8 Effective Strategies to Calm Your Nervous System

Anxiety interferes with problem-solving, concentration, and focus. Anxiety does not help the world, and it does not help you either. Call upon your inner strength and resources, focus on a productive goal, and free your mind so you can be proactive. Avoid substances that will intensify a negative mood or disrupt your sleep.

Consider these eight strategies to stay grounded and calm the nervous system;

1. Shift your diet. Choose whole (not processed) foods, sufficient protein, and a balance of nutritious fruits and vegetables. Some vitamins can help restore balance in times of stress, such as B vitamins, Omega’s, Ashwagandha, potassium, and magnesium, and/or a good multivitamin may help.

2. Drink water. Dehydration disrupts sleep, can cause headaches, and overall poor mental and physical functioning. Drinking water helps flush the system of toxins, restores Ph balance, helps with cognitive functioning, the digestive and elimination systems, temperature, sleep, and can reduce pain.

3. Engage your senses. When anxious, it helps to get grounded by engaging your senses. For smell: aromatherapy helps improve mood as the olfactory nerve is located in the limbic system, which is the control center for the emotional part of the brain. Touch: hold a smooth rock, soft blanket, or press your feet into the ground. Attention to the feet is a natural anxiolytic and a way to feel grounded. Sight: slowly look around from left to right, scanning your environment. Sound: Listen, what do you hear? Birds, or other sounds? Taste: let an ice chip melt in your mouth or savor a single bite of food. These strategies will help you feel more present in your body.

4. Positive distraction. Do something to refocus your mind. A quick exercise is to count to five forwards and then backwards. Use your fingers on one hand to keep track of the numbers and then do it again with the other hand. Engage in an activity such as singing, drawing, painting, dancing, puzzles, cleaning, gardening, walking, playing a game, fishing, swimming, or cooking. The point is to do something and become engaged in the activity.

5. Deep breathing. Take a deep breath in through the nose, and out with a sigh. This is called a cleansing breath which helps restore balance, releases tension, and has an immediate calming effect on the mind and body.

6. Create an inner sanctuary. Focus on a positive image, song, prayer, memory, vacation destination, or something that relaxes your mind and your body. Photos of nature or being out in nature can have the same effect. Surround yourself with positive sayings, images, things of comfort, and reassurance. If you are able to, practice mindful awareness: this breath, this moment.

7. Join with others. Connecting with a community such as friends, family, or like-minded thinkers, can release oxytocin in the brain, which is calming and reassuring. You are not alone. You belong.

8. Help others. One of the best ways to address feeling helpless and hopeless is to help someone else. Give or donate either locally, nationally, or internationally. Do something proactive. Helping others is deeply rewarding and improves your mood.

And if this is overwhelming, sometimes the best thing to do is just breathe.

Source; https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/healing-sexual-trauma/202203/8-effective-strategies-calm-your-nervous-system

Reflection;

Anxiety can result from many things including trauma. This article describes a few tips hat you can follow that might help you cope with your anxiety and calm your nervous system down.

What are some coping methods that help you when you are anxious?

#Anxiety #StayingCalm #EmotionalRegulation #MentalHealth