Anxiety and Stress 101: Coping with Anxious Feelings

Being a teenager is never easy and we are all going through so many different experiences. Here is your guide to conquering anxiety, as well as some tips and techniques that work for most anxiety attacks, stress, and anxious feelings.

What is anxiety and stress?

Anxiety is a natural response we feel when we are worked, tense, and afraid. This can be about future events or anything that might be coming up soon. Some of the feelings associated with anxiety are fear, dread, and uneasiness, and they can all originate from stress.

Different from anxiety, stress is a reaction to a specific situation where we can feel anxious or like we are in danger. Stress is one of the factors in fight or flight, and this can help us avoid threats. For example, a stressful situation could be writing an essay on the day of the deadline.

If both stress or anxiety persist for a long period of time, it can be detrimental to our health.

Recognizing Anxiety and Stress

During our teenage years, we often will face many changes that can lead to anxious feelings. So many teenagers today do not know how to recognize anxiety and stress. They can either be mental or physical.

Here are some common signs to take note of:

• Having trouble making decisions or concentrating

• Feeling irritable, restless, or tense

• Sweating, trembling, or shaking

• Always feeling like you are in danger or threatened

• Having difficulty sleeping or staying asleep

• Persistent increased heart rate

• Physical headaches or stomachaches

Coping Strategies

Anxiety and stress can happen to anyone, so here are some tips to help during these challenging times:

1. Keep physically active: Try making a routine so you are staying active throughout the week or during busy days. Exercise is a stress reducer that releases endorphins, which is a natural chemical that improves our mood. You can start this by slowly increasing intensity and frequency of workouts.

2. Making sleep a priority: Although this can be hard to do with a busy high school or college lifestyle, sleep is a very large contributor to stress and anxiety. We can fix this by creating a sleep schedule and a good sleep environment for us to get an adequate amount of sleep.

3. Avoiding alcohol and drugs: Both of these substances can cause or worsen anxiety because our body becomes dependent on it for happiness: the dopamine boosts released when we take drugs or drink alcohol. By quitting, we can allow ourselves to be free of reliance on the substances and increase our mood. For withdrawal symptoms and extra support, please contact a professional.

4. Quitting smoking and stopping caffeine consumption: Nicotine, marijuana, and caffeine are all known to increase anxiety and stress. By not consuming these substances, we can decrease anxiety symptoms.

5. Stress Management: Meditation or finding a healthy way to relax can be a very useful tip for teenagers. This can be journaling, working out, yoga, etc. These can help us focus on how we are feeling now, instead of suppressing our feelings.

6. Eating healthy foods: A balanced diet can allow us to be more active and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Certain foods like fast food or junk food can increase stress and nervousness. Finding a balanced diet with carbohydrates, protein, and vitamins can increase moods.

7. Socializing: Isolating ourselves from loved ones or activities can increase stress. By socializing with others, we can gain relief and it can also improve our mood.

8. Professional Help: Never be afraid to contact a professional to talk about what you are feeling. Therapy, taking medication, and consistency can be big factors that will decrease anxious feelings if needed.

The Next Steps

Anxiety and stress are very common among teenagers and we can decrease the likeliness of them or eliminate them altogether by using effective methods that work for us. The first step to this is by recognizing our feelings and why it is occurring. We can then propose a solution and cope with different strategies.