Health

10 Ways To Stop An Anxiety Spiral; Keep Calm And Follow These Simple Tips

By Himanshu Yadav

June 13, 2023

By Himshikha Shukla

Anxiety is a reaction designed to protect you from threats. It can make you more alert and focused. But when you’re anxious, decisions will often be limited to ‘fight-flight-freeze’ reactions. Your vision narrows and you lose access to the more creative parts of your brain. In addition, your breathing might become shallow.

Anxious moments happen to everyone. But they don’t have to take over. Having strategies to calm yourself down and re-center can make all the difference, whether you’re dealing with an anxiety disorder or an extra-stressful time in life. The problem isn’t that something made you feel bad for a little bit of time, but that it isn’t healthy to have it impact your entire day, or have it cause a domino effect of negative thoughts that aren’t related at all.

When you catastrophize, you actually do two things: first, you predict the worst possible outcome; second, you assume that if this outcome transpires, you won’t be able to cope and it will be an absolute disaster. And, as anyone who’s ever let a simple rejection letter give way to thoughts about not being good enough in general knows, it’s easy to fall into this spiral.

What to do when you start the spiral?

Ready to learn how to stop negative thinking from ruining your day? Here’s a few suggestions based on research to calm anxiety:

Learning to calm your anxiety in the moment is crucial. But making those anxiety spirals less frequent means you need to work on it in the moments when you’re not feeling anxious. That’s when your brain can be more creative and open to change, because it’s not in fight-or-flight mode. Finding what strategies work for you in anxious moments can take time and experimentation. So, jump in and try new things. You’ll learn about yourself in the process. Everyone is unique. Take time to identify what makes you feel safe, and proactively bring more of this into your life. Your unique solutions will always trump generic advice about how to deal with anxiety.

Not sure whether you have an anxiety disorder, or are just anxious? They’re even more common in women and people with chronic pain or other health conditions. If you feel excessively worried most days for at least 6 months, or anxiety is interfering significantly with your life, it’s something to bring up at your next appointment with a licensed health care provider. You can get information from your doctor on therapy, medication or other strategies that can help to manage your anxiety level.