8 Ways To Instantly Calm Down
Arm yourself with 8 tried and tested tools to use when you’re feeling anxious
Does This Sound Familiar?
Something sets you off, and before long, you feel stuck in an endless loop of intrusive thoughts, You’re thinking about every possible thing that could go wrong. Your body tenses, your breathing quickens, and you can hear your heartbeat pounding in your ears.
When you feel anxiety kick in like this, it’s time to calm yourself down. The first step is awareness. Follow this guide for 8 techniques to calm down instantly. This is not a substitute for long term fixes such as such as therapy, regular exercise or practicing good sleep hygiene but it’s a good idea to learn to recognize the first signs of anxiety and get to work right away before experiencing an episode.
1. Breathe
One of the best things you can do when you start to feel that familiar panicky feeling is to breathe. It may sound basic, but sometimes the simple things just work.
Breathing deeply and slowly is what you want to do. Try to focus your thoughts on breathing and nothing else.
When we draw our attention to our breathing and really focus on it, the thoughts that trigger the anxiety start to become more distant, our heart rate slows, and we start to calm
A technique to use is 4–7–8 breathing.
- Breathe in for 4 seconds.
- Hold your breath for 7 seconds.
- Exhale slowly for 8 seconds.
- Repeat until you feel calmer.
2. Name what you’re feeling
When you’re experiencing an anxious episode, you may not realize what’s going on until you’re really in the thick of it.
Recognizing that you’re feeling anxious is an important step.
Once you’ve recognised it, talk yourself through it. tell yourself that it will pass and it’s just a feeling “When you are in a heightened state of anxiety, you want to disrupt that cycle, and for some people, thought-stopping techniques are effective and as simple as saying ‘stop’ and catching it.
Naming your sensations and feelings may help you step away from them. This is anxiety, it is not you and it won’t last forever.
3. Try the 5–4–3–2–1 coping technique
When you’re overwhelmed with anxiety, the 5–4–3–2–1 coping technique can help calm your racing thoughts. This is how it works.
- Five. Look around the room, name five things you see around you. These can be objects, spots on the wall, or a bird flying outside. The key is to count down those five things like a game of I Spy.
- Four. Next, name four things you can touch. This can be the ground beneath your feet, the chair you’re sitting in, or the palm of your own hands.
- Three. Listen quietly, then acknowledge three things you can hear. These can be external sounds, like a fan in the room, or internal sounds, like the sound of your breathing.
- Two. Note two things you can smell. Maybe that’s the perfume you’re wearing or the pencil you’re holding.
- One. Notice something you can taste inside your mouth. Maybe that’s the juice you just drank.
This technique can work even better if you pair it with deep, slow breathing.
4. Try the “File It” mind exercise
The “File It” technique works particularly well if you’re lying awake at night thinking of all the things you have to do or haven’t done, or if you’re rehashing something that happened during the day.
These are the steps for performing this exercise:
- Close your eyes and imagine a table with file folders and a file cabinet on it.
- Imagine yourself picking up each file and writing down the name of a thought that’s racing through your mind — for example, the fight you had with your spouse, the presentation you have to give tomorrow at work
- Once the name is on the file, take a moment to acknowledge the thought and how important it is to you. Then, file it away.
- Repeat this process with every thought that pops into your head until you start to feel calmer (or sleepy.)
The idea with this exercise is that you’re taking a moment to name your triggers, examine them, and then consciously put them aside with a deadline to tackle them later.
5. Run
Sounds counterintuitive but actually “A quick burst of exercise that increases your heart rate is helpful at reducing anxiety”.
A 5-minute, high-speed run around the block or at the very least, on the spot can help reduce anxiety. Of course, you could run for a longer time if that’s something you enjoy.
If running is not your thing, you could try walking fast The key is to increase your heart rate with exercise.
It’s also important not to forget your breathing. While you run, consider focusing on how you’re breathing.
Every time your brain senses a threat, it tells the body to fight, flee, or freeze.
This is a natural physiological reaction that allows you to respond to the perceived threat.
If your reaction to this message is to run, you might trick your mind into thinking it’s doing something practical to keep you safe. Then, it may lower the state of alert and reduce your anxiety in the moment.
6. Think about something funny
“Visualize your funniest moments. “One where you laughed so hard you curled up in laughter. These can be real situations, or they can be situations you saw on sitcoms, in stories, jokes, or cartoons.”
If it’s difficult for you to come up with something in the moment, try picking a couple of memories ahead of time, so you can go to them as soon as you start experiencing anxiety.
Like most mindfulness training, humor visualization takes you out of worrying about things that might happen in the future and focuses you back in your present circumstances, in the “now. And invokes powerful emotions that can help you reduce anxiety quickly.
“When you laugh, you also contract and expand muscles, which reduces physical anxiety, stress, and tension,”
Laughter also combats the production of cortisol levels in the body.
7. Distract yourself
If nothing seems to be working to pull your focus from your anxious thoughts, maybe it’s time to find a temporary distraction.
For example, if you’re lying in bed, wide awake, obsessing about what tomorrow will bring and deep breathing and other techniques aren’t working, get up and leave your bedroom and find a distraction in another room.
Focusing on something you really enjoy can break the cycle of anxious thoughts and give you some relief — at least until you’re in a better frame of mind to tackle those thoughts.
The idea is to find something relaxing, pleasurable, or mindless to pull your focus from your thoughts.
You may do the dishes or fold clothes or whatever can get you in a flow.
8. Take a cold shower (or an ice plunge)
If you’re experiencing particularly intense anxiety, some psychiatrists have a relatively extreme way to snap you back to reality: you can fill a large bowl with cold water, throw some ice cubes in, and dunk your face in the water for 30 seconds.
Is it extreme? Yes. But it also works.
“This technique triggers your mammalian dive reflex,” and It tricks your body into thinking you’re swimming, so your heart rate slows, and your body becomes calmer.”
If you don’t feel like doing something this extreme, you can achieve a similar calming effect by jumping in a cold shower or going swimming.
A less extreme option is to place your hand or foot in cold water for a minute or so. You could also hold an ice cube until it melts in your hand.
Kick Anxiety In The… Nip It In The Bud
I hope these tips can help the next time you’re feeling anxious. They are meant to help in the moment but shouldn’t replace long term habits. You could use any one of these or a combination. It may be helpful to go chronologically from the first tip all the way to the eighth. It is bound to work.
