Reduce Stress & Anxiety

Anxiety can actually be an extremely powerful survival tool. Giving you the power to worry and be concerned about the future — this feeling has saved countless humans from dehydration, starvation, and other problems that they wouldn’t be worried about without feeling anxiety and the related stress associated with it.

However, since survival is not an immediate concern for many people today, you might expect that feelings of anxiety and stress would disappear from daily life. Unfortunately, it seems as though the opposite is happening with many people, as modern life is filled with anxiety and stress. There may not be simple answer as to why there is so much anxiety and stress for many of us, but what we can do is find a way to manage it.

Stress and Anxiety are based on reactive responses in the brain to our circumstances, so they are not tangibles. Therefore one way to defeat anxiety, stress, panic attacks, etc. is to use our senses as a place of reference that will bring us back to reality - bringing us back to what is tangible, This helps to ground us and bring stability to our frustration.

Karrie Brazaski explains why this works so well in times of anxiety and worry. Please enjoy this video and then we will do an exercise!

Being aware of your senses can expose cognitive distortions that cause anxiety and stress! Let's try it!

We are going to walk through your senses one at a time:

1. Things you can taste: A mint, gum, the fresh air

2. Things you can physically feel: Your feet on the ground, a ball, your friend’s hand

3. Things you can hear: The wind blowing, children’s laughter, your breath

4. Things you can smell: Fresh-cut grass, coffee, soap

5. Things you can see: Your hands, the sky, a plant on your colleague’s desk

Your anxiety has not changed the world. It still smells good, tastes good... the indoor space you are in, or the outdoor landscape still exists.

Stress is just a chemical reaction in the mind. That is all. You are ok. Everything will be ok.

Thank you for reading and watching!

The Editor

Ramzi Elassadi

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REFERENCES

1. https://www.banyanmentalhealth.com/2019/03/11/why-is-anxiety-so-common/#:~:text=Unfortunately%2C%20no%20one%20seems%20to,and%20underreporting%20in%20the%20past.

2. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322877

3. https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/5-4-3-2-1-countdown-to-make-anxiety-blast-off

4. Helping Healthcare Heroes, Karrie Brazaski