Anxiety is one condition that could seep the energy out of you. If not handled properly, it can take a toll on you and impact your life negatively. For this reason, many have sought ways to manage their anxiety triggers through cognitive behavioural therapy and medication. Another measure of management is to change one’s lifestyle and adopt a better approach to avoid getting anxious.
Anxiety is very personal, and what may cause one person’s anxiety may not cause the other’s. They could differ but should be easily identified and avoided for better control.
Those with anxiety don’t enjoy losing their breath suddenly. They also don’t enjoy when they lose sight of what’s happening around them because of all that’s happening in their minds when they get anxious. Understanding anxiety and its history is one way of knowing how to deal with it. It is a pretty tough and unpredictable condition that can be triggered at odd points.
Also, there are some little things we do that can trigger anxiety symptoms. It could be from sitting still for too long, procrastinating or even smoking. Although they may seem to calm you down, research indicates otherwise.
If you deal with anxiety, then this is something you need to know in order to be more conscious to avoid getting anxiety triggers. Decrease your anxiety level by taking these things into cognisance now.
Anxiety triggers you may never really consider
1. Social media
The social media addiction theory is one that many have come to agree with. It makes you feel a sense of worthlessness as you tend to compare yourself with those you see on the gram. Therefore, you need to establish a healthier social media relationship. Doing otherwise would make you feel unnecessarily worries over issues your mind raises.
2. Irregular sleep
Those with anxiety tend to allow the stress to keep them up at night. This should be avoided at all cost as irregular sleep in itself is one of the triggers of anxiety. Therefore, you should first learn how to manage stress, and then catch a routine sleep. This will reduce the effect of sleep deprivation.
“Far too many people suffering from anxiety avoid sleep, allowing their stresses to keep them awake,” explains The Calm Clinic. “Sleep is one of the most important tools for coping with stress. So when you allow yourself to be kept awake, you make it much more likely for stress to affect you later.”
3. Procrastinating
It may seem like just “one of those things”, but it’s not. Procrastinating causes you to worry needlessly over what you should have done earlier. This gets worse when the deadline is imminent. Why put off till tomorrow what you can do today? You know what needs to be done, but somehow put it off till later, then your worry juice gets into action and leaves you feeling woozy with all the unrealistic possibilities of what your actions could cause. Rather than go through all that, do the task when it needs to be done.
4. Taking in too many stimulants
General knowledge reveals that one stimulant that those with anxiety should avoid is coffee. This is because it contains caffeine that can trigger anxiety symptoms. What you may not realise is that those little things you sneak into your mouth during the day could also contain caffeine. They include chocolate or tea. Also, when you take in too much sugar or sugary foods, you’re spiking your symptoms.
5. Lack of regular exercise
This is one lifestyle you need to adopt and actually be consistent with. Exercising helps you to release endorphins that give you a feeling of well-being while making you feel less anxious. Therefore, when you don’t engage in an activity that does this for you, it could cause you to get anxious. You should start a regular exercise routine.
6. Isolating yourself
You may believe that the best thing to do when you feel anxious is to hide away from everyone. This is one way of attracting anxiety bugs. You should try to be more around people and less by yourself where your mind could feed you all sorts of negative thoughts. You may also fill your little quiet time with books, music or any other mind-boosting activity.
“Being alone is often the exact opposite of what you need to do to overcome anxiety,” Calm Clinic explains. “That’s because when you have anxiety, your thought processes tend to become skewed, and you become far more internalised (focused inside of your head). Anxiety is associated with negative and fearful thoughts, and anxiety puts you inside of your head, concentrating on the experience of those negative thoughts.”
There are so many things that can trigger your anxiety that you may not notice. Therefore, your best bet is to stick with a working routine for a better lifestyle and health. You can take charge of your anxiety rather than letting yours take charge of you.