If you are one of the millions of people suffering from anxiety, you know how difficult it can be to simulate a normal existence when you live in constant fear. Never knowing when an anxiety attack will occur can keep you locked up in your house and miserable. Keep reading for helpful advice on how to cope with anxiety.

When you are suffering from an anxiety attack, you may be tempted to self-medicate yourself with prescription drugs or alcohol. This is the last thing you should do. It may seem to work well for a while, but it can cause long-term problems with drug addiction and alcoholism.

If you frequently suffer from bouts of anxiety that appear seemingly out of nowhere, or you feel anxious a majority of the time, you may have what is called generalized anxiety disorder. This disorder needs to be treated by an experienced doctor, or therapist before anxiety has a chance to take over your life.

Proper breathing is essential to reducing sudden feelings of anxiety. Using a count to control your breathing can be an effective way to reduce anxious feelings. Pick a count, such as 3 in, and 3 out. Repeat this pattern, until the feelings of anxiety have resolved, and passed.

Eliminate negative vocabulary from your speech. Just using negative words, can bring you down and when you feel down, you are more likely to have an anxiety attack. Replace those negative words with words of encouragement or simple positive words. Use them in your conversations, as well as, your inner chatter.

Making the effort to control your emotions can help you prevent anxiety disorders. Once you gain some control over your emotions, you will have more control over your anxiety attacks. Anything less than positive emotions only hurts you when you are having an attack. Try to learn the best ways of separating yourself from emotions a bit, and you will see great results.

If you suffer from anxiety, try your best to quit smoking, as soon as possible. Smoking reduces the functionality of many different organs in your body, putting you in a position where you may be more stressed than usual. Quitting smoking can refresh your body and increase your overall outlook on life.

Try to have a thicker skin when you are dealing with your emotions. If you have strong feelings about something, you are more likely to feel negative about something and worry, which leads to serious anxiety issues. Practice some emotional detachment when you are going through your everyday proceedings.

Exercise is a great way to reduce your anxiety. When you work up a sweat at the gym or outdoors you just feel better about yourself. The more you get in shape, the less anxiety you’re prone to have as well. Consult with a doctor to see if your body can take some exercise, and then, get to it.

Relieve your unfounded worries, by doing some research. Statistics, facts, and other pieces of information can help you feel more secure. Learning more about what is bothering you can also show you that you don’t, in fact, have anything to worry about. If doing the research yourself might worsen your anxiety, ask a friend, or family member to help.

It is okay to cry if you are depressed, or anxious. If you feel like crying, then you need to express yourself, and let those emotions out. There is a reason our bodies are designed to have tears, and to cry. It is so, that these emotions do not get trapped inside us, and cause bigger problems.

Visualize positive outcomes in whatever situation you are dealing with. You can then take the time to feel better about what is happening to you. Also you can take the time to find out how you make those visualizations a reality by setting goals for how they can happen.

A great way to help you deal with your anxiety is to identify the things that bring it on. When you determine what causes your anxiety, you can better prepare yourself to deal with those situations should they arise in the future. This way, you can see what specific things you need to work on.

Perhaps the most important step with dealing with anxiety is admitting that you have a problem. Once you admit to yourself that you have an issue with anxiety, you can put yourself in a mindset where you are prepared to deal with it. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.

When you are starting to let anxiety get on top of you, use visual anchors. This means when you are feeling anxiety creep in to your thoughts look up to the clouds, or try to find some water to look at to calm you down. You could even use a stress ball.

Some people who have been diagnosed with anxiety disorder are prescribed medication by their mental health professional. If your physician has determined that you need medication to aid in the treatment of your anxiety disorder, it is important that you take it as directed. Never abruptly stop taking it. If you are having some side effects from your medication, discuss these issues with your doctor. It is also important to remember that some medications will cause a bad reaction, if they are not tapered off gradually while under a doctor’s care.

Anxiety is often based on external, rather than internal, factors. Because of this,it is essential to pinpoint the causes of stress, and anxiety. Once these problem areas have been located, it is possible to attempt to remove them from your life. If you are unable to remove them completely, you can, perhaps, diminish them.

Learning to live with and control anxiety can really help you to live a happier life. Staying stuck in the grip that anxiety can hold over you is a sentence nobody deserves. Hopefully this article has provided you with some solid advice you can put to good use in alleviating the symptoms of your anxiety.