The last few decades have witnessed a surge in anxiety patients all over the world. Even though modern times’ technological marvels are making life easier for the present generation than ever before, the pace of life is taking a toll on our mental health. The younger generation, especially the millennials, are hit with the brunt of mental health issues such as anxiety as they struggle to cope with rising expectations.
With anxiety being a part of daily life, you may tend to develop coping mechanisms to deal with anxiety in bad habits. When you are going through an anxiety attack, it may seem like it might never end, and you fall back to the temptation of bad habits even if you are aware of their implications. This article will take you through the top five practices avoiding when you are anxious and emotionally unstable.
1. Avoiding Physical Activity
When you are feeling anxious, you may not be able to commit to exercising. However, pushing through it regardless will help you lower the symptoms of anxiety and make you feel better. You can experience an increase in alertness, higher concentration, and relief from stress with regular physical activity, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.
2. Unhealthy Sleeping Habits
Getting enough sleep can be a difficult task when you are undergoing mental health issues such as anxiety. Lack of sleep can cause anxiety to fester, which, in turn, makes it difficult to stay asleep and falling asleep, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.
Not getting eight hours of sleep can also cause anxiety to become worse. The lack of a consistent sleep routine and fixating on screens right up to sleeping time causes the brain to be in a state of intense activity and affects your circadian rhythm.
Insomnia is a common symptom of anxiety, and without proper treatment, it can worsen your anxiety.You must avoid drinking coffee before going to bed, as consuming caffeine just before bedtime can also affect your ability to sleep.
CBD is an effective treatment for curing insomnia due to anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and social anxiety disorder. You can buy weed edibles to ease your anxiety symptoms and treat your insomnia arising from anxiety. CBD works by binding to the endocannabinoid receptors in the nervous system and altering the serotonin signals.
Unhealthy Eating Habits
Your eating habits have a tremendous effect on balancing the hormones in your body that control anxiety. The current generation does not subscribe to a regular time for having meals, and it is common to skip meals altogether due to the hectic nature of life. Having meals at irregular times can lower your metabolism rate and disrupt your insulin levels, which causes you to feel irritable and sluggish.
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Being anxious can also trigger you to overeat food as a coping mechanism or lose your appetite. Junk food tastes great and is a tempting coping mechanism when dealing with anxiety. However, they can disrupt your body’s healthy functioning and wreak havoc on the balance of natural hormones.
4. Addiction To Technology
Technology is pervasive in the modern way of life, and we rely on it for even the most minute tasks. As a result, we spend most of our time in front of several screens at work and home.Having a smartphone close by while it continually lights up with new notifications makes it hard to resist checking your phone every few minutes. The digital overload of information causes the excess production of adrenaline and cortisol, the body’s stress hormone.
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5. Being Indoors
Although staying indoors can be comfortable, it can become counterproductive to keeping anxiety at bay. Most people nowadays prefer to binge-watch on television or Netflix during their free time. Spending time outside in nature and exposure to sunlight is essential to maintaining a healthy circadian rhythm and the harmonious balance of hormones. Meditation is also a great way to manage your anxiety levels and treat it permanently over time.
Conclusion:
The constant burden of the choices and expectations that plague the current generation is the root cause of the rise in anxiety issues. A tight job market, constant career changes, obsessing over an ambitious future, and the burden of hefty educational loans are all reasons that contribute to anxiety.
An unhealthy lifestyle and bad habits also take a toll on your emotional stability. You can fight anxiety by cultivating healthy lifestyle choices and a healthy routine that boosts your mental well-being and keeps anxiety at bay.