7 Tips On How to Date With Anxiety in 2022

Every day, millions of people are diagnosed with anxiety. This number is just the tip of the iceberg – many more suffer in silence, not realizing that they have a problem. Anxiety can be debilitating and affect every aspect of your life if you let it go unchecked. If you or someone you know suffers from anxiety, here are seven tips to help you take back control by managing stress levels and re-establishing self-confidence.

This article will examine what causes anxiety, how to identify whether or not it’s an issue for you or someone else close to you, how to manage it when it does happen naturally without medication (and why this might be preferable), as well as how to cope with panic attacks when they do strike. 

It’s important to note that anxiety is a completely natural reaction, even if it never manifests itself physically. For example, you might not be afraid of spiders but your brain still releases the same fight or flight chemicals as if you had faced a life-threatening tactical situation. In this sense, it’s often quite normal to have some type of anxiety about something. 

1. Identify your triggers

The first step to managing anxiety is to identify what causes it in the first place, then take steps to avoid those factors that are causing you stress. That might be obvious situations like public speaking or eating in front of friends or less apparent factors such as intensity of exercise, caffeine intake, or ambient temperature. You don’t have to avoid your triggers forever, but you should try to avoid them where possible. Obviously, it’s not practical to remove all instances of public speaking from your life, but if you can cut down the number of times you do it in a week then this will go a long way towards reducing anxiety levels. 

2. Get active

Most people think of exercise as a way to burn excess calories and improve cardiovascular health, but it also has other benefits including releasing neurotransmitters that increase serotonin levels and reduce cortisol (a stress hormone), as well as providing time for you to focus your attention on something other than negative thoughts.

3. Manage expectations

This is one of the most effective ways to manage stress levels in either yourself or someone else. If you’re expecting perfection from yourself then you’ll always be disappointed, but if you can learn to expect that mistakes will happen and embrace them then you’ve gone a long way towards reducing overall anxiety. The same works with other people – by learning to accept that you won’t always get a smiley face when you text someone, for example, then the anxiety caused by waiting for a reply will be lessened.

4. Breathing exercises

Taking a few moments to focus on your breathing is often one of the most effective ways of reducing levels of stress and anxiety in both yourself and other people. This simple technique can be used to calm nerves before a public speech or even as a way of reacting to anxiety when it does occur – those suffering panic attacks often find that breathing slowly and calmly is one of the most effective ways of settling their thoughts and reducing the physical effects.  

5. Meditation

Meditation is becoming increasingly popular as a way to deal with stress, anxiety, and even depression. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that meditation has medical benefits for those who practice it on a regular basis – so much so that some hospitals offer courses as part of patient therapy. It’s simple to learn but can take years to master, so don’t be put off if you’re not the best at first. If you’re looking for a way to reduce anxiety levels then meditation is often far more effective than medication, without any of the side effects that can occur from other types of treatment.

6. Yoga

Yoga shares many benefits with meditation, including reduced stress levels and reduced symptoms of depression. It also has another benefit – unlike meditation, it can be really fun and is a great way to meet new people. Yoga isn’t purely physical, and includes breathing exercises as well as mental focus on various parts of the body; if you’re looking for a mind-body experience then yoga may be a perfect choice.

7. Find support

If you know that your anxiety levels are often heightened by certain factors, whether they’re external (the weather) or internal (worries about your appearance), then one of the best ways to reduce anxiety is to get support. It needn’t be professional – asking family members for help can be just as effective – but if you feel that your anxiety levels will affect other people then it’s worth asking for help.