YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

Hi All,
Tought of sharing some tips to treat anxiety here, hope will be beneficial for people fighting with anxiety.
Practice yoga or start mild exercises on regular basis and watch what you eat. Increase your water intake and if you don't eat well take multivitamins. Talk with your friends and family members and avoid alcohol, smoking and other stimulants. Accept the things you cannot change and remember to laugh.

I listen to the Meditation Oasis podcast. Meditationoasis.com

I love to light some candles, turn off the light, sit on, and the floor in my shower so it feels like my very own hot rain cloud. It is so soothing for me. Especially if I have been crying for quite some time. the hot water pressure on my face really helps my sore eye. After I get out of the shower I curl up with a blanket and a hot cup of tea.

This i what I do when I have a full blown anxiety attack.

Hello amycoffeeface! Yeah, sitting on the shower floor and using the shower faucets as a temperature controlled rain cloud... ...is awesome! Cheers, all the best!

Thanks for posting this. I was having a major anxiety trip over the last 18 hours. It was really bad yesterday and today was just a residual, feeling anxious about having been anxious.

I think I need to start drinking decaf more. I drank so much coffee yesterday. I love the smell of it and find it grounding. But all of that caffeine I think countered the positive.

Reading this thread made me feeling stronger/better.

Man all these tips are awesome! For the longest time i read stuff like this and didn't do it because it seemed too 'simple'. That was just my anxiety blowing itself out of proportion, lying to me, telling me it wasn't manageable but it totally is!

I think the irony of a lot of mental health difficulties is that the solutions can be simple, albeit time consuming. But the one thing we actually need to do to get help is the exact thing our mental health issues make the most difficult.

PS - Caffeine is not good for anxiety. Exercise is. But you know what the most simple thing is? Try abdominal breathing. People who are naturally less anxious breathe with their abdomen, not their chest. Simply breathing with your abdomen triggers a relaxation response in the brain, and a pretty large one at that.. There are tons of videos, written explanations, etc if you google it.

Breathe deeply. Listen to calming music (the Freelance Whales work for me). Close eyes and concentrate on breathing. Physically relax every muscle I can.