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It’s difficult to navigate anxiety day in and day out. The symptoms can make it hard to go to work or school, spend time with our families, and even get out of bed in the morning. Sometimes anxiety can be an incapacitating force and interfere with our ability to live a happy life.
In fact, it’s possible that you have some daily habits that are fueling your anxiety. The good news is, you have a significant amount of control over your daily habits and routines.
Daily Habits That Might Affect Your Anxiety
The difference between manageable anxiety and a debilitating fear response might be within your control. Here are some things to consider if you find yourself feeling worried, jittery, or having intrusive negative thoughts:
Too Much Caffeine
Your normal routine might have extra stimulants, like caffeine, that raise your heart rate. Because the human brain already associates an elevated heart rate with stress, something as simple as a morning cup of coffee can exacerbate anxiety. Drinking too much caffeine can also cause negative effects on your sleep schedule.
If you’re consuming coffee too close to the time you need to sleep, you might cause yourself to miss out on that valuable rest. It’s important to monitor our caffeine intake. Try a cup of warm water with lemon first thing in the morning. Then treat yourself to an afternoon coffee. This small change can significantly lessen your daily caffeine intake.
Eating Habits
Did you know your eating habits can cause your anxiety to spike? But how? Here are some examples of eating habits that might affect your mental health:
○ Skipping meals: Skipping meals can cause drops in blood sugar and cause irritation, difficulty focusing, and increased anxiety.
○ Lots of carbs, no protein: Low protein levels can exacerbate uneven blood sugar. Eating too many carbs but not enough protein gets the body used to relying on carbohydrates for fuel. This causes energy spikes and crashes. Carbs are important, but getting your body adequate protein allows it to diversify its fuel and keep a more even blood sugar.
○ Eating too few calories: Eating too few calories can cause your body to activate its stress response. This is the same response system our brain uses when we feel anxious, so it trains us to stay in an almost constant state of anxiety.
○ Dehydration: Drinking water helps alleviate symptoms of anxiety by proving to the brain that it has one of its few necessities; water. Being dehydrated can cause lightheadedness and higher heart rate, which again is something our minds automatically associate with our stress response. If drinking plain water sounds boring, add some lemon or other non-sugary flavoring!
Procrastinating
Procrastination can kickstart a cyclical battle with your anxiety. By putting off what you feel you should do, you stress yourself out about having not done it. Keeping a compartmentalized to-do list can help battle these overwhelming feelings, though.
It is also helpful to have a list of small tasks you can accomplish in very little time. Think: unloading the dishwasher, putting away laundry, etc. Each time you mark something off of your to-do list, your brain gets a small amount of dopamine, which is one of the brain chemicals responsible for helping us manage our stress responses.
Isolation
Even if you struggle with social anxiety, isolation is not the answer. Social support is proven to help alleviate feelings of anxiety. Close relationships are another crucial part of being human. By isolating ourselves, we worsen the symptoms of our anxiety because we trap ourselves with our anxious thoughts. Try spending some time with a trusted confidant.
If you feel you’re experiencing overwhelming negative thoughts and are having difficulty managing your anxiety symptoms, reach out. A therapist can help you find the root cause of your anxiety. They can also teach you coping mechanisms to help you manage symptoms and help you find the best treatment path for you.
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