Four ways to worry less

Young woman wearing glasses is sitting down, engrossed in writing her thoughts down in a journal

Anxiety occurs when we perceive a situation or object as threatening and we don’t feel we have the skills to cope with it. You can experience a wide range of symptoms when you have anxiety, but even mild symptoms can be treated through NHS Berkshire Talking Therapies.

Madison, one of our therapists, has shared her four top techniques for dealing with anxiety using the mind and body:

Tip 1 - Problem solving

Start by converting your worry into a practical problem that you can solve and start identifying as many solutions as possible. None of your solutions should be rejected, no matter how ridiculous they may seem. After you have identified solutions, start writing out the advantages and disadvantages of each and then choose the solution that makes the most sense after this.

Tip 2 - Worry time

Sometimes it is easy to worry about hypothetical scenarios, and always think ‘what if’, but scheduling allocated worry time each day of about 15-20 minutes could ease your anxiety. You can do this by writing down your worries when you start to think about them and coming back to it during this allocated worry time. To avoid worrying before your scheduled time, refocus on the present and think about what you were doing before you started to worry. When your scheduled worry time comes around, look back at your worries you have written down and take this time to freely worry about anything, but consider how you felt when you wrote it down, and how you feel now. It is important to try and stop after your allocated time.

Tip 3 - The 5,4,3,21 technique

This technique will teach you to move your attention to focus on external factors as a distraction from your anxiety. You can try pausing for a minute and listing five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell and one thing you can taste.

Tip 4 - Square breathing

Breathing techniques are a powerful tool to help ease symptoms of anxiety, and square breathing is one to try when you are feeling overwhelmed. Start by taking a deep breath in for four seconds, hold this for four seconds, breathe out for four seconds and hold for four seconds. You can repeat this as much as you need to relax.

It can be difficult to get started with some of these exercises, but if you allocate a specific time each day when you won’t be interrupted it can help focus on one of the above techniques. Having a relaxing environment which is quiet and comfortable is important, so if you live with other people it can help to let them know what you are doing and ask for their support.

If you feel you could benefit from some support to manage your anxiety, we can help you. You can contact our friendly team today on 0300 365 2000 or you can complete our online self referral form.

Find out more

Read our Therapy in Focus blog 'Five signs of anxiety to watch out for' (opens in new browser tab)

Experiencing signs of anxiety, such as worrying more than you'd like to, are very common. But NHS Talking Therapies can help. Sign up to NHS Berkshire Talking Therapies (opens in new browser tab) to book a free, individual Wellbeing Assessment with a professional.