1) Drinking coffee: In an effort to keep pace with the increasing demands from daily life, many people try to adopt coping strategies and comfort foods. One of the rising trends is the consumption of coffee. Caffeine is the active ingredient in coffee; it is a stimulant which arouses many physiological responses including the survival mechanism known as the "Flight-Fight" response.
When caffeine consumption becomes a regular habit, it can trigger an anxiety-type physical reaction. Caffeine stimulates the brain wave activity and it can arouse a tired mind. This is the most desired response for people who are sleep deprived.
However this can also backfire and cause disturbed sleep and irritability, leading to a poor quality of mood during the day.Caffeine can also cause an increase in skeletal muscle tension, increase in heart rate, it can cause heart burn, loss of focus and fatigue.
Moderation is the key in this situation, anything more than two cups of coffee is associated with arousal of autonomic nervous system, hence limiting coffee consumption to less than 1-2 cups per day can decrease stress and anxiety throughout the day.
2) Eating junk foods: Junk foods are ready made, so there's no hassle of cooking. They are munchy and delicious to eat. Junk foods are loaded with sugar, carbs & fats, so they taste good and give you an instant spike of glucose levels, but there's also a flip side to it...
Sudden increases in blood sugar, triggers the body to release insulin into the blood. Fast foods hardly have any fiber content so the glucose in them is quickly absorbed and metabolized, but it doesn't end there, the insulin continues to persist in blood for a fixed period of time and because junk foods don't have any real fiber content, insulin has nothing left to work on, so insulin feeds on the stable level of glucose in the blood and further reduces the glucose levels , this leaves you feeling dull, exhausted and anxious within a short period of consuming the fast food. So you end up feeling dull and anxious even though you have a full stomach!
3) Starving: When anxiety and stress come into the picture, we humans often behave irrationally, it is a common habit to skip food in times of anxiety or stress, but there is a flipside to this habit. Skipping meals can cause a low blood glucose level. Blood glucose level below 50mg/dl is known to increase irritability and anxiety. This becomes a vicious cycle, so the next time you feel irritable or anxious, make sure you have something to eat!
4) Overeating: Just as starving can reduce blood sugars, over eating can spike blood sugars to very high levels. A blood sugar level above 300mg/dl is known to cause anxiety and irritability! Avoid very heavy meals when you are feeling anxious.
5) Unclean environment: Even though cleanliness is a downplayed factor, studies in human productivity have revealed that employees who often maintain a clean desk and clean work environment have high levels of productivity and low levels of anxiety and stress. The same applies to home environment. Can you imagine a happy healthy person living in a cluttered and dingy environment? Maintaining a clean and clutter free environment can be a small tweak you can add to your anxiety reducing regimen.
6) Not thinking on paper: We have 60.000 thoughts per day and it's a common habit for us to worry, however many problems in life are complex and cannot be solved by thinking alone, they need analyzing from different perspectives. The great writer Earl Nightingale proposed a simple method to solve problems. He proposed that we take a clean sheet of paper, write the problem in the form of a question and write down 20 solutions to the problem. Some of the cues/questions that you can use during this process are :
What is my source of anxiety and worry?
What can you do ?
Can you affect the outcome of the situation? If so, how?
Think of the worst-case scenario? How can you avoid it?
7) Negative self talk: It is estimated that of the 60,000 thoughts we have everyday, about 70-90% of them are negative or self defeating. Even in an optimistic and healthy individual, the estimated percentage of negative thoughts is around 20 % i.e. a whopping 12000 negative thoughts every day! What kind of impact do you think such thoughts can have on your energy?
Learning to replace "negative self talk" with "encouraging self talk" can greatly reduce the daily levels of anxiety. Whenever you catch yourself thinking negatively, try to replace it with some "positive self-esteem" self-talk, be your own coach and supporter, because if you won't do it, nobody else will.
Make a list of the negative thoughts about yourself and write a list of positive thoughts you have about yourself, whenever you feel anxious, refer the list to identify the negative thought and replace it with a positive thought.
8) Ignoring family problems: Your family may need your help from time to time - to quote one of the famous psychologists. "There is no problem that is ignored by the subconscious", so even though you may be able to function at normal levels and ignore your family problems, these problems don't go away and they are not ignored by your subconscious.
Taking time to talk to your family members with an intention to help them can go a long way in maintaining healthy relationships and decreasing your overall levels of stress and anxiety.
9) Staying indoors in fluorescent lights: If you have a habit of staying you indoors for most of the day or if you work from home, you might end each day feeling anxious and burnt out.
Being under the glow of fluorescent light all day can worsen your anxiety.
In one particular survey, 53% of those who suffered from anxiety felt that their anxiety attacks got worse when they saw fluorescent lights. Several studies have confirmed that fluorescent lighting is related to anxiety, poor attention, hyperactivity, stress and aggression. Researchers have also found that fluorescent lights are linked to worsened cases of agoraphobia.
If you suffer from increased anxiety when in a room with fluorescent lights, you might consider switching to full-spectrum lights, which has been shown to improve the mental function and moods of people who were suffering from anxiety.
Natural light is essential for optimal body and mind function, make sure you get outside for at least 15 minutes to half an hour every day, so that you get a break from fluorescent and a good breath of fresh air.
Author: Ryan Rivera from Calm Clinic
