Home Remedies for Anxiety

Learning how to manage your anxiety symptoms is an essential part of anxiety treatment. Here are some home remedies to help you manage your anxiety symptoms.

Using ice on your forehead or back of neck helps reduce anxiety

First it's important to understand what anxiety symptoms are and how your body experiences them. Many people try to "logic" their way out of their anxiety through thoughts but learning to calm the body will in turn calm the mind. If you have a fussy infant you rock them, pat them on the back, and focus on physically calming them. As adults we also need physical calming to better manage our anxiety symptoms.

The most common skill to learn to manage your anxiety is the DBT TIPP skill. TIPP refers to temperature, intense exercise, paced breathing, and progressive muscle relaxation.

Home Remedies for Anxiety Using the TIPP Skill

1. Temperature: One of the fastest ways to switch the mind from emotion mind to logic mind is by using ice on the body. When ice is placed on your skin it alerts the brain to a significant change and the brain then switches into logic mode to try to understand what is happening. Rubbing an ice cube on your forehead or the back of your neck can help the body calm down. Additionally, taking a cold shower or a cold bath can significantly reduce anxiety and calm the body.

2. Intense Exercise: When you are experiencing anxiety your body tends to dump adrenaline. It's part of the whole "fight or flight" sensation your body is experiencing. Exercise provides a way for the body to burn off that adrenaline and return to a calmer state. Power walking, lunges, running, dancing, etc. Get your heart rate up, turn the music up, and burn off that excess adrenaline.

3. Paced Breathing: When you are anxious you tend to breathe in a more shallow manner. That lack of oxygen tends to increase anxiety even further creating a negative feedback loop. Getting oxygen back into your blood stream is essential. There are several breathing techniques but I really like the 4/7/8 method. Breathe in deeply through your nose for the count of 4, then hold your breath for the count of 7, and then blow out slowly through your mouth for the count of 8. Then repeat and continue over and over. Deep breathing significantly reduces anxiety in the moment.

4. Progressive Muscle Relaxation: This is a technique where you tighten different muscle groups, hold them for about 30 seconds, and then release. I like to lie down, start at my feet, and gradually work my way up. If you are not in a place where you can lie down, you can do it standing or sitting. Again focus on different muscle groups, tighten as much as you can possibly tighten, hold for about 30 seconds, and then release. This helps burn off excess adrenaline as well.

Try these Home Remedies for Anxiety the next time you are feeling anxious and see how they work for you!

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