Understand that anxiety and panic attacks are often signs your brain is functioning normally, acting as an evolutionary defense mechanism to protect you, rather than indicating you are broken or damaged. This perspective can reduce the fear of anxiety itself.
Engage in daily exercise or movement, as it is incredibly important for mood regulation, reduces anxiety, and can be more important than medication in preventing new depressive episodes by improving the body’s state and sending better signals to the brain.
If you suffer from severe anxiety, definitely seek professional help, as there is no point in suffering in vain, and therapy, exercise, and medication can provide relief.
To calm your nervous system and shift away from fight-or-flight, breathe in for four seconds and breathe out for six seconds, repeating this a couple of times. This technique pushes activity away from the sympathetic system towards calm.
Describe your emotional experiences in a nuanced, objective way by writing in a journal, saying them out loud, or thinking them. This activates parts of your prefrontal cortex that calm the amygdala, reducing anxiety.
Recognize that feelings are short-term and primarily exist to push you towards behaviors that helped humans survive in the past, rather than for a rich inner life. This perspective helps contextualize emotional experiences.
If you currently do not exercise at all, start with simple activities like walking to school or taking the bike, as these initial steps yield the most significant benefits for brain health and mood.
Consider incorporating AG1, a daily health drink, to support digestion and enrich your gut microbiome with five strains of beneficial bacteria, which have been clinically shown to increase beneficial bacteria up to tenfold.