Minimise anxiety by taking care of your basic needs

Life is rarely plain sailing. Challenging life events happen to us all, even hypnotherapists, and can be caused by a huge range of issues, from relationship problems, redundancy, financial stresses, ill health, bereavement, poor environment, time poverty… the list is limitless.

On a good day we can ‘roll with the punches’ and cope with whatever life throws at us. But sometimes the challenges can seem overwhelming, especially if several materialise at the same time. If we’re not careful, we may begin to fear we’re not going to get through the crisis.

Again, if we’re resilient, these feelings are temporary. We’re able to return to a more balanced outlook on life and then we can deal with the issues in a constructive way. But if we’re emotionally and physically run down to start with, the pressure of external stressors can lead to ongoing anxiety.

Now, there are plenty of things that we can do to help overcome anxiety, including seeking help from a professional therapist. But how much better would it be, if we’d built up some resilience in the first place?

And that needn’t be complicated. In all the years I’ve been working as a hypnotherapist I’ve been struck at how often people ignore their basic needs. They push themselves almost to destruction, as if their bodies were machines that never switch off. But, just as machines need regular maintenance and a good quality energy supply, so do our minds and bodies.

So, if you’re prone to anxiety, it’s worth giving thought to the basic elements we need to survive: breathing, nutrition and sleep.

Breathing

Did you know that how you breathe matters? If you’re anxious, this can affect the way you breathe. Your muscles you use for breathing get tight, so you begin to breathe too quickly and that can lead to feelings of panic. So it’s worth paying attention to how you’re going about this most basic physiological function.

The optimum way of breathing in a normal everyday situation is to:

Breathe in through your nose, so your nostrils can warm the incoming air, and the hairs in your nostrils can filter any impurities so they don’t reach your throat or lungs.

Breathe from your belly, using your diaphragm to fill your lungs with air. It’s the most efficient way to breathe.

There are so many benefits to breathing well: you can think more clearly, you feel calmer and your sleep improves. 

There are plenty of ways you can learn to improve this vital function. Yoga and some forms of meditation help you to focus on and improve your breathing. There are even ‘breathwork’ classes you can go to – there’s one at the Axminster Health and Wellbeing Centre tomorrow, for instance. If, like me, you enjoy reading self-help books, I can highly recommend ‘Breath’ by James Nestor.

Nutrition

Just like a car will splutter and eventually stop if you put in the wrong fuel, so our bodies and minds are impacted by the quality of food we consume. In these difficult times when funds are tight and free time is limited, it can be so tempting to eat mass produced ready meals or get budget takeaways. The problem is, these meals are often made from ingredients that have either had the nutritional content processed out of them and/or have additives that been manufactured in a lab.

Even eating out at the local pub-restaurant is no guarantee of better quality ingredients, many of the national chains rely on ready-made, frozen meals that simply need to be reheated in their kitchens, rather than being freshly cooked from raw ingredients.

Poor nutrition can have a tangible impact on our health, including low energy levels, weakened immune systems, sleep quality, low mood caused by blood sugar spikes and even cognitive functions like memory. Conversely, anything you can do to improve the quality of your diet will help you feel better mentally and physically.

Cooking every meal from scratch when you have a full-time job and a family to care for isn’t practical for most people. But if you’re time-poor, just replacing the occasional fast-food meal with one you’ve lovingly prepared from fresh ingredients will be beneficial. There’s something immensely satisfying in serving up home-cooked food, and its nutritional content will be so much better.

If you want to know more about the impact of modern over-processed food on our health and wellbeing, I can recommend the book ‘Ultra-Processed People’ by TV doctor Chris van Tulleken. You’ll never look at food the same way again.

Sleep

You would not believe the effect that having insufficient sleep has on our minds and bodies. Sleep impacts on our immune systems, helping us fight off infections. It affects our appetite hormones, helping us to regulate our food intake. It helps us consolidate memories, so we’re not so forgetful. It improves our mental functions, like decision-making and risk-taking. And it helps us to control our emotions, so we can cope better with life’s ups and downs.

If there’s one thing you can do to reduce anxiety it’s to get good quality sleep. 7-9 hours is the optimum, but it varies from person to person. If you wake up refreshed and ready to take on the day, the chances are you’re getting enough sleep. If you wake up feeling low and sluggish you may not be getting enough or, counter-intuitively, you may be getting too much.

If you’re feeling stressed, it’s worth thinking about whether you’re getting a good night’s sleep and, if you’re not, take steps to nurture this vital function. If you want to know more about the effects of sleep and how to improve your sleep quality, I can highly recommend the book ‘Fast Asleep’ by the late Dr Michael Mosley.