating more anxiety than is necessary. Keep a schedule of your necessary activities and cut everything else out for a bit. Giving yourself alone time to deal with your anxiety will help you to overcome it in the long run.
If you think you suffer an unnatural amount of anxiety then you may have an anxiety disorder in which case the best thing for you to do would be to visit your doctor and get some professional advice. I will leave some links to various websites on anxiety disorders and panic attacks at the bottom of the page.
If this helps anyone even just one person I'll be very happy because it's awful living with anxiety.
au revoir mes petits chéris xxx
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Anxiety/Pages/Introduction.aspx
http://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/anxiety-and-panic-attacks/#.U6NwOfldWSo
http://www.samaritans.org/
