5 Tips to Help Your Anxious Thoughts
It is human nature to have anxious thoughts. We’ve all experienced moments where we feel stuck in a rut of negative feelings and emotions.
Anxiety is the most common mental health condition in Australia, being more prevalent than ever before. I am aware that for many their only relief is pharmeceutical medications. However, I wanted to share some ways I manage moments of anxiousness that come into my life. I really love the image that Gabor Maté speaks of when he talks about anxiety. He says that if a gardener noticed his plants weren’t well, he would look at the soil and the nature. We need to do the same with humans.
1. Stop eating processed foods
Since I started my nutrition course I have become really aware of the impact of blood sugar spikes on our overall health. Symptoms of poor glycemic regulation has been shown to mirror mental health symptoms such as anxiety. My rule of thumb is only eating snacks and meals that could be prepared in a kitchen. An easy indicator is if you don’t understand the ingredients list on a product, don’t eat it! I highly recommend following @glucosegoddess for more information on this.
Life is too short to be strict 100% of the time, but I really recommend if you’re feeling more anxious than usual to eat nutritious and whole-food meals. We really need to change our bad habit of resorting to junk food to comfort ourselves.
2. Swap coffee to matcha
It is human nature to wake up with higher cortisol levels in the morning. If you are feeling anxious, the last thing your body needs is caffeine to add to this cortisol spike. I used to drink triple shot coffee in the morning and always wondered why I couldn’t sleep at night, I would lie awake thinking about everything I said and did that day. I eventually swapped to matcha and became addicted to the positive effects of this antioxidant-rich drink. Although matcha still has caffeine, it slowly releases in the body over 6-8 hours compared to coffee where your caffeine spikes after 15-45 minutes.
If I am having an anxious period in my life, I will wait at least 90 minutes after rising before consuming my first cup.
3. Limit Alcohol consumption
I can be the first one to admit that I used to use wine as a relief for my anxiety. When I first started modelling, I had to get used to travelling to new places, and working with new people every day. I would drink 2-3 glasses of red wine every night to “help me sleep” and “relax me”. Little did I know that this was actually making it worse. I built a reliance on this routine to fall asleep, which eventually left me with worsened anxiety and fatigue.
I now only drink on special occasions and it has turned my life around. To not have a dependence on a substance and to feel full of energy most days has allowed me to show up as my best to my loved ones, to work and to myself. I really suggest limiting your alcohol to 2-3 glasses per week, and save your blow outs for special occasions!
4. Mindfulness and Breathwork
I used to be such a go-go person, I didn’t want to sit still. I would go from a workout, to a social arrangement, to a another social arrangement and stay out until it was time for bed. This constant moving around wasn’t helping with my anxious feelings because in reality I was just distracting myself from my thoughts. In the evenings when I finally stopped, the thoughts would rush in and it would leave me wide-eyed in bed.
Introducing journalling, meditation and breathwork into my life has allowed me to go inwards. I accept the thoughts that enter my mind, but I now have a way to let them go. Research has found that 85% of what people worry about never happens! The sooner we can let go of thoughts that don’t serve us, the sooner we can find inner-peace.
5. Move your body
Nothing beats the feel good feeling after a workout. It’s energising and inspiring. However, I know that when I’m feeling anxious and stressed it can be the last thing I feel like doing. Often after I have done my mindfulness exercises, I feel a sense of gratitude for the ability to move my body. In these moments i’ll opt for a walk and swim in the ocean or a boxing class to let out some of that anxious energy.