Calm Yourself: Physical Ways to Stop Anxiety in its Tracks

Caregiver Corner
By Jennifer Beach, LSW, MA, C-SWCM

If you are caring for a loved one or handling a variety of challenging situations including health concerns, finances, how to prepare for the unknown future, all those “what if’s,”  stress and anxiety can creep in and make it difficult to just get through the day.

All of us have likely experienced periods of stress, anxiety and maybe even panic. We know meditation, yoga and breathing techniques all provide tremendous benefits. But what if you’re not into any of those things, or they just don’t seem to help? Worse, maybe you’re in the middle of a difficult day or the person you are caring for is having anxiety. What can you do to help them or yourself immediately?

Often, when we or those we are caring for are in a moment of anxiety or even panic, we can benefit from techniques that are a little more physical or sensory-oriented.

Here are four small and simple physical ways that may calm one’s anxiety and get the mind and its racing thoughts back into one’s body and reality.

1. Bite into Something Sour
   If you’re looking for a different kind of sensory experience to get out of your panic, Eric Zink, founder of Dr1ven Together, says one of his most effective grounding techniques is biting straight into a lemon (peel and all) or cutting a lemon into wedges and biting into them to suck out the sour-bitter juice. Alternatively, people like to use sour candies for the same purpose. The textures and the bitterness act as a shock to your system and will direct your thoughts to the taste instead of the anxious thoughts in your head.

2. Shake it Off
   When we experience anxiety, our bodies go into fight-flight-freeze mode. Chemicals including adrenaline and cortisol are released into your body, causing physical agitation, further fueling anxiety. According to Dance and Movement Therapist Melissa Meade, you can literally shake off the anxiety by moving your hands, arms and legs. You can also try stomping, punching a pillow or even dancing. “When animals reach the freeze state, the way they get out of it is to shake it off. They literally shake every part of their body.”

3. Spell and Tap Your Fingers
   Touch the pad of your thumb to the pad of each other finger (as in a pinching motion) while spelling words out loud. Each finger is for a different letter. Spell words of things that are comforting, or things you like, such as ice cream. The idea when engaging in this practice is to focus on the spelling and the finger tapping, which distracts your mind from spiraling thoughts.

4. Activate the Mammalian Dive Response
   Mammals experience a calming response when diving into cold water. Many studies have shown submerging your face in a bowl of cold water, or if that’s too uncomfortable, just submerging your forehead for as long as you can, up to 30 seconds. This technique tells your brain you are diving underwater and induces the dive response, causing activation of your parasympathetic nervous system (PNS).  Activation of the PNS is associated with relaxation. The response slows down your heart rate, which is particularly helpful if you’re having a panic attack, and your heart won’t stop racing.

These techniques don’t work for everybody. It might take some experimenting to figure out which of these coping techniques may or may not work for you or your loved one. You might need to use a couple of them to help you calm down. Everyone’s anxiety is different, but there’s one thing that we all can work on… finding new and different ways to change our immediate thoughts and ways to provide relief, distraction and the ability to calm down.