Practices for Managing Your Stress and Anxiety

Anxiety and stress management for relaxation, exercise, good nutrition, time management and organization, social support, redirecting attention, and adopting healthy thinking will help reduce overall levels of Stress and Anxiety. It is also very helpful to develop a regular ‘practice’ including some of your favorite Stress and Anxiety management techniques.

Having a practice that you follow on a regular basis to relieve stress and anxiety in your life can help you to keep your Stress and Anxiety levels lower so that you’re less likely to function out of your primitive brain. A consistent Stress and Anxiety practice will help you bring your autonomic nervous system back into balance by activating the parasympathetic nervous system and causing the relaxation response. The relaxation response is not lying on the couch or sleeping but an active response that leaves your body relaxed, calm, and focused.

Learning the basics of these practices isn’t difficult, but for it to be consistently effective, some discipline is necessary. Most experts recommend setting aside at least 10 to 20 minutes a day for your Stress and Anxiety practice. If you’d like to get even more benefit, aim for 30 minutes to an hour. If that sounds like a scary commitment, remember that many of these practices can be incorporated into your existing daily schedule; practiced at your desk over lunch or on the bus during your morning commute.