Blog Post

5 Ways to Self-Soothe Your Anxiety

cookshill • Jul 06, 2022

Stress and anxiety can be painful and overwhelming, causing you to lose sleep, productivity, and focus.

When you’re feeling overwhelmed, trying to find ways to relieve your stress can be difficult, especially when it feels like there’s too much on your plate. If you want to find healthy ways to self-soothe your anxiety, try these five methods of self-soothing that are proven to help reduce anxiety and stress levels in as little as 20 minutes.

Get Creative

During a time of stress, your mind can get stuck on specific thoughts and images, causing fear or worry. When you need to self-soothe quickly, creativity is key. If you get stuck in a looping negative thought cycle during a stressful time, try taking deep breaths for several minutes. This will let your mind relax as it processes new information and allows you to come up with new strategies and ideas.

Even if these new strategies don’t work immediately, they will help keep your mind off anxious thoughts while relaxing enough that you can think more clearly when things settle down again.

Try Yoga

Yoga offers flexibility, strength and mindfulness, which are three keys to handling anxiety. Studies have also shown that yoga can help lower blood pressure and stress hormones. In fact, it’s even more effective at reducing stress than a 30-minute walk in nature—yes, really! As part of your yoga practice, try ujjayi breathing (aka ocean breathing).

It’s a relaxing way to concentrate on your breath while inhaling and exhaling deeply from your diaphragm. By closing off one nostril with your thumb or index finger (preferably with a non allergic finger) and slowly inhaling through your other nostril for four counts, then closing off that nostril and slowly exhaling for eight counts through both nostrils. Continue doing this for five minutes, then switch sides. Ujjayi breathing is an excellent tool to use during times of stress as well as general relaxation.

Eat Foods That Soothe

The most direct way to self-soothe is to eat foods that reduce anxiety. Look for ingredients like B vitamins, which help relieve stress and boost mood; try dark chocolate, kiwi, grapefruit, avocados, blueberries and more. Just keep in mind that sometimes self-soothing can become an excuse for eating junk food. Don’t just grab something unhealthy because it makes you feel better—focus on real whole foods.

And when it comes to sugar, remember that a little goes a long way: research shows sugar cravings are usually caused by a nutrient deficiency or imbalance (not hunger). When your body needs nutrients, you crave sugar. Eat fruits and vegetables with healthy fats (like avocado) to calm down and soothe yourself without turning to junk food. If you’re craving sweets or carbs (or both), try having some fruit instead of cake or cookies – research shows that protein curbs appetite more effectively than carbs do!

Practice Deep Breathing

There’s a reason why we use breathing exercises and deep breathing as a way to relax. It works. In fact, studies have shown that deep breathing—using mindfulness techniques—can actually make your brain work better, slowing stress and anger, while increasing performance on tests of memory and attention. To practice deep breathing at home, sit up straight in a chair with your feet flat on the floor.

Breathe in slowly through your nose for four seconds; hold it for two; breathe out slowly through your mouth for four seconds. Repeat for 10 minutes or so (or even just five minutes). Inhale deeply from that belly button down place with every breath. You can also try counting to ten on each inhale and exhale. Don’t forget to smile! This is a great exercise if you need help falling asleep at night, too.

Journal Writing

Journaling is a powerful tool that can help relieve stress by giving you a place to process your thoughts. Try writing about how you feel before going to bed at night and see if it helps calm your mind, reducing feelings of stress, anxiety or depression. It might seem intimidating in the beginning, but putting your emotions down on paper will likely help you sleep better, which is worth a try if nothing else.

If journaling doesn’t work for you right away, don’t give up! The most important thing is that you try different methods and figure out what works best for you. Most importantly, make sure that whatever strategy you choose helps prevent negative thoughts from seeping into other parts of your life.

Book a Counselling Session

Book a counselling to talk about ways you can teach yourself to self soothe. It is important that you learn how to manage your stress levels and anxiety because it will improve your quality of life in many ways.

You will be able to feel more relaxed, get better sleep, and have more energy for other things in your life if you are able to find healthy methods of dealing with stress and anxiety.

Book a session with Cooks Hill Counselling today.