Top 7 Ways to Slow Down The (A)nxiety Train

Exams, expectations, money, job hunting. These bits of stress and tension are the tickets to riding the A-anxiety train on the railroad we call life. This train ride seems never ending, especially when there’s a new situation at every corner. However, there are some calm remedies that can help slow down the anxiety driven locomotive running your life. 

1. Prayer: For those who’re spiritual or considering spirituality, prayer can be an effective remedy to ease anxieties. According to 5 Prayers For Anxiety To Bring Calm and Inner Peace, prayer can help you find relief from anxiety and build an intimate connection with God. How you pray is ultimately up to you, but the article provides various ways to help you feel more comfortable while praying like finding a quiet place, taking deep breaths, do an anxiety meditation, say your prayers out loud or in your head, say your own prayer or use someone else’s, or write out your prayer on paper or in the air. Whatever you decide, consider prayer as a first option to slow down the A-anxiety train.
2. Creativity: Anxiety is a powerful weapon that can be used against you, so powerful it can paralyze your mind, body, and soul. Anxiety has declared war on your entire being, and in war you need your own weapon to fight back and that can be creativity. According to Using Your Creativity to Help Reduce Anxiety, visual art and creative writing are productive tools to deal with anxiety. For visual arts, doing works like painting, drawing, and sculpting can help you stay focused on the positive and allow you to help express intense emotions that words sometimes can’t. For creative writing, it too can help express your negative feelings on paper, and it can also help out in boosting your immune systems, and manage your pain and depression. Creativity in any form is a solid benefit for your health.
3. Exercise: Anxiety doesn’t only affect your mental and emotional state, but it can affect you physically. Exercise can be more than about losing weight as stated in How Exercise Can Help Reduce Your Anxiety. Exercise can give you a big mental break and redirect your focus to your physical activity. It can also help improve your sleep, since anxiety is known to increase insomnia. Exercising regularly can restore your normal sleeping hours and help to properly recharge your body and mind. Whether you do it solo or in a group, be sure to plan your next exercise routine to keep the A-anxiety train NOT going.
4. Food: Food can be a great comfort for people who struggle with anxiety. However, it’s not healthy to depend on it too much, especially if you rely on junk food. According to Eat These Foods to Reduce Stress and Anxiety, it listed various foods to relieve stress like fruits, vegetables, dark chocolate, fish, etc. and it also listed foods Not to use to decrease anxiety like alcohol, caffines, various carb related foods, high sugar food, and soda. It’s good to eat something that’ll ease your anxiety, but whether eating healthy or unhealthy you can never go overboard, which means that you still need to eat in moderation and eat regularly. Let food be a comfort, not a crutch.
5. Music: When you feel like anxiety is making you sick, music can sometimes be the best medicine. According to 6 Ways Music Eases Anxiety, it describes how music can affect our brains from the tempo to the pitch. Once we hear music it can immediately positively affect how we feel, behave, and act. It also consists of a list of how to create a therapeutic playlist like using music that’s familiar to you, music that you enjoy, music without lyrics, music that matches your mood, etc. whatever kind you listen to spiritual, rock, jazz, or even Disney, music has the power to ease down the A-anxiety train.
6. Reading: There’s nothing like reading a good book to help ease the heart and excite the mind. According to 5 Ways Reading Can Help You Cope With Anxiety, reading can lower your heart rate and relax you physically. Anxiety doesn’t just affect the mind, when it reaches high on the stress scale it can increase your blood sugar and heart rate. Another way that reading can cope with anxiety is my personal favorite. As many book readers know, reading can help you escape reality for a while. Anxiety is a powerful and constant feeling, so reading a book, especially your favorite one, can help escape the chaos for a moment. Though we can’t actually escape the issues of our reality, we can use books to help lift the heaviness of anxiety that weighs on us.
7. Dancing: When you feel like your anxiety is putting you in a cage, the power of dance can help set you free. According to 4 Ways Dancing Can Help Your Child Cope With Anxiety, overplanning and overthinking future circumstances can increase a person’s anxiety, and the more overthinking and overplanning you do, the more disconnected you are from the present. With the right dance routine however, it can help you redirect your focus that’ll bring your body and mind back to the present moment. Another way dance can reduce anxiety is through self-expression. Dancing is a physical form of creativity and through continuous practice you’ll be able to use your body to creatively express the intense emotions your anxiety is filling you with. Also, don’t let the article’s title fool you, because I personally believe that this method can be suited for anyone who’s going through a similar struggle.

If any of these methods can help you slow down the A-anxiety Train running your life, then congratulations! However, if your anxiety is very severe, then I highly recommend talking with your doctor who can advise you on medication and therapy.