Anxiety is on the rise, especially as a result of COVID19 and the global pandemic. Whether you struggle with more general anxiety or acute anxiety attacks, there are several things you can do to ease your suffering. Practice some of these tested tools to calm your anxiety:

1 — Take a deep breath. Ok, I know it’s a cliché, but they’re clichés for a reason — they’re universal truths. Taking a few deep, belly breathes will trigger your parasympathetic nervous system and decrease the effects of anxiety in your body.

Make sure you engage your diaphragm, the muscle beneath your lungs that will make your belly move outward when you breathe IN and allow your belly to sink when you breathe OUT. Look up breathing techniques if you don’t breathe this way. Focus on your OUT breath more than in because breathing out will engage a natural relaxation response.

For a ton more information about breathing and your health, including anxiety, I highly recommend James Nestor’s recent book “Breath.”

2 — The 5–4–3–2–1 method. 

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