Wow! I can’t believe I haven’t written a dedicated post on this yet. I’ve been dealing with anxiety for 10+ years. It started heavily when I was in college. I was a sophomore. The combination of anxiety and insomnia kept me up until 6 a.m. for days straight. I was still going to class, and doing my best to power through, but barely functioning. I had a full break down from lack of sleep, leading to lack of clarity in cognitive function and called my mom sobbing. She drove up to help me.
I couldn’t pin point one thing that caused it. However, through the years I’ve found what has helped me to cope with it which I’ll recommend, but I also recommend you see a medical professional if anxiety is something you deal with.
The first thing we bought was melatonin. Melatonin helps with sleep but gave me side effects of very vivid, intense, and strange dreams. Sleep outweighed the side effects at that time so I continued to take it. Being able to sleep made the anxiety much more manageable.
What really helped my anxiety long term was:
- Getting enough sleep – If you have trouble sleeping you might want to try melatonin.
- Being on a regular sleep cycle – For me this meant going to bed at the same time every night (usually around 11 p.m.) and waking up at the same time everyday (about 7:00 a.m.). When I slept in past 10 a.m. it was much harder for me to fall asleep at night and it would lead to a vicious cycle.
- Exercising regularly – If you don’t like to go to the gym that’s fine. Find something you enjoy doing whether it’s yoga, dance, biking, etc. For me it’s a combination of the gym, yoga, and hula hooping.
- Meditating – I’ve written an entire post on meditation and how it has helped me. Meditating regularly helps to reduce my anxiety.
- Tapping – Similar to meditation it helps reduce anxiety and stress. I’ve been following along on Gala Darling’s YouTube Channel doing her “High Vibe Honey” tutorials on tapping.
- Taking time to relax – My blog, writing, photography, and jewelry are my passions. It’s sometimes hard to schedule in time to just chill. But everyone needs that. I’ve started writing on my calendar “DAY OFF!” so that I really take it (usually Sunday’s).
- Essential Oils – My favorite to relax is lavender.
- Edibles – Only seek these if they’re legal in your state please! This is something that has helped me to relax and fall asleep, therefore lessening my overall anxiety. However, if I take them before I am ready to fall asleep they can end up having the adverse affect.
Anxiety is something that can be very debilitating to your daily life. If you’re experiencing it, trust me, you’re not alone. I hope that these tips help you to manage it. If you have anything that helps you that’s not included on my list please comment below!
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