How to Calm Your Anxiety, From a Neuroscientist | The Way We Work, a TED series
Turning Anxiety into a Helpful Tool
In this talk, the speaker discusses how anxiety can be transformed into something helpful. She shares two powerful, science-based tools for turning down the volume on our anxiety and helping us get anxiety back to its helpful, protective state.
Breath Work
- Tool number one is breath work.
- Simple deep breathing can be one of the most immediate ways to calm anxiety.
- The recommended approach is boxed breathing: inhale deeply on four counts, hold at the top for four counts, exhale deeply on four counts and hold at the bottom for four counts.
Moving Your Body
- Tool number two is moving your body.
- Every time you move your body, you're releasing beneficial neurochemicals in your brain that increase positive mood states and decrease negative ones.
- Studies have shown that just ten minutes of walking can get those mood-boosting effects.
- Be creative with your movement session; it will help your anxiety levels come down.
Benefits of Connecting with Your Body
- Once you connect with your body and turn down the volume on your anxiety, two important things will happen:
- You'll be in a better position to evaluate what about a situation makes you anxious
- You'll be able to use this emotion (anxiety), for exactly what it was evolved to do: warn you about potential dangers so you can become aware of them and find ways to effectively and creatively address them in your everyday life.
Approaching Anxiety in a New Way
In this section, the speaker discusses how to approach anxiety in a new way that can help individuals manage their anxiety better and develop empathy for others.
Benefits of Approaching Anxiety Differently
- By approaching anxiety differently, individuals can notice telltale signs of anxiety in themselves and others.
- This can allow individuals to give support to others experiencing anxiety by offering kind words or a smile.
- Approaching anxiety differently can also boost an individual's personal superpower of empathy.
Takeaway Message
- The takeaway message is that approaching anxiety differently can help individuals manage their own anxiety better while also developing empathy for others.