7 simple tricks to reduce anxiety

About 12 per cent of Canadian adults experience some sort of anxiety disorder. While we often tend to turn toward medication to calm down our symptoms, many strategies exist to help us cope the natural way.

1. Get out your bike, put on your walking shoes or grab your gym bag. There's no better therapy for the "I can't breathe" feeling of an anxiety attack than to escape the situation quickly and get your blood moving and endorphins pumping through exercise.
2. Cut out all caffeinated drinks, foods and medicines. The caffeine only adds to that tense, jittery, anxious feeling. Sources of caffeine include chocolate, beverages such as coffee, tea and soft drinks and some prescription and over-the-counter medicines.
3. Avoid conversations likely to increase your anxiety when you're tired, overwhelmed or stressed. For instance, tell your children you're not available for problem solving after 8 p.m. Try to maintain a "trouble-free" time, especially before bed, when you don't address difficulties but focus on pure relaxation.
4. Buy a white-noise machine and use it when you go to sleep. The soothing sound will help you to fall and stay asleep. A good night's sleep is critical when you're stressed, since sleep deprivation fuels anxiety even as anxiety leads to sleep deprivation.
5. Rent a comedy and watch it. Let yourself laugh out loud. The act of laughter stimulates endorphins that help to blow stress hormones (which contribute to that feeling of anxiety) out of your system the way that a good thunderstorm can blow away hot, humid weather.
6. Turn on the news and watch the disasters unfurl. It will help you to put your own problems into perspective and realize it's a big world, filled with both triumph and disaster. The challenges in your life that make you anxious may not seem as great when you put them in the context of the whole world.
7. Don't borrow future problems. Many people get into a cycle of predicting and worrying about future concerns. Ask yourself, "Is this something I know will happen and is it something I can do anything about right now?" If the answer to either of these questions is no, tell yourself you will revisit it later.