4 Simple Daily Habits to Manage Your Anxiety

September 4, 2024

Stress

Around 1 in 4 Australians will experience anxiety at some stage in their life.¹ Ranging in severity from a background level of worry to an overpowering force, anxiety can lead to difficulty sleeping, a racing heart, panic attacks, fatigue, digestive upset, sweating or headaches.

While anxiety can often feel insurmountable, there are several worry-busting habits and supplements to help support anxiety. Read on to discover our top 4 habits that can leave you feeling calmer and more in control.

Top 4 Habits to Help Manage Anxiety

Habit 1. Practice Being Present

Mindfulness is the act of focusing on the present moment, drawing your attention away from the incessant mental clutter and anxious thoughts by tuning in to your physical senses.

When you’re in the grip of anxiety, mindfulness may seem impossible. However, scientific research shows that practicing mindfulness daily can help break the cycle of worry.²

Here are some tips to make developing a mindfulness practice easier:

Start with just five minutes, and slowly work up to 20 minutes. Research has shown that 20 minutes or more provides the greatest benefit for anxiety relief.
Use guided meditations or breathing exercises to keep you focused. There are plenty of free videos and apps with these.
Build mindfulness into your daily routine. Try meditating on your lunch break. Making it part of your routine means that you’re more likely to stick with it and feel its benefits.
Go for a mindful walk if you have lots of mental energy. Concentrate on the sights and sounds around you. Engaging your senses helps keep your mind from wandering. If you notice your thoughts wandering off, gently bring your focus back to the present

Habit 2. Journal to Unjumble Your Thoughts

Journaling regularly can help you express and understand your anxiety triggers.

By putting your worries down on paper, journaling can help you deconstruct anxious thoughts, examine emotions and situations, or even help you seek solutions to your triggers.

Here are two journalling methods that may be helpful for anxiety:

Exploratory journaling involves writing down whatever is on your mind, as fast as you can, without judging yourself. This approach can help you identify thoughts and feelings, including those you may be unaware of. This can help you become more aware of your triggers, which is the first step towards managing them.

Seeing them written down on paper can help you ‘fact-check’ anxious thoughts (i.e. consider whether they are accurate) and gain greater clarity about the thoughts and feelings that are making you anxious.

Action-focused journaling can help you develop an action plan to deal with ongoing situations that trigger your anxiety. Begin writing about a problem or situation that contributes to your anxiety, such as poor time management. Next, brainstorm some steps you could take to overcome the problem, such as creating a schedule.

Break these into smaller action items, such as setting up a calendar to track your schedule or set reminders to help you stick to it.

Lastly, create realistic and achievable goals to help you complete these actions. Monitor your progress and celebrate any positive changes you’ve experienced since implementing your action plan.

Habit 3. Sweat it Out with Exercise

Aside from serving as a distraction, exercise has been shown to bump up your brain’s feel-good brain chemicals³ – leaving you feeling more relaxed.

These brain chemicals are mood messengers that influence your mood, which can help reduce anxiety and relieve muscle tension.

A successful exercise regime can involve walking, skipping, dancing, swimming, weightlifting, or hiking. It can be any combination of movement for at least 2.5 to 5 hours per week. Start by easing yourself in with a few shorter sessions and then carve out some time in your schedule to make exercise a consistent habit. Asking a friend or family member to join you can connect with loved ones to help you feel supported as you work to improve your anxiety.

Habit 4. Add Soothing Supplements to Your Toolkit

Science shows that certain nutrients and herbs can help with mood balance. One of the best things you can do is talk to a Healthcare Practitioner who understands how to support your mood. They can help you figure out what might work best for you. Some options they might suggest include the following solutions.

MetaRelax for a Healthy Stress Response

When you feel anxious, your body turns on its stress response. This can cause symptoms like a fast heartbeat, sweating, and shortness of breath. The brain becomes very good at triggering this response, sometimes too good, discussed further in this article.

When it’s on high alert, your brain may overreact to things that aren’t dangerous. This can leave you feeling tense, worried, or like you can’t relax.

Nutrients magnesium, zinc, vitamin B6, and vitamin C taken over 2 to 12 weeks can help soothe a stressed mind. The following doses of these have been shown to provide mood benefits in a range of people who tend to struggle with mood balance:

25 mg of zinc improved low mood scores by 50%⁴
248 mg of magnesium reduced stress scores by 42.4%⁵
30 mg of vitamin B6 lowered anxiety and low moods by 24.2%⁶
500 mg of vitamin C reduced stress symptoms by 25%⁷

MetaRelax contains these nutrients at the dosages above to support a healthy stress response, which can help soothe your stress levels and ease your mind.

NeuroCalm Soothe to Ease the Mind

For centuries, herbal medicine has been used to help soothe an anxious mind. NeuroCalm Soothe combines the benefits of three key botanicals - lavender, lemonbalm, and theanine (from green tea).

These herbs are traditionally used in Western herbal medicine to calm the mind, relieve restlessness, decrease mental overactivity, reduce the occurrence of mild anxiety symptoms and support emotional and general mental wellbeing.

NeuroCalm Soothe can be used for patients feeling panicky, to soothe their nervous system and relieve mild anxiety symptoms, as has been used in traditional Western herbal medicine.

Simple Solutions to Help Settle A Busy Mind

These habits, herbs, and nutrients can help soothe the body and mind. While anxiety can be difficult to manage, it’s best to consult a Healthcare Practitioner for help finding high-quality treatment options that are best suited to your particular case, empowering you to find balance.

For further support, you can also reach out to Beyond Blue (all ages) or Headspace (12-25 year olds) for further assistance and support in managing your anxiety and emotions.