Supporting a loved one with anxiety is challenge in managing your own anxiety about their anxiety. Here are four useful tips for getting through anxiety which will help the both of you.
- Use A Phone App: Thankfully, for getting through anxiety, there’s an app for that. There are many different apps for managing anxiety. If you need daily maintenance, or if you need emergency management, there are different apps to guide you through anxiety. When someone you love is experiencing a difficult moment with anxiety, encourage them to use one of their trusted apps. It might be too much for them to handle at the moment. If so, open up the app on your phone and start some of the calming music, mindfulness practices, or relaxing scenes. Pacifica, Headspace, Stop, Drop, And Breathe, Calm, and many other apps have become daily tools for those with anxiety and those who support loved ones with anxiety.
- Or, Put The Phone Away: The blue light hidden behind the screens of your favorite technological devices is psychologically stimulating. Meant to mimic daylight, it creates awareness and activity in the brain. Additionally, the brain develops memory associations to pleasurable activities performed on the phone which can also activate stimulation. The anxious mind is already hyperstimulated and overactive. Interacting with a phone or any technology during anxiety could make the anxiety worse. Instead, focus on the natural environment. If possible, take your loved one outside to breathe fresh air, look at the sky, and find some natural grass or dirt nearby. A connection to the elements is inherently relaxing.
- Engage Physically: Getting outside is also helpful for managing anxiety because of taking physical initiative. Anxiety triggers the natural fight-flight-or-freeze system in the body which activates the production of adrenaline and cortisol, which are stress hormones. Circulating through the bloodstream, these take-action hormones can become stagnant and cause more anxiety because they aren’t being acted on. Physical movement like taking a walk, jumping up and down, dancing around, or stretching, helps put the stress hormones to work and release their high amounts of energy.
- Share Meditation: Meditation is done better together. When meditating with someone, you can be encouraged by their movements or sounds, knowing you don’t have to do it perfectly. You can also be inspired by their commitment to the practice and bringing themselves into the moment. Meditation is a scientifically proven practice for reducing the effects of anxiety, creating calm, and opening the mind beyond the limited possibilities presented in an anxious moments.
Hired Power understands how trying to find treatment and plan recovery can be a highly stressful experience. Our goal is to take the stress out of recovery so you can focus on feeling empowered by your experience. Call us today to learn about our recovery services for treatment planning and aftercare. 800-910-9299.
