In the age of social media, within a culture that seems obsessed with instant gratification, it seems as though everywhere you turn someone has a life-changing “hack” to share with you. Lifestyle issues? Just do this. Money problems? Try this. And it’s so frustrating because we commonly see this when talking about mental health issues, which can flood your feed with never-ending, quick and simple solutions; for ironically complex problems.
In this episode of A Healthy Push podcast, we’ll discuss some of these commonly circulated anxiety hacks, reasons to avoid them, and alternative (healthier) approaches to dealing with your anxiety!
Using Ice Cubes, Cold Water, or Sour Candies in Moments of Anxiety or Panic
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as I typed this out, just like I do with every social media post I see where this hack is recommended. But, before I get into the issues I have with it, let's first better understand the scientific/biological reasoning behind why this is recommended in the first place.
When you feel a cold or sour sensation, whether taste or touch, you quickly stimulate your vagus nerve. I don’t want to bore you, so I’ll make this short and sweet! Essentially, we have two vagus nerves, one on each side of the body. These nerves are a major part of your parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for involuntarily controlling the body's “rest and digest” functions. This includes mood, taste, immune response, skin sensation, breathing, and heart rate. When this part of your nervous system is stimulated (by an ice cube or sour candy for example), it can help calm you down in moments of distress, especially in situations where your “fight or flight” response (controlled by your sympathetic nervous system) is overactive or being triggered by something, common when experiencing anxiety or panic.
So, let me say this: I’m not arguing against whether or not this response exists or “works.” Systemically, this commonly used hack does in fact work for a lot of people … briefly. Which is where my biggest issue lies.
Short-term relief is the enemy of long-term growth and healing. Sure, splashing cold water on your face or putting an ice cube on your neck can help lessen your anxiety symptoms for a moment, but is it helping address the real issue? To make matters worse, if you do find short-term relief with one of these applications, you’re now creating a dependence on them, which in turn will create even more anxiety over time. And let’s be real, always carrying something with you, especially cold items, isn’t really practical.
And I get it, at times the feelings can be so overwhelming and uncomfortable that you’ll do whatever it takes to silence or dull them, I’ve been there many times. But if you’re habitually escaping and hiding from the symptoms and feelings, how are you supposed to get to the root of your problems and form a healthy relationship with anxiety? Take small steps to practice allowing yourself to feel the anxiety, and you’ll slowly build self-trust and learn that you’re capable of handling it on your own.
So, I’m saying this in a very non-judgmental, non-shaming way… But please, put down the ice cubes and sour patch kids, and start on your journey to long-term healing!
Using CBD for Long-Term Relief
I was just talking about forming dependencies… CBD: if you haven’t heard of it by now, well, maybe you haven’t been down the Google rabbit holes (which is a good thing!). But since the mass legalization of marijuana and other hemp-derived products, CBD is seemingly inescapable. Gas stations, health stores, grocery stores; you name it, you can purchase CBD products. It’s touted as a miracle supplement, meant to get rid of all of your symptoms and give you immediate relief. Inflammation, depression, anxiety, sleep, or pain; there’s a CBD product for you. And while these gummies and oils may bring some in-the-moment (short-term) relief, is that really the type of relief you’re after?
If you’re constantly creating dependencies and short-term coping mechanisms to deal with your symptoms, you’re going to feel stuck running in place. Instead of making real progress in your relationship with your anxiety, you’re honestly putting a daily band-aid on it, and in this case, the band-aid is CBD and related products.
But I want to say, if these products help you on a supplemental basis, use them! I’m not here to judge you or make you feel any shame, tell you what you can or can’t take, and what may or may not be helpful for you. Just don’t let CBD become a singular approach to dealing with your anxiety issues!
3. Challenging Your Anxious Thoughts
If you’ve ever been to therapy or researched different ways to deal with anxiety, you may be familiar with the idea of “challenging” your thoughts.
This approach is most commonly applied by attempting to introduce logic and rationale to combat anxious thoughts. Or trying to “replace” your negative thoughts with positive ones. Your therapist or someone close to you may say, “Well, what is the likelihood of these things happening?”, referring to the anxious thoughts and feelings you’re currently having about something. This can be extremely frustrating, because if we could simply think our way out of having anxious thoughts, would we be seeking help in the first place? Anyone that deals with anxiety knows, it’s not that simple. Anxiety doesn’t really acknowledge logic and or rationale, especially when you’re in the midst of an anxiety or panic attack. Most of us are aware of this, and know the irritation ignited by someone suggesting something like “just think positively” or “you shouldn’t worry about that”. Additionally, these comments and approaches can start making you feel guilty and or ridiculous for having these anxious thoughts in the first place, making things even worse!
Instead of “challenging” your anxiety, let’s work on creating a healthier approach. Allow yourself to feel and experience your anxious thoughts and feelings, acknowledging them completely. As time goes on, and your relationship with anxiety improves, you can learn to reframe your anxious thoughts, allowing you to deal with them more effectively.
4. Journaling Your Anxious Thoughts and Feelings
A majority of anxiety sufferers are critical, deep thinkers, and have a hard time turning their mind “off” in general. Any thoughts we have, big or small, positive or negative, are subject to overthinking. And if these thoughts are upsetting, and our anxiety or panic symptoms start occurring, it can throw gasoline on the fire of our already overactive mind. So, when we take a step back, do we really want to write down and fixate on all of our thoughts, specifically our negative, anxiety-ridden ones?
The idea behind journaling your anxious thoughts, or your thoughts in general is pretty simple: write them down, acknowledge and analyze them, and clear them from your mind (yeahh, right). Again, this approach may work for some people, but for those with anxiety, it can actually have the opposite effect. If you’re incessantly writing down your thoughts, specifically thoughts that have caused feelings of anxiety or panic, you will naturally start overthinking and negatively fixating on them, making matters worse.
This is not a dismissal of journaling in general, and in certain formats, journaling can be a really helpful and healthy practice. But rather than writing down your anxious thoughts or experiences in a negative context, try reframing it. Instead of reliving an anxious thought or feeling you’ve experienced, focus on how you’ve dealt with it. For example: Today I had an anxiety attack, it was uncomfortable, but I allowed myself to experience and work through the negative feelings, and it eventually subsided. This way, your journal isn’t filled with reminders of all the terrible, anxious thoughts or attacks you’ve experienced; it’s instead focused on the progress you’re making in addressing it, building the confidence needed to deal with your anxious thoughts and feelings moving forward. You got this!
Journaling with purpose is something we discuss in-depth in my Panic to Peace program, be sure to check it out!
5. Distracting Yourself When You Feel Anxious
I don’t know why this would ever be a tip but it often is! The advice that tells you to distract yourself by scrolling on your phone, calling someone, or playing a game can actually be harmful because… you guessed it! You aren’t letting yourself feel the anxiety. And the truth is, if you’re always finding yourself trying to distract yourself from feeling, you’re going to keep feeling the things you don’t want to feel.
And yes, of course, we all distract ourselves at times. This is natural, healthy, and perfectly okay. But I’m talking about the type of distraction that you might be doing where you never let yourself be with the uncomfortable feelings and you’re always seeking an escape.
So instead of immediately jumping to distract yourself the next time you’re feeling anxious, see if you can slow down and just give yourself 10-15 seconds to see if you can let yourself be with the discomfort. It won’t be pleasant, but this is the stuff that leads to long-term healing.
Takeaways...
With the common hacks we’ve discussed, and with anxiety tips in general, I want you to consider one thing: Is this going to lead to short-term relief or long-term healing?
More often than not, you’ll find that mostly all of these approaches offer fleeting relief of your symptoms. Which, in some extreme instances, may be necessary. But looking through a big-picture lens, these hacks and tips are encouraging short-term dependency and distraction, impeding your growth and healing. Instead of becoming fixated on instant, short-term relief, it’ll be helpful to shift your intentions toward understanding the cause of your anxiety, and how you can improve your relationship with it moving forward.
For lots of support, tips, and tools that will help you to create a healthy relationship with anxiety and experience true, long-term healing, check out my classes here.
Feeling like you've tried everything but you're still struggling with lots of anxious thoughts, symptoms, panic attacks, and fears? Take my FREE 60-minute masterclass today and learn 5 shifts that will actually help you to overcome anxiety, panic disorder, and agoraphobia. And I promise, you won't hear any of the usual stuff from me - like doing breathing exercises, grounding practices, cutting out caffeine, and doing more exposures. Let's get you the peace and freedom you deserve without it being so hard!
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