Ways to Reduce Distress or Anxiety
& Create a Sense of Calm
During this season of orders to stay home, hearing about the spread of the Coronavirus and all that goes along with it, I thought it would be beneficial to start a blog. I’m going to be sharing tactics that I’ve already used in my practice as well as other things that I’m sure to be learning along the way. For starters - let’s talk anxiety. We’re all feeling it. It is prevalent. Here’s the good news. There are actually ways to calm down our body, thus calming our mind and our spirit. Take a look at the information below. It applies no matter what the anxiety is about.
There can often be times when you may feel emotional or physical pain and become anxious or distressed. It is not unusual to then become dysregulated – meaning that you have difficulty managing your emotions and behaviors. This might be anything from feeling a knot in your stomach, being unable to focus, hyperventilating, pain in the chest due to an inability to breathe sufficiently, etc. Oftentimes the desire is do one of the 3 F’s – Fight, flight or fold. We may lash out at others, want to jump in the car and “run away”, or retreat to our beds and pull the covers over our heads. When we are highly anxious fear has managed to kick in. You may even be able to realize that what you are anxious about does not warrant this response, but some of your responses may be triggered by things you are not even aware of and your brain’s ability to distinguish between threat or non-threatening has been compromised.
In order to decrease anxiety, it is helpful to address it with your body. When the amygdala becomes dysregulated it turns on a whole cascade of physiological responses. These include things like shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, tightness in the body, clenching the jaw, headache, etc. We can also respond emotionally, lashing out, crying, etc. When you can calm down your body, you can calm down your mind and think more clearly. When we become dysregulated our Vagus system becomes engaged. This system regulates the heart, lungs, and digestive system. There are several techniques that we can use to calm this system.
Finding the techniques that work best for you may take some practice. Make it part of your daily routine to practice these skills at a minimum of once a day. Once in the morning and once before bedtime can be very effective at developing the skills to utilize these techniques as needed during the day.
Quick – these techniques can easily be utilized “on the go”.
· Drop your tongue to the bottom of your mouth. You’ll find that this automatically begins to reduce the tension in your face and jaw.
· Put a little pressure below your pinky finger. This is the end of your vagus nerve which communicates throughout your body.
· Put a little pressure between your with your thumb and index finger on the webbing between your other thumb and index finger. This is also a really good technique when you are experiencing a headache.
· Place your hand on your heart or give yourself a hug. There is something really calming about touching the part of your body where most of us feel the most stress.
Easy – but with intention
· Deep abdominal breathing. Place your feet flat on the floor. Close your eyes if you feel comfortable doing so (you can do this exercise while driving – you just need to keep your eyes open and feet active!) Rather than breathing up and down from your chest, breathe deeply from your stomach. Put your hand on your stomach if you’d like just to notice the extension. Count 3 counts in, 3 counts hold, 3 counts out and 3 counts neutral. You can increase your counts as you feel comfortable. Be cautious to notice if doing a higher count (say 5 and up) that you could actually induce more anxiety. Back off your counting there. Repeat this (and the other variations) a minimum of 3 times. 5 can be more beneficial. More than that can be helpful getting to sleep.
Another way to practice this is rather than counting the same for the in and out breathes is to add a couple of counts to the out breath, making it deeper and fuller. Expelling more air and blowing through your mouth, noticing that your abdominals engage.
A third variation is to not use counting at all. Sometimes the counting can be a distraction and feels like you have to “do it right”. Just relax and breath in deeply and hold it as you feel comfortable – not to the point of tension. Then release out as fully as you can, again as you feel comfortable. Don’t focus on anything but your breathing.
· Progressive Muscle Relaxation. Here you are going to add on another element to your deep breathing. Sitting with your feet on the floor, hands down on your leg, as you breathe in tense your muscles up. Make fists with your hands, curl your toes, tighten your glutes, bring your shoulders up around your ears, scrunch your face. On the out breath and as you settle into it more relax everything. Turn your hands to the ceiling, stretch your toes, shrug your shoulders down, relax your jaw. Sit in that relaxed pose before repeating 3-5 times, or more as you feel it necessary.
Need a little more? Sometimes we either can’t get in a state to be this still or things may be just too overwhelming or distressing. Then it’s time to step up your game a bit.
Step it Up - Very Intentional
Utilize these techniques if you are feeling “triggered” and want to change the way you feel. Instead of reaching for that cigarette, drinking or other coping mechanisms try one or more of these.
· Ice Packs/Cold Shower/Facial Ice Bath. Keep ice packs in your freezer at home or at work. Place it on the back of your neck. This helps to send a sort of “shock” to your system and disrupts the anxiety that your body is feeling. You could also step into a cold shower, or make an ice bath in a large bowl and put your face in it for a few seconds at a time.
· Intense Exercise. Go for a run. Do a bunch of jumping jacks or burpees if that’s your thing. Punch a punching bag. Your body is trying to kick into Flight/Fight/Fold. Let it “flight” or “fight” by going doing some sort of intense exercise. This will help to regulate your breathing and give you that release your body is looking for.
· 5 Senses. Utilize this sitting at the DMV or in a meeting when you can’t escape. (Also helpful for sleep.) Think of:
o 5 things you can see
§ Clock, chairs, carpet, people, door, signs
o 4 things you can hear
§ Clock, talking, movement, music
o 3 things you can feel
§ Your clothing, feet on the floor, purse hanging on your shoulder
o 2 things you can smell
§ Building smells, perfume
o 1 thing you can taste
§ Leftover coffee breath
***A box of mints or gum are great options to utilize for a 5 senses practice. Mints especially make a great rattle. You might also notice the noise of unwrapping your gum. Carrying something like this with you can be helpful in a pinch.
· Create a Calming Kit: Again, you might consider the 5 senses with this. Here are a few ideas of things to carry on you or have readily available for those times and places when you are more likely to be triggered.
o Fidget toys – Things like stress balls to squeeze, rubik cube, silly putty or any other type of gadget that you might enjoy fooling with.
o Fabric – This could be a piece of flannel, something silky or even leather. If touching it brings you comfort or joy it can be helpful.
o Stones – Pick up a stone and utilize it as a touch point. Maybe one that you pick up on a walk or a vacation would have some meaning to you.
Do you have other calming skills that you are using during this time? I’d like to hear about them! Post them on my Facebook page: @DeniseClevelandLCSW.