You know by now, I don’t believe in any magical, quick fixes when it comes to you and your anxiety. And this topic is not meant to imply that avoiding these 4 things will make your anxiety disappear, or that you need to make a number of drastic lifestyle changes in order to properly address your anxiety.
Instead, we’ll focus on the mind-body connection, including some things that have been helpful to me and many of my students, and how practicing healthy habits (and avoiding disruptive ones) can in turn help you feel better overall.
Avoid Endocrine Disruptors
Let’s start by understanding and defining what exactly this means. Your endocrine system is a network of glands and organs, responsible for producing hormones that in turn control a number of important bodily functions, such as:
Biological Growth and Development
Metabolism
Reproduction
Response to Stress
Sleep
Endocrine disruptors (known as EDC’s) are chemicals that can interfere with and hinder the overall effectiveness and health of this system. Some examples of these chemicals are Phthalates, Dioxins and Parabens. These harmful chemicals are unfortunately found in many common, everyday items, including:
Plastics
Deodorants
Laundry Detergent
Soaps/Body Washes
Make-up
Cookware
Foods
Now, this list isn’t meant to scare you or cause you to start sifting through all of your household items, searching for anything that may be deemed toxic to your endocrine system. But it’s important to be aware of these common EDC’s, so that you can start making adjustments over time. For example, when I first became familiar with EDC’s and how they can negatively affect your body, these are some simple, gradual adjustments I started making in my day-to-day life (give them a try!):
Avoid Products with Fragrance
Try to Eat Whole, Organic Foods
Avoid Storing Food in Plastic Containers
Avoid Drinking Out of Plastic Bottles
Here are some nontoxic products I love and use:
Cleaning products: Branch Basics
Makeup: Crunchi
Soap: Bronner’s
Laundry detergent: ECOS
Deodorant and skin products: Primally Pure
Cookware: Caraway
With this brief overview of endocrine disruptors, you can hopefully start making some informed decisions about what you’re putting in, on, or around your body. It’s an incredibly interesting and important topic, that I will hopefully cover and discuss more in-depth with an expert in the near future!
2. Avoid Unhealthy Sleeping Habits
Since it’s something you do every day (hopefully), it can be easy to overlook just how important sleep is, and how it correlates to your overall health and wellness. But sleep is so, so important! I know if I don’t prioritize sleep and my sleeping habits, I can feel the effects almost instantly. I feel irritable, my mental clarity suffers, my moods are erratic, and my body and mind in general just feel… off.
If this sounds familiar, I want to you to make this simple lifestyle adjustment: start focusing and prioritizing your sleep. Keep track of how many hours you’re getting a night, what time you go to bed and what time you wake up, and the consistency of your sleep patterns (or lack thereof). Everyone is different, some of us may require less or more sleep than others, and there are no blanket guidelines per say. So, use the data you collect to determine how much sleep you need to feel like your best self, in both your body and mind. Eventually, you’ll form a consistent, healthy sleeping routine that will become second nature, allowing you to experience the benefits that come with it.
And I get it, life can get in the way. Going to bed late, waking up early, and getting sporadic sleep whenever and wherever you can, we’ve all been there. But please, don’t underestimate the importance of a healthy, consistent sleep, and what a major impact it has on your overall health (including your anxiety!).
3. Avoid (or Limit) Alcohol
For a long time, I had such an unhealthy relationship with alcohol. It’s a common coping mechanism for many people, and in my personal experience, I used it to avoid processing a variety of difficult feelings and emotions, escaping and ignoring them any way I could. I was convinced that alcohol made me feel less anxious in general, and helped me in dealing with my panic disorder, agoraphobia, and social anxiety issues. In reality, it was making everything worse, especially as the perceived effects of the alcohol wore off (“hang-xiety”, anybody?).
Coping mechanisms like alcohol are difficult habits to break. They may bring you some sense of short-term relief with your anxiety symptoms or difficult feelings, and who could blame you? I’m sure we’ve all developed unhealthy coping mechanisms at one time or another. But eventually, it’s important and even necessary to recognize that these coping mechanisms are actually hurting, not helping you; especially in your relationship with anxiety. It reminds me of the old adage regarding insanity: doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result. If you’re habitually relying on these coping mechanisms to deal with your issues, seeking short-term relief but finding no long-term improvements, you get stuck in a vicious, never-ending cycle. The issues compound, leading to more suffering and more coping.
This isn’t meant to cast judgment or suggest you give sobriety a try. But if you’re reading this and recognizing you may have formed an unhealthy relationship with one or more coping mechanisms, alcohol or otherwise, be honest with yourself! Although it may be difficult, I promise, it will only help you. Allow yourself to start on your journey to long-term healing!
4. Avoid Comfort Zones
You might be thinking… Shannon, I don’t push myself outside of my comfort zone because when I do, that leads to anxiety and I don’t want to feel anxious. This is an understandable thought to have, and I certainly don’t want to encourage increased feelings of anxiety! But before you draw your conclusions, let me explain how comfort zones can actually negatively impact you and your anxiety.
When I was struggling with anxiety, I stayed in my comfort zones (or what I thought were comfort zones), constantly. I went to the same places, took the same roads, ate the same things, the list goes on. Although these things would offer some sense of familiarity, which I assumed would help curb or avoid my anxious feelings, they almost always left me feeling the opposite. I’d start ruminating, and feeling as though I was limiting and restricting myself from veering from my self-created “comfort zone”, which created even more anxiety. Ironically, my comfort zones weren’t bringing me comfort at all. The feelings I’m describing are extremely common in people who have created and stayed in a comfort zone for too long, especially if they struggle with anxiety.
One of the biggest lessons I learned in my recovery was this: Things are either hard because you’re staying in your comfort zone or they’re hard because you’re pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone, and pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone always comes with long-term rewards. And I know, it’s easier said than done. But if you can push yourself to gradually break out of your comfort zone(s), the short-term discomfort you initially feel will wash away, and you’ll start experiencing the rewards of your bravery: peace, joy, self-confidence, independence and trust in yourself.
To this day, I push myself often… And if you’re on my email list or you follow me on social media, you probably see this. I recently started solo hiking and adventuring, going on trips by myself, going on long road trips, the list goes on. So, I’m giving you a healthy push right now: Are you staying in your comfort zone? Is it actually comfortable, or is it a comfortable discomfort? Take one small step at a time to push yourself outside of it. This is where you experience healing.
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