People with generalized anxiety disorder experience excessive anxiety over things related to their life. The anxiety and worry can be about family, work, finances, health or anything else. If you have generalized anxiety disorder, you can seek treatment from a doctor. But there are also some coping strategies that you can include in your daily life to deal with your condition.
Consider these five coping strategies for generalized anxiety disorder.
Maintain a Journal
Instead of simply worrying about anything and everything all day long, channel your worries in writing to understand your condition better. You can also use art to channel your thoughts. You can either set aside a time everyday to sit and jot down your thoughts. Or you can take a few minutes away from your routine whenever the worrying becomes excessive during the course of your day. This measure may also help you learn more about the causes of your generalized anxiety disorder and better manage your condition.
Practice Calming Techniques
Include some calming techniques in your daily routine to soothe your nerves. You can listen to music or motivational talks. Massages and yoga can also help you calm your worrying mind.
You can also light a candle with your favourite scent and practice deep breathing a few times every day. You can take a walk around your neighbourhood or a park simply observing nature and enjoying the sights. Choose one or two techniques that relax you and help you take your mind off your anxieties.
Avoid Excessive Caffeine Consumption
Excess caffeine can add to your anxiety. It can make you jittery and affect your sleep patterns. Proper sleep is very important to keep symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder in check. Caffeine can mess with your body processes and add to your anxiety. Ensure that you do not consume caffeine too close to your sleeping time. Caffeine can also aggravate your generalized anxiety disorder symptoms such as restlessness and irritability. So, go easy on all types of caffeinated drinks if you can’t completely stop drinking them.
Move your Body
Exercise and physical activity can help you cope with anxiety and stress. Pleasurable physical activities can make you feel joyous. Exercise also triggers the production of certain hormones that can enhance your mood. Exercise can also lower levels of stress hormones in the body and relax your muscles. Include activities that you like doing instead of strenuous workouts just for the sake of it. You can include physical activities that can also be calming. Some examples can be walking in the middle of nature reserves or on the beaches; dancing and playing a sport with friends, your partner or kids.
Seek Therapy
You can seek generalized anxiety disorder treatment from a doctor, and medicines can help a great deal. But therapy is also an integral part of treating anxiety disorders. Treatment can include talk therapy that can be helpful for coping with anxiety. Talking to an expert in a safe environment can be a way to understand and manage your condition better. Your therapist can help you monitor and understand your thoughts. You can learn strategies to tackle your anxiety instead of avoiding the problem. If you are not comfortable with therapy, you can start by talking to a trusted family member or friend about your anxieties. If you find the process all right, try one session of therapy to assess your comfort level with it. Begin gradually. You don’t need to start full-fledged therapy at one go. Once you are comfortable with talk therapy, your therapist can suggest other measures such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) that is very useful in treating mental disorders.
