You can manage your anxiety if you are anxious or have an anxiety disorder.

You can calm yourself down quickly by doing a few simple breathing exercises.

These strategies can be challenging to implement, but after some practice, they will offer you a path toward mental calm and help relieve your anxiety.

How to calm yourself down quickly

You feel agitated by something and find yourself in a loop of intrusive, negative thoughts. As a result, you feel your body tighten, your breath quickens, and your heart pounding.

It's essential to calm down when you feel this kind of anxiety. Awareness is the first step. It would help if you learned to recognize anxiety symptoms and take action before an episode occurs.

Breathe

Breathe. It's the best thing you can do if you feel panicky. Essential is suitable for managing anxiety symptoms.

To reap the benefits, you must breathe deeply and slowly. It would help if you also focused on your breathing only.

When we focus our attention on our breathing, we can start to calm down. The thoughts that cause anxiety will begin to fade away, and our heart rate will slow.

Many people find that breathing in 4-7-8 breaths is particularly effective.

• Inhale for four seconds.
• Keep your breath for seven seconds.
• Slowly exhale for 8 seconds.
• Repeat this until you feel calmer.

Name your feelings

You may not even realize you are experiencing anxiety until the moment is upon you.

You may be able to calm down faster if you can identify anxiety.

"Name this as anxiety, not reality. It will pass," says Kim Shertz, a New York Therapy Practice psychotherapist. When you're in a state of anxiety, you'll want to interrupt the cycle. For some people, thinking-stopping techniques can be as simple as saying "stop" to internalized messages that increase anxiety.

You can also try to talk yourself out of anxiety by recognizing it.

"Embrace absolute facts," says Steven Sultanoff, a clinical psychologist at Pepperdine University. "I will get through it -- one way or the other."

You can step away from your feelings and sensations by naming them. But, unfortunately, this is not you, and it will not last forever.

Try the 5-4-3-1 coping technique.

The 5-4-3-2-1 technique can help you calm your anxiety when you feel overwhelmed.

How it works

• Five. Name five things that you can see in the room. This can be an object, a spot on the wall, or a flying bird. It is essential to count those five items.
• Four. Name the fourth thing you can touch. You can feel the ground under your feet, chair, or hair.
• Three. Listen to yourself quietly and then identify three things that you hear. They can be external sounds like a room fan or internal sounds like your own breathing.
• Two. Two things that you can smell. You might be smelling the pencil or perfume that you are holding.
• One. You can also taste something in your mouth. That could be your lipgloss.

It is best to pair this technique with slow, deep breathing.

Try "File It," a mind-training exercise

This "File It" technique is beneficial if you lie awake at night and think about everything you need to do but haven't done. Or if something happened during the day.

Here are the steps to perform this exercise.

1. Imagine a table covered with file cabinets and file folders.
2. Imagine you are picking up every file in your house and writing down a thought you're having—for example, a fight with your spouse or preparing for upcoming presentations at work. Or, you may fear getting sick from COVID-19.
3. Take a moment after the name has been placed in the file to acknowledge and appreciate the thought. Then file it.
4. Repeat this process until you feel more calm (or sleepy).

This exercise involves naming your triggers and examining them. Then, you set a date for when you will address them. You're validating yourself and creating a plan for dealing with each individually when right.

Run

A quick burst that increases heart rate can help reduce anxiety, says Patricia Celan, a postgraduate resident in psychiatry at Dalhousie University.

Celan says that a 5-minute run at high speed around the block will help reduce anxiety. You can run longer if you like.

Try walking for one minute, then jogging quickly for another minute. Continue this pattern until you have completed five minutes. Exercise is the key to increasing your heart rate.

Also, remember to breathe. Consider focusing your attention on your breathing while you run.

Your amygdala will be working overtime if you have an anxiety disorder. Your amygdala receives information every time you experience a trigger that is perceived as threatening. You may have to deal with many triggers if you suffer from anxiety. The amygdala tells your body to fight or flee when it senses danger.

This normal physiological reaction allows you to react to the perceived danger.

You may trick your brain into believing you are doing something to protect yourself if you run when you receive this message. It may then lower your alertness and reduce anxiety.

Imagine something funny

Sultanoff says, "Create a picture of your most humorous moments." "Another one where you laughed so much that you almost peed yourself." You can use real-life situations or situations from sitcoms, stories, jokes, or cartoons.

You can use a few memories to calm yourself down if you find it challenging to think of something to say.

Humor visualization, like most mindfulness exercises, helps you stop worrying about what might happen soon and instead focus on your current circumstances.

It also does other things. Sultanoff explains that you experience "mirth," an uplifting response to humor. You experience potent emotions like joy, pleasure, or delight that help reduce anxiety.

He says that humor visualization works even better if you can laugh when you remember a funny moment.

He says that when you laugh, you contract and extend your muscles. This reduces anxiety, stress, and tension.

He adds that laughter also reduces cortisol production in the body.

Distract yourself

Find a temporary distraction if nothing else distracts you from your anxious thoughts.

If you are lying in bed and obsessing over what tomorrow holds, and deep breathing or other techniques don't work, leave the room and go to another room.

You can find relief by focusing on something that you enjoy. This will help you break the cycle of anxiety and anxious thoughts.

The distraction will vary from person to person. It is important to distract yourself from your thoughts by doing something enjoyable, relaxing, or mindless.

Some people find doing their dishes or cleaning the house a great distraction. They feel more active, and it requires some concentration. But they are not just sitting around worrying.

Some enjoy soothing music, watching their favorite TV show, movie, or reading.

Petting your cat or even drinking tea can help. Choose a low-stress hobby to distract your mind from anxiety.

Take a cold bath (or ice plunge).

Celan says that if you are experiencing intense anxiety, you may want to try a more extreme (and unpleasant!) method to bring you back to the present: fill up a large bowl of cold water and add some ice. Then you can dunk your head in for 30 seconds.

Is this extreme? Yes. It also works.

Celan explains that this technique activates the mammalian diving reflex. It tricks your body into thinking you are swimming. As a result, your heart rate will slow down, and your body will become calmer.

You can also achieve the same effect by swimming in a cold bath.

One practical option used by some dialectical behavior therapists is to put your hand or foot into cold water for about a minute. You can also hold an ice cube in your hand until it melts.