Top Effective Ways To Manage Stress And Anxiety

While stress is an integral part of life, it can turn unhealthy when it starts having negative impacts on your well-being. Anxiety, on the other hand, is always unhealthy, and while it can be completely separated from external stressors, it can also be greatly exasperated by additional stress. Employing measurement based care in mental health is the initial stride towards enhancing your quality of life. Therefore, let’s explore some of the most effective methods for addressing and alleviating stress and anxiety.

1. Cannabidiol

Cannabidiol, or CBD, is the non-psychoactive component of marijuana. In other words, it doesn’t provide the “high” feeling, but it can help you relax and take the edge off. While there are different CBD products out there, CBD oil is the one that’s been the most tested when it comes to treating anxiety symptoms. There are a few different ways you can use it. You can add it to your drink, cook with it, and you can simply take it orally. What you need to know about CBD is that it’s completely non-addictive, and has shown promising results in stress management. That said, it’s more of a tool to help you through it and not an actual treatment for the root causes of your anxiety.

2. Therapy

Another way to manage stress and anxiety is by seeing a therapist. There are different kinds of therapies that you can try out, but the most popular one seems to be Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT and ketamine therapy rhode island. Ketamine-assisted therapy in Denver deals with negative behavioral patterns that are resulting from stress and anxiety, so it’s almost counter-intuitive in how it works.

The idea is that by working on changing the way you do things, you’ll eventually change your internal approach to them as well. It can teach you some useful tools you can use, such as breathing exercises, tactile activities, and the like. On the other hand, if this isn’t something you’re comfortable with, traditional psychotherapy can be a good way to approach things as well – it puts less focus on how your anxiety manifests and more on what’s causing it in the first place. With any kind of therapy, you will need to stay committed and keep attending sessions. This is not a one-time deal, but seeing a therapist should be seen as your forever investment towards your mental well-being.

3. Mindfulness Meditation

One of the most effective ways to manage stress and anxiety, especially when it comes to your thoughts, is mindfulness meditation. This type of meditation can help you deal with your thoughts in a more constructive way than just suppressing them – mindfulness helps you identify negative thinking patterns and train yourself not to engage with them. While there are many different forms of meditation, this is one of the simplest and most effective. Start by taking a seat, closing your eyes, and focusing on your breathing. When you notice that your thoughts wander, just acknowledge that and bring them back to your breathing pattern.

4. Journaling

Using your thoughts to meditate is a good option, but if you’re experiencing intrusive thoughts, it can be hard to stay on track. In cases like these, journaling can be a good alternative or addition to meditation – it allows you to get your thoughts on paper and off your chest. The best way to do this is by writing stream of consciousness style without censoring anything. This will help you reduce the stress and anxiety you feel by letting out everything that’s bothering you. You don’t have to worry about sounding mean or self-centered because the entire point of journaling is to provide yourself with an outlet where you can express all of your thoughts and feelings without risking negative feedback. Journaling and reading what you wrote after you’ve calmed down also enables you to spot thought patterns, potential triggers, as well as behavioral patterns that might be contributing to your anxiety or stress, which is a great step to bringing positive changes into your life.

5. Controlled Exposure

Sometimes, exposure therapy is the best thing that you can do to manage stress and anxiety. If you have a fear of something, like dogs or flying or whatever it might be, exposure therapy lets you face your fears in a step-by-step manner until you desensitize yourself to them. Oftentimes, we get into our own heads and assume that things are more terrifying than they actually are. However, if you’re experiencing panic attacks or other strong anxiety symptoms, you don’t want to just go out and face whatever it is that’s causing those feelings without a second thought. Instead, reach out to someone from your support network and ask them to come along with you. As an example, if you’re afraid of dogs, ask a friend that has a dog to meet them somewhere where you feel safe, where you can interact with the dog, and bring another friend along with you. Put a time limit on the interaction, so that you can avoid feeling overwhelmed, and go do something you enjoy afterward.

While it can be argued that everyone experiences stress and anxiety at some point in their life if they start to interfere with your ability to function or do the things you enjoy, it’s important to learn how to manage them so that you can stay healthy. Everything mentioned above is just a small list of ways that have helped many individuals deal with stress and anxiety, so if you feel like they’re not the right fit for you, don’t worry, there are plenty of other options out there you can try.