Anxiety

Anxiety is a feeling of unease, such as worry or fear, that can be mild or severe.

Everyone has feelings of anxiety at some point in their life. For example, you may feel worries and anxious about sitting an exam, or having a medical test or job interview.

During times life these, feeling anxious can be perfectly normal, but some people find it hard to control their worries. Their feelings of anxiety are more constant and can often affect their daily lives.

Anxiety can show in a variety of ways. This can be as changes in your body, in being constantly worried, or changes in your behaviour, such as becoming overly careful or avoiding things that trigger anxiety.

You may:

feel tired, on edge, restless or irritable
feel a sense of dread
be unable to concentrate or make decisions
have trouble sleeping
feel sick, dizzy, sweaty or short of breath
be shaky or trembly
get headaches or tummy aches
avoid situations or put off doing things you are worries about
have difficulty falling or staying asleep
experience a noticeably strong, fast or irregular heartbreat
have pins and needles
sweat excessively
repeatedly check things or seek assurance from others

Watch the video below for some top tips to help you deal with anxiety.

Top tips to cope with anxiety

Hello, I’m Anjali Bali, a mental health professional from Essex.

We all feel anxious from time to time, but there are steps you can take to help ease your anxiety if you feel it is affecting your life.

Here are six top tips to help you cope with anxiety.

Understand your anxiety.

Try keeping a diary of what you are doing and how you feel at different times to help identify what’s affecting you and what you need to act on.

Challenge your anxious thoughts.

The way we think affects how we feel.

Tackling unhelpful thoughts is one of the best things we can do to feel less anxious.

If you always approach things in a negative way, ask yourself why. Could you think about things more positively?

Make time for worries.

If your worry feels overwhelming and takes over your day, setting specific worry time to go through your concerns each day can help you to focus on other things.

Shift your focus.

Some people find relaxation, mindfulness or breathing exercises helpful.

They reduce tension and focus our awareness on the present moment.

Face the things you want to avoid.

It’s easy to avoid situations or rely on habits that make us feel safer, but these things can keep anxiety going.

By slowly building up time in worrying situations, anxious feelings will gradually reduce and you will see these situations are okay.

Get to grips with the problem.

When you’re feeling stressed or anxious, it can help to use a problem-solving technique to identify some solutions.

This can make the challenges you’re facing feel more manageable.

All these tips should help you understand and cope with anxiety better, but if you have been experiencing anxiety for some time and it’s affecting your daily life or causing you distress, you should consider seeking further support.

If anxiety is affecting your daily life or causing you distress, call NHS 111, talk to your GP or refer yourself to our local talking therapies (IAPT) service.

Find out more about talking therapies