Everybody is different so you might find that your top three are different to my top three, but these are a really good place to start. Sometimes we can find ourselves in a stressed out anxious state and it’s hard to imagine feeling calm, but with these techniques you can reduce your stress hormones, and return to a feeling of well-being.

1. Remind Yourself You Won’t Feel Like This Forever

At times we can find ourselves thinking negative thoughts such as, ‘This feels like it’s never going to end’. These thoughts only feed the anxiety. Try to break that habit and tell yourself this is just a moment in time. The way you feel right now won’t last forever.

Changing your mindset like this can be difficult to begin with, but if you continue to practice it, it will become a habit and will become easier over time.

2. Take Some Slow Deep Breaths

When we get panicked and anxious, our heart rate increases and our breathing quickens. This encourages the release of cortisol within our body, which is a stress hormone. The more panicked we get, the more cortisol our body releases to fight the perceived threat.

By taking some slow deep breathes, our body is encouraged to release the hormone dopamine, which calms you body down. Try to breathe in slowly through your nose, hold for a second, and then slowly release the air through your mouth.

3. Remind Yourself About The Science!

This might seem like a silly one, but I find it’s genuinely one of the most helpful. If the above techniques aren’t working for me, I will remind myself about how the body’s stress response works. I know that scientifically, those chemicals/hormones within our body are programmed to protect us. We get those spikes in cortisol, because our body perceives a threat. If we tell our body that there is no threat by using the techniques above, our fight or flight response calms down.

Conclusion

This is a short blog post because I wanted to really bring it back to basics today. Sometimes we can over complicate things. Try these three techniques and let me know how you get on.

You might be interested in my Mindfulness Starter Kit which you can get by clicking below to help you get started on your journey to well-being.