If you’ve ever experienced intense anxiety, you have probably found yourself asking, “How can I calm my anxiety fast?!” There are many tips and tricks to manage anxiety, but which ones are best in a pinch?
As a mental health therapist, and someone who has personally experienced debilitating anxiety, I have seen what works, what doesn’t, and what methods are THE BEST for quickly resolving anxiety symptoms. This blog is ALL ABOUT answering your question, “How can I calm my anxiety fast?”
Understanding Anxiety
You might already know the basics of anxiety and what exactly is happening in your body. If you do, skip ahead to tips! If not, here is a quick overview:
Anxiety is a survival emotion that is designed to keep you safe from danger. Whenever your brain perceives a threat (real or imagined), it activates the sympathetic nervous system (AKA fight-or-flight). This part of your nervous system works to give you energy to fight the threat or run away from the threat.
A LOT goes on in your body when the sympathetic nervous system is activated, some of which can include your heart racing, shortening of breath, increased adrenaline and cortisol, reduced function of your frontal lobe (conscious decision making), blood flow moving to your vital organs, slowing down of your digestive system, and increased alertness (causing the sensation of time slowing down). These ALL serve the purpose of helping you survive whatever the perceived threat is.
Typically, these sensations will last a short time until the threat is perceived to have gone away. At which point the parasympathetic system works to calm the body down. For people with chronic anxiety, however, the sympathetic nervous system stays activated for way longer than intended, causing digestive issues, fatigue, and inflammation in the body.
Tip #1-The Diving Reflex
You may have heard tips like, “Splash your face with water,” or “Take a cold shower.” These tips are not without backing. The diving reflex is a biological function that your body has when it perceives that you are diving into cold water. Like fight-or-flight, the diving reflex is designed to keep you alive when you are underwater. It will slow your heart rate down to conserve oxygen, adjust your blood flow back to the brain, ultimately overriding the fight-or-flight response.
To work best, you would need to submerge your face into cold water. Not the best time to stick your face in a bowl of water? No problem! According to the DBT skill, TIPP, any extreme temperature can help snap your body out of a panic state. Try sticking your hand in ice water, rubbing cold ice on your neck or wrists, or even blasting the A/C in the car and putting your face close to the vent.
For chronic anxiety, practice taking cold showers every day, taking walks in the cold, or drinking ice cold water throughout the day.
Tip #2- Breathwork
Okay, hear me out! Most people roll their eyes at me when I tell them to practice deep breathing during a panic attack, because they’ve tried it, and it JUST doesn’t work. But this cliche is also based in science. Remember how your body shortens the breath and speeds up the heart rate when your sympathetic nervous system is activated? Well, it does the opposite when your parasympathetic nervous system kicks in. Your breath is DIRECTLY tied to your nervous system. If you can control your breath, you can control your body.
So, how can I calm my anxiety fast with breathwork? The key is in knowing HOW to breathe. Whenever you want to amp your body up, you take a long breath in and a quick breath out. You’ve likely seen athletes do this to give themselves energy before a big game. Unfortunately, most people accidentally do this when they are told to take deep breaths, making their anxiety worse. What you’ll want to do is take a quick breath in and a super long slow breath out. I’m talking as slow as possible. This will let your body know to activate the parasympathetic nervous system and calm your body down. Do this for about 30 seconds and you will start to notice a shift.
Be aware, that you may feel like you are choking or can’t get air in at first. This is normal. You are fighting what your body is biologically trained to do. After some time, however, your body should begin to regulate.
If you have chronic anxiety, it is best to practice this breathing technique several times a day for a few minutes at a time. The more you practice when you’re not in a panic state, the easier it will be to use this skill when you are activated.
Tip #3- Shake, Shake, Shake
Have you ever noticed your body start to shake involuntarily after you get startled? How about your leg shaking or your body swaying back and forth when you are nervous? Body movement is a natural response for a couple of reasons.
First, shaking helps you get rid of extra energy in your body that was created by the nervous system in response to the perceived threat. If you had used the energy to say, fight off a bear, then it would have been put to good use. However, most of the threats that activate your system are not actually things you would need that level of energy for, so the energy gets trapped in your body. Shaking helps to get it out. If you are in a space that allows it, try using up your energy when you are anxious. Do some jumping jacks, shake your body, allowing your arms to swing, lay down and allow your legs to shake. This might feel uncomfortable in the moment, but it can help move the anxiety along, while also reducing long-term effects that trapped energy could have.
Second, rhythmic movement can help regulate the nervous system. Swaying back and forth, yoga, tai chi, cycling, running, all while paired with rhythmic breathing, can help soothe the body. If you have chronic anxiety, it would be ideal to do some rhythmic movement every day to help regulate your system. In a pinch, try some yoga sun breathing.
Click this video to learn how to sun breathe. Watch the whole video for a yoga flow!
The More You Know!
Anxiety is complex! These tips are best for helping physical anxiety symptoms fast, but you will probably find benefit in healing the cognitive portion of your anxiety as well. Watch these videos to learn more about anxiety, trauma, and even more strategies to help.
Managing Anxiety (Video)
Understanding Trauma (Video)
I hope these tips helped to answer your question, “How can I calm my anxiety fast?”
What are your favorite tips for anxiety? Comment below!
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How to Regulate Your Emotions
How to Change Your Reality
Thank you for this information. It is very helpful and I have used some of these techniques before and they have worked for me and still do.