10 Realistic Ways to Decrease Your Anxiety Levels
Accepting the truth, and making the best of it.
Image taken of author in Vancouver
It was 12 years ago that I realized what was happening to me was anxiety. Before that, I thought I was just randomly ridiculously nervous.
From there I began to trace back, and I realized I’d been getting pretty awful anxious episodes for nearly 5 years.
At first, I was a little ashamed. The word “anxiety” made me feel like I had a problem.
But, once I realized anxiety is normal and common, I decided it would be in my best interest to accept it and figure out the best way to deal with it.
After a lot of Googling, talking with others and experimenting with ways to help, I narrowed it down to what actually helps.
Here are the 10 realistic ways that help me decrease my anxiety levels.
1. Meditate Regularly
Anxiety often happens because you are worrying about the future, or you are stuck in the past.
When you meditate you are bringing yourself back to the present.
Focusing on your breath will slowly make your anxiety go away.
Doing meditations regularly has helped to decrease my anxiety levels overall, but meditation is also great because you can do it when you are anxious for immediate relief.
It’s the single best practice I have adopted for all areas of my life.
2. Stop Smoking Weed & Drinking Alcohol
There are some people who get anxious just from drinking, or smoking weed, but if you aren’t one of those people, you might be wondering how this could help.
Using alcohol affects your brain’s ability to respond to stress in a healthy way, which can worsen anxiety.
It’s not only the direct effects of alcohol though.
When you drink regularly, your quality of sleep decreases, you get knocked off your routine, and your overall health diminishes, all worsening your anxiety.
Andrew Huberman recently shared on his podcast that smoking marijuana will make people 4x more like to develop chronic, major depression.
On top of that, there is a thinning of gray matter that occurs. That can lead to worsening depression, anxiety, and misbalanced moods.
As someone who smoked weed far too often for years, I can attest that weed makes anxiety much worse.
Cutting alcohol & weed will help you live an all-around healthier life and lower your anxiety levels.
3. Get Good Sleep
I highly recommend following Matthew Walker on Twitter. He is a great neuroscientist who focuses on the study of sleep. You will quickly realize how important sleep is.
You need to help balance your emotions, especially fear and anxiety.
In fact, a sleepless night can raise anxiety levels by up to 30%, accordingly to a UC Berkeley study.
“The shorter your sleep, the shorter your life” - Matthew Walker
4. Eat Healthy
You are what you eat!
I know you’ve felt it. You ate a bunch of Mcdonald's, and now you feel awful. Feeling awful is not good for your anxiety levels.
If you want to lower your anxiety levels, I have found that being as healthy as possible in all areas of life is key.
In a more direct way though, consuming caffeine, processed foods, and sugary foods can induce stress and anxiety.
Eat healthy - feel great. Simple as that!
5. Workout Regularly
Anytime I am anxious and I go to the gym, I feel incredible after.
It doesn’t matter if I’m doing a bit of cardio, going to Muay Thai, playing soccer, or lifting weights, it always helps.
Studies show that just a single bout of exercise can help ease anxiety.
Even better news is that those who engage in regular vigorous exercise are 25% less likely to develop depression or anxiety disorder over the next 5 years.
6. Jump In The Sauna
This is by far one of the best tools for lower my anxiety.
There is just something about sitting in the heat and sweating it out. When I’m sitting there my mind forgets about anything that was making me anxious, and I’m more easily able to just focus on my breathing.
Regular sauna use lowers levels of your stress hormone, cortisol.
The recommended temperature is typically between 176-212 ℉, 5-20 minutes at a time, anywhere from 2-7 times a week.
I simply do it after every workout, so 5-6 times a week.
7. Stick To A Routine
Anxiety is the fear of what has not yet happened.
When you stick to a routine, you know what you have to do next. I found that this makes it a lot easier for me to not be anxious.
This also depends on what makes you anxious though.
I often have anxiety that I’m not doing enough, or am not busy enough, and that is why a routine helps me.
Having order in your life helps as well.
Structure, in my experience, will lower anxiety levels.
8. Live In The Present
Living in the present makes you much more self-aware, pleasant and relaxed.
You aren’t worried about what you did wrong and what you haven’t done yet.
You are just here, now, appreciating what’s around you.
It’s important to keep in mind that everything that has happened, can no longer change. There is no point in living in the past, torturing your mind.
The best way to practice living in the present goes back to point #1, meditation.
However, simply keep yourself busy with tasks that require your attention with help you be present as well.
9. Realize The Balance Of Life
It may take a lot of meditation, and a lot of reading to come to this realization, but the truth is, life has a balance.
It is good and bad.
We can’t have light if there is no darkness. We wouldn’t know what love is if there was no hate.
When you begin to realize that this balance applies to everything, then the bad no longer seems as bad - it is only temporary.
But so is the good.
That’s why it’s important to remain relatively neutral through the ups and downs.
One is followed by the other, and vice versa.
“This too shall pass”
10. The Wim Hof Method
You won’t find this on your typical list of ways to decrease anxiety. That’s because it is not really common.
To learn more about the Wim Hof Method, click here.
A combination of the breathing technique and the cold showers helped me tremendously with anxiety.
I highly recommend trying it just for a few rounds. Most people that I have done this with have felt the power after one session.
Any type of rhythmic breathing helps with anxiety, but studies have shown that the Wim Hof Method specifically will help with your stress levels.
Just jumping into a cold shower alone makes it hard to think about anything else but the cold.
The cold energizes your brain’s dopamine system which ends up reducing your stress. You then have to breathe to get through it, and regular breathing ends up also helping your anxiety levels.
Win-win.
Quick bonus points:
Sun exposure: Andrew Huberman preaches getting 15 minutes of sunlight when you wake up in order to boost dopamine levels. I started doing this and it is great.
Socialize: I always need to socialize a little each day. Speaking what’s on my mind out loud helps. We are social creatures after all.
Keep good company: There are a lot of “friends” who will encourage bad behaviour, or their behaviour makes you anxious. Keep note and adjust your life accordingly.
Conclusion
Anxiety sucks, and I realize it is far worse for others than it is for me.
We can really only try our best to deal with it. I have found that these 10 ways helped me more than anything else. The more of these that I do regularly, the less severe my anxiety.
It’s worth noting that depending on your anxiety levels, it’s worth seeing a therapist, and there is no shame in it.
I’ve personally seen a clinical psychologist before, and he helped tremendously at times.
Whether you want to see a therapist or not, it is in your best interest to do what you can yourself to help decrease your anxiety levels so you can live your best life.
Hopefully, these tips help you.
Thanks for reading.
To get more content, and additional life hacks - sign up for my free weekly newsletter.