Managing anxiety in 4 simple sets

Use your senses.

Practice really taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of your environment. Slowing down and being more mindful every day makes it easier to draw on this skill in stressful situations.

Breathe.

Deep abdominal breaths bring more oxygen into the brain, helping it to slow down, halting the rapid influx of negative thoughts.

Executive engagement.

Try naming the emotions you’re feeling to engage the brain’s executive center (involved in emotional regulation and management).

Time out.

If you’re really struggling to get a hold of your emotions and the situation, physically take yourself out of it so that you can recoup your thoughts and you don’t make emotionally clouded decisions.