6 Anxiety Relief Techniques That Work Instantly

If you suffer from anxiety, you’re not alone. Maybe you only feel anxious every once in a while. Or, perhaps you feel like you’re living in a constant, uncontrollable state of worry. Either way, anxiety is uncomfortable and can seriously affect your health and wellbeing. Next time you feel anxious, try using these 6 anxiety relief techniques that work instantly and can be done anytime, anywhere.

*Scroll down to the bottom of this article to get the FREE Calm and Collected Journal, a collection of prompts, exercises, and affirmations to help you beat anxiety. *

Practice mindfulness with grounding techniques

MINDFULNESS is a calm awareness of everything that’s happening in the present moment. You can practice mindfulness by simply acknowledging and accepting your thoughts and your environment. When anxiety kicks in, your first instinct might be to fight against it. But resisting your emotions might add to the stress you’re already feeling. Instead, practice mindfulness and accept that you are feeling anxious. Become aware of your worrying thoughts and the sensations in your body; your temperature rising or your heart beating faster. Don’t judge these thoughts or sensations, just notice them and let them be.

Another easy way to practice mindfulness is by using grounding techniques. These are mental exercises that help bring you back to the present moment by focusing on your surroundings. Describe what you’re experiencing using your five senses. A common grounding exercise is the 5-4-3-2-1 technique. Tune into your body and the environment around you, then name:

5 things you see

4 things you feel

3 things you hear

2 things you smell

1 thing you taste

Shifting your attention to your environment can provide a distraction from your anxiety and help calm you down. It prevents your mind from wandering and ruminating on the things you’re stressed about.

Deep breathing

Although deep breathing is a popular technique for anxiety relief, it’s often overlooked or not done properly. Deep breathing doesn’t just mean slowing down your breath, although that is part of the process. There are a few more things you can do to make it effective:

-Exhale longer than you inhale. When you inhale, you are stimulating your sympathetic nervous system, which prepares your body for physical activity. It causes an increase in heart rate, sweating, and other symptoms that are associated with anxiety. Exhalation stimulates your parasympathetic nervous system, which does the opposite: it prepares your body for rest by lowering your heart rate and blood pressure, along with other calming effects. To trigger your parasympathetic nervous system and feel more relaxed, try this exercise: inhale for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 7 seconds, and exhale for 8 seconds.

-Breathe from your diaphragm. When we’re anxious, we tend to breathe from our upper chest, which can lead to quicker and more shallow breaths. Breathing from your diaphragm (a muscle located just below the lungs) allows you to breathe more deeply and helps alleviate stress. To practice diaphragmatic breathing, place one hand on your chest and the other on your stomach. You should feel your stomach rising and falling as you breathe, and barely any movement in your chest.

The ABCDE Exercise

The ABCDE technique can be used in any situation to challenge thoughts that are harmful and irrational. It’s a great tool for anxiety because it helps you take a step back and view the things you’re worried about in a more realistic light. This exercise forces you to acknowledge how your anxiety is negatively affecting you. It also helps you recognize when you are worrying about something that will probably never happen, which is often the case when we’re anxious. Consider the questions below:

Activating event: What is causing you to feel anxious?

Belief – Why do you feel anxious? What do you believe is going to happen?

Consequence – How is your anxiety making you feel? How is it affecting your mind, your body, and your behaviour?

Dispute – Is your belief irrational? How likely is it that the worst case scenario will actually happen? What positive scenarios are more likely to occur?

Effective new beliefs: What is a more helpful way of viewing the situation? If your friend felt anxious about this, what advice would you offer them?

Here’s an example of using the ABCDE technique for public speaking:

A: I have to give a presentation at work tomorrow.

B: I might make myself look bad in front of my boss and coworkers. If it doesn’t go well, I won’t end up getting the promotion I wanted. I’ll probably screw up and stumble on my words. Everyone will notice that I’m nervous.

C: I can’t concentrate and my breathing is getting heavier. I wasn’t able to enjoy dinner with my family because I was worrying about what might happen.

D: I’ve been preparing for weeks. I’ve gone through the presentation several times without a problem. I’ve been successful in my career so far, and my boss and coworkers have always been satisfied with my work. They won’t be judging me as harshly as I think, they’ll just be focusing on the information. I’ll go through the presentation as I practiced and everything will go smoothly.

E: It’s normal and okay to be anxious before an event like this – anyone would be. Even if it doesn’t go well, I won’t lose my promotion over one presentation. I’m experienced in my field and I’m confident that I can give a great presentation on this topic.

Progressive muscle relaxation

Anxiety can cause your muscles to tense up. You might notice a feeling of stiffness in certain areas of your body, like your lower back. Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) helps you notice where you’re holding tension in your body. It’s a natural way to reduce muscle tension and relieve anxiety. You can also use PMR when you’re having a hard time falling asleep. Ideally, you’ll want to spend 10-20 minutes on this exercise, but it’s still an effective technique if you’re limited on time. Here’s what to do:

Starting from your feet and moving upward, tense up each muscle for a few seconds, then relax. Flex the muscles in your feet for 5 seconds, and relax for 10 seconds. Flex your calves, hold, and relax for the same amount of time. Continue this process with your thighs, abdomen, shoulders, neck, all the way up to your face. Take a deep breath and notice how calm you feel after your body is completely relaxed.

Remind yourself that this feeling is temporary

Try to recall a time when you felt as anxious as you are now. Remember how you felt during that experience and notice any similarities between that situation and your current one. Then, think about the all positive experiences you had after that moment. Remember a time when you laughed, when you spent time with friends and family, when you felt relaxed and at ease. You might’ve felt horrible for the time that you were anxious, but you got through it and went on to have new enjoyable experiences. Life went on. Remind yourself that the anxiety you’re feeling now is only temporary, and you’ll feel okay again just like you did last time.

Take a break

All of these exercises can be done on the go, but if you can, set aside a few minutes and find a quiet space where you can do them. If you’re too overwhelmed to concentrate, walk away from whatever is causing your anxiety. A lot of times, it’s the moments when we’re rushing and “don’t have time” to take a break that we need one most. You’ll return a few minutes later feeling much calmer, clear-minded, and more productive.

Above all, remember that anxiety is a normal part of the human experience. We might get anxious about different things to different degrees, but we all get anxious. Keep these tools in mind for the next time you need instant anxiety relief, and use them along with long-term solutions like journaling for the best results. Scroll down to download your copy of the Calm and Collected journal, a free resource that will help you discover the root of your anxiety and tackle it head-on.

WANT MORE INSPIRATION IN YOUR INBOX?

Subscribe to my email list to receive your copy of the Love Our Minds Anxiety Relief Workbook and Self-Development Journal! You’ll get notified of new blog posts and gain access to free resources designed to help you reach your maximum potential.