7 daily habits to keep mind calm and free from anxiety

Life can be very overwhelming. With all of the stressors we face on a daily basis, it's virtually impossible to completely avoid stressful situations. However, that doesn't mean you can't be in control of how you react to stress in your life. With the following 7 daily habits, you’ll be able to free your mind from anxiety:

1. Exercise Often

Many studies find exercise to be incredibly effective if you're trying to reduce stress. People that are physically active have decreased rates of depression and anxiety in comparison to individuals that don’t exercise regularly.

These anti-anxiety effects begin after only five minutes of any aerobic exercise. If you want to take advantage of this stress reducing life hack, start with something simple, like walking every day. As your body adjusts to regular fitness, consider taking up dancing, running, biking, spin class, or something similar. By finding something that you’re interested in, you'll be all the more motivated to go on a regular basis.

2. Drink Coffee in Moderation

Whether it’s coffee, tea, or your favorite energy drink, it’s important that you only drink these in moderate amounts. Well it may seem like these drinks help you stay energized throughout the day, they also play a significant role in increasing the level of anxiety that you feel. Consuming anything with high levels of caffeine will put you on edge and you'll be more likely to panic attacks or panic disorders.

That being said, you don’t have to give up your daily cup of coffee, just monitor your intake. Quitting caffeine cold turkey will likely leave you irritable, anxious, and with a huge headache. Simply focus on drinking less caffeine each day. That means drinking smaller portions of coffee and eliminating some of your unnecessary energy drink binges throughout the day.

3. Prioritize Your Sleep Schedule

In our society, we focus on being as productive as possible. While there’s nothing wrong with hard work and a consistent schedule for accomplishing our goals, sleep is something we can't live without. If anxiety is a constant struggle of yours, it’s likely that you aren’t getting the proper amount of sleep.

According to researchers, individuals that fail to receive the right amount of sleep kick starts the areas in the brain that are responsible for extreme worrying and emotional processing. This means that the less you sleep, the more stressed out you'll be. Even if you can’t get your daily eight hours each night, try your best to to alter your sleeping schedule one hour at a time. This will allow your body to adjust to a new routine.

4. Get Into Mindfulness Practices

Meditation is having a moment right now. Whether you learn about meditation through yoga or you gain useful meditative techniques from a stress and anxiety expert like Dr Jane Zhao-O'Brien psychologist, practicing mindfulness will teach you to be present and in the moment. instead of focusing on all the stress and worry in your life.

While you can explore mindfulness in a more structured environment, you can also take five minutes out of your day to focus on breathing. These five minutes should be spent breathing in and out slowly as you free your mind of any worrying thoughts. If you aren’t used to meditating, this might be a difficult habit at first, but you’ll catch on to it quite quickly.

5. Take Time to Treat Yourself

If you’re worried that treating yourself to a nice things is a bit selfish, you couldn’t be more wrong. Even if you’re on a budget, treating yourself every now and then is beneficial to your health. By investing in the little things that make you happy, you will brighten up your mood, which will help to reduce stress overall.

Whether you decide to spend a little more at your favorite restaurant or pick up that outfit that you've been eyeing all month, giving into these little pleasures every once in a while makes coping with stress that much easier.

6. Limit Your Use of Social Media

There's nothing wrong with hopping on social media for a few minutes each day, but things can quickly spin out of control if you're not careful. Before you know it, the hours can go by and you'll find that you have spent a good percentage of your day swiping through your favorite apps.

Social media by itself isn't necessarily bad, but it can definitely intensify any stress that you’re feeling as it often forces users to compare their lives to everyone else on those platforms. Even if you don’t intend to, the nature of the most popular social media apps make it almost second nature.

Get ahead of your anxiety by cutting your social media time in half. There are a few apps that will alert you when you’ve spent too much time on one platform. This will help you manage your social media use and also keep your anxiety to a minimum.

7. Start Cleaning Up

Cleaning itself can be very meditative. Whether you’re scrubbing away at dirty dishes, sweeping up a cluttered floor, or organizing your belongings, regularly cleaning hell help to reduce your anxiety. The act of physically making something cleaner allows one to focus on the present and use all of their mental and physical energy to improve their surroundings.

Don't think you have to deep clean your home every day to take part in this stress reducer. You can start cleaning on a daily basis by washing the dishes regularly, wiping down countertops, and making sure your floors are spotless each day.

Life is what you make it. Choosing to take part in the routines that reduce stress will help you to create the life that you’ve always dreamed of. Be sure to keep these seven tips in mind as you try to eliminate anxiety from your daily life.