Managing Anxiety: Ultimate Guide

If you are struggling with stress and anxiety, you’re not alone. Stress and anxiety are plaguing modern society. They’re destroying too many dreams & aspirations, making us lead lives unworthy of our potential.

This article equips you with the tools you need to liberate yourself from excessive fear & pervasive worry. This is your ultimate guide to managing stress and anxiety.

All the tools shared are actionable and we recommend you start implementing them immediately. However, don’t feel overwhelmed. Implementing just one or two of the below tools should provide you with tangible benefits. Gradually implementing all of them should take you closer to your super Sapiens Maximus self.

Before we dive into the anti-anxiety tools, we provide you with some essential background. In typical Sapiens Maximus fashion, we dig deep. While you may think that anxiety is categorically bad, we explain that it has distinct evolutionary benefits. However, we also explain how in today’s world anxiety has mutated from a servant into a master. The tools we share allow you to use stress and anxiety to your advantage instead of allowing them to use you.  

While we trust you’re not one of those intellectual lightweights with the attention span of a goldfish, we provide you with the article’s content breakdown below for easy navigation.

Content Breakdown

I – What is Anxiety?

II – What Evolutionary Purpose(s) Does Anxiety Serve?

III – Anxiety Disorders: When Things Go Wrong

IV – Ultimate (Non-Pharmacological) Guide to Overcoming Anxiety

V – The Bottom Line

I – What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is, fundamentally, a feeling of unease. This could manifest itself as worry and/or fear. What most people think of as “anxiety” is, technically, generalised anxiety disorder (GAD). GAD is characterised by experiencing excessive worries and fears about a broad range of issues (whether known or unknown) rather than one specific event, as is the case with certain phobias. Whenever this article discusses excessive anxiety, it’s referring to GAD.

However, the family of anxiety disorders is extensive. For example, anxiety disorders include obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While we might cover these in separate upcoming articles, we don’t specifically address them in this one.

If we consider the broad definition of anxiety – that is, a feeling of unease coupled with worrying and/or fear – we realize that it’s perfectly normal for everyone to feel anxious periodically. If you have an upcoming presentation or a tight deadline that you have to meet, feeling a bit anxious could have a number of distinct advantages.

II – What Evolutionary Purpose(s) Does Anxiety Serve?

From an evolutionary standpoint, we have developed the anxiety response to be able to effectively tackle perceived threats. When we get anxious, our classic response is to either “fight” (confront the threat) or “flight” (avoid or escape it). As a side point, a third possible response that people don’t often think about is to “freeze”.

Anxiety: Classic (Short-Term) Physiological Changes

Anxiety primes us for combat (whether physical or otherwise) via distinct physiological and neurochemical changes. These include: (i) intensified breathing to absorb more oxygen; and (ii) increased heart rate to pump blood into the relevant muscles.

When anxious, our body puts non-essential functions such as digestion on hold, so that blood and energy can be directed towards the threat. This is for example why anxious people get nausea or general discomfort when they have a meal, as they are in the “fight or flight” state rather than the “rest and digest” one.

Anxiety: A Powerful Nootropic?

Importantly, the anxiety response also ensures that our body secretes certain chemicals, such as norepinephrine and adrenaline, at accelerated rates. This in turn helps us develop laser focus on the challenge ahead. In a way, healthy doses of anxiety & stress could be powerful nootropics.

While we are unlikely to be facing bears anymore, the anxiety and stress responses are invaluable for our daily challenges – from effectively giving a speech to meeting deadlines.

Anxiety: A Linear Process

Under normal circumstances, the anxiety response is linear. A (i) trigger leads to (ii) the anxiety response which leads to (iii) an effective coping reaction.

The linear process concludes with a successful resolution of the challenge. However, what happens when our anxieties go rogue? What if the linear process becomes circular?

III – Anxiety Disorders: When Things Go Wrong

Anxiety disorders arise when our anxiety response becomes our master rather than servant. It ceases to be a helpful tool to navigate daily challenges. Instead, it becomes: (1) a substantial hindrance to our daily activities; and (2) the culprit in our ever-deteriorating quality of life.

The anxiety response, by its very nature, is supposed to be short and acute. For example, we’d face a robber, our anxiety response kicks in and we manage to escape. Evolution designed our anxiety response to fade away once it’s served its purpose and we’re safe (per the linear process discussed).

Anxiety Response: From Acute to Chronic

The key problem in today’s society is that the anxiety response is no longer short and acute – it’s chronic. The anxiety response ceased to be linear (where it leads to a successful resolution of a challenge) & became circular (where it’s a vicious cycle which perpetuates itself).

The changes associated with the anxiety response – such as the secretion of certain hormones and the acceleration of our heart rate – were designed to be short-lived. When these changes become chronic, our health suffers. Gradually, our anxieties consume our lives and turn us into fearful, miserable, fragile creatures. We become mere shadows of our Sapiens Maximus selves.

Below, we provide you with the tools you need to finally change this destructive dynamic. Anxiety might have enslaved you, but it’s time you take back control & be the master of your own fate.

IV – Ultimate (Non-Pharmacological) Guide to Overcoming Anxiety

The tips below won’t work unless you consistently apply them. Knowledge is good, but applied knowledge is drastically better.

Tip #1: Use The Physiological Sigh

The physiological sigh is a pattern of breathing that consists of two quick inhales through the nose followed by an extended exhale through the mouth. Unlike some of the longer-term strategies discussed in this article, you could usually feel the physiological sigh’s soothing effect within minutes.

While the number of breaths needed varies, you could start with 10 cycles and experiment from there to see what works best for you. If you want to give this a try, MAKE SURE YOU’RE NOT DRIVING, ANYWHERE NEAR WATER OR MORE GENERALLY SOMEWHERE YOU WOULDN’T BE SAFE TO DOSE OFF.

The physiological sigh could be a powerful tool in your arsenal for prompt relief if the anxiety response gets too much – for example prior to giving a speech. So how does it work?

The Physiological Sigh & Heart Rate

By controlling your breathing, you can indirectly control your heart rate. By influencing your heart rate, you’re able to generally control your state of arousal. This ancient wisdom has been taught by Yogis and Eastern religions for hundreds (thousands?) of years. This is also something that medicine & science are catching-up to today.

In particular, when you exhale, your chest contracts. When your chest contracts, your heart gets slightly smaller. The blood in your heart starts moving faster in what is now a smaller space. When this change is detected, your brain sends a signal to the heart and asks it to start beating slower. As your heart beats slower, you start to feel a bit less anxious.

You might have connected the dots already. Exhale emphasized breathing (i.e. where you are exhaling more than you are inhaling) cools down your system whereas inhale emphasised breathing (e.g. the Wim Hof method) ramps it up.  

If you want anxiety relief in real time, use the physiological sigh while making sure that the exhale is deeper and longer than the two inhales. For a video breakdown, you can refer to Dr. Andrew Huberman’s breakdown here. For a more comprehensive discussion of breathing techniques, make sure to check out our ultimate guide on the art & science of breathing optimally.

Interestingly, if you look at someone in distress, you see them unconsciously sighing. If someone is hysterically crying, it’s not uncommon to see them using the physiological sigh without even knowing. Evolution has given us this tool for anxiety relief – it’s time we recognize its existence and consciously use it to our advantage.

Tip #2: Develop & Perfect Relaxation Practices

A key in the relaxation (anti-anxiety) response is the activation of the soothing parasympathetic nervous system. Tip #1 achieves that. However, there are other powerful relaxation techniques that you could also add to your arsenal.

Yoga

For example, clinical trials suggest that implementing a yoga regiment decreases stress and/or anxiety symptoms.

Why don’t you give it a try? There are plenty of free sources out there. Couple of good channels providing free, high-quality yoga videos would be Yoga With Adriene and Yoga with Kassandra.

Meditation

Another good relaxation technique is, you’ve guessed it, meditation. Although it could be astoundingly boring, the science behind meditation’s anti-anxiety benefits is compelling. Good news is (with consistency) you only need 5 – 10 minutes a day to start seeing tangible results. If you are just starting out, we recommend using guided meditation apps such as Headspace and Calm.

Next, we discuss a related but more foundational tactic for anxiety relief: focusing on the present moment.

Tip #3: Focus on the Now

We are blessed with higher cognitive abilities, imagination and creativity. This is what makes us distinctly human. Yet our blessing is paradoxically our curse. We are hostages to our ever present pasts. Importantly, we are continuously anxious about the future – what could or might happen. Our inner dialogues and chit-chat are so pervasive that we exclusively identify ourselves with our minds. Yet one of the most important discoveries you could make is that you are NOT your rambling mind. Once the rambling mind fades away, a happier, more relaxed, more present being emerges.

The key is to change your default from (i) obsessing about the past and future to (ii) focusing on the present. It is easier said than done and there is no magic bullet: the way to do this is to consistently practice focusing on the task at hand. Add posters and sticky notes. Make “Be Present” your home screen. Whatever works for you.

Gradually, the mental chatter diminishes until it’s almost completely gone. When you are immersed in the present moment, there is no anxiety. No grief. There is no past, no future. In most instances, there is bliss. You could appreciate the small things in life, like the meal you’re having or the rain pouring outside.

Being Present: An Antidote To Feeling Overwhelmed

Feeling overwhelmed and anxious comes as a result of, at least partially, focusing on the steep mountain ahead of you. However, if you exclusively focus on taking one single step at a time, you can find peace in your journey at every moment. Let the present moment be your anchor.

Being Present, Yoga & Meditation: Full Circle

This is why yoga and meditation are so effective. They eliminate distractions and bring your attention to the here and now.

Yet you don’t need yoga or traditional meditation to experience this state of bliss. With enough consistent practice, you could develop this into your default no matter your circumstances. You just need to exclusively focus on the task at hand and what you’re doing.

Being Present: Simple but NOT easy

The power of now is absolutely transformational when it comes to overcoming anxiety. It’s one of the key cornerstones of various spiritual teachings such as Zen Buddhism. While it is suspiciously simple, it’s one of the most difficult things you can attempt in your life. But it’s worth fighting for so make sure you practice being present consistently.

As already discussed, if helpful, have reminder sticker notes in your environment saying “Be Present”, “Focus on the Now” or anything else that works for you.

Tip #4: Get Physically Active

It is often not enough to implement short-term strategies to effectively combat chronic anxiety. You need to make more substantive lifestyle changes. Developing a workout regimen is one of these long-term changes.

An early study from 1998 compared exercise to medication in treating clinically diagnosed panic disorder. Researchers divided patients with at least mild panic disorder into three groups: regular exercise, a daily dose of medication or a daily placebo.

At the end of the trial, both the exercise and medication groups saw substantial decreases in anxiety. Although drug treatments might act faster than exercise, this comes at a cost. Side effects include, among other things, nausea and erectile dysfunction.

At a fundamental level, you would be resorting to a pill to solve your issues instead of adopting a more comprehensive, long-term approach. Medication could certainly play a role, and is in some instance critically needed. However, it is difficult to argue that exclusively relying on medication is an optimal long-term solution. If exercise allows you to combat your anxiety without any negative side effects, it might be an option worth exploring.

More recently, in a high-quality 2017 meta-analysis, researchers have shown that exercise is effective in improving anxiety symptoms in people with a current diagnosis of anxiety and / or stress-related disorders.

For a more comprehensive discussion of physical exercise’s tremendous benefits, we recommend you check out our ultimate guide to the benefits of training here.

Tip #5: Clean-Up Your Diet

The relationship between diet and mental health is underpublicized. The reality is, reaching out for ultra processed foods is not only harmful for your body but also detrimental to your emotional and mental wellbeing. Any immediate pleasure you gain by eating junk is trumped shortly thereafter by a more substantive cost: your mental and physical well-being. Those crisps + giant bottle of soda might have more to do with your anxiety than you think. While generally cheap, junk food is too expensive when you’re paying for it with your health.

Although there is a mounting body of evidence (see of example here, here and here), the relationship between diet and mental health is yet to be extensively studied. At the moment, potential (diet-dependent) biological pathways influencing anxiety include (1) inflammation, (2) oxidative stress and (3) the gut microbiome.

Diet, Health & Big Food

It wouldn’t be surprising if Big Food’s propaganda machine diverts considerable resources towards obscuring the relationship between nutritionally poor diets and worse mental health. Especially in light of Big Food’s well-documented history. Big Food has experts whose sole job is to plant doubt in your mind – doubt that the garbage diet they have you hooked on has anything to do with your deteriorating mental health.

At Sapiens Maximus, getting better and overcoming anxiety comes as a holistic package. Clean-up your diet by eating nutritionally dense, minimally processed foods and good things will start happening to you. Somewhere along the line, we forgot our ancestors’ ancient wisdom: a healthy body and a healthy mind are closely connected.  

If you are interested in the topic of ultra processed foods and Big Food’s dirty secrets, read our article here.

Tip #6: Get Adequate Sleep

We know all too well that anxiety leads to poor sleep. Stressors about work, relationships and responsibilities generally keep us awake at night more often than we’d like. In some instances, they could go as far as cause us insomnia. Gradually transforming us into the walking-dead – shadows of our Sapiens Maximus selves.

A key point however is that this is a vicious cycle. Anxiety leads to poor sleep but very importantly, poor sleep substantially exacerbates anxiety. To make things even worse, worrying about your poor sleep adds another layer of anxiety and, by extension, leads to the self-fulfilling prophecy of a worsening sleep schedule. 

The studies on this are clear. If you are experiencing debilitating anxiety, a key step you could take towards putting your life back together is to get adequate sleep. However, per our discussion above, this could be easier said than done.

Having said that, if you recognize sleep’s importance in combating anxiety, you’d already be taking a substantial step in the right direction. It is then a question of finding the right tools to improve your sleep quality – from maintaining a consistent sleep schedule to implementing good sleep hygiene habits. Watch out for our upcoming ultimate sleep hygiene guide.

In the meantime, make sure to check out the ultimate Sapiens Maximus guide on sleep’s astounding benefits. 

Tip #7: Overcome Catastrophizing

Catastrophizing is thinking, unjustifiably, that something is (or is going to be) much worse than it actually is. You might make a mistake at work and start worrying about losing your job. Not only that, but you’re convinced that once you lose your job, you’ll never be able to find another one. You’ll fail to take care of yourself and you’ll end up bankrupt and homeless. Catastrophizing is fear and anxiety on steroids.

Catastrophizing & Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

It’s difficult NOT to be anxious when you lose touch with reality. If you are consistently convinced that the worst is going to happen, the fear becomes debilitating. You enter into a fear and anxiety vicious cycle. Due to the sheer weight of catastrophizing on your mental and physical health, your performance suffers. This further fuels your anxiety which in turn fuels the catastrophizing. If not effectively combatted, catastrophizing could turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy where you bring about your worst fears.

Maintaining Perspective

A key step to overcoming catastrophizing is recognizing that things are rarely as bad as we think they are. As Seneca puts it, “We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more in imagination than in reality.”

Dealing with things rationally and challenging our catasrophizing tendencies with sensible counter-arguments is essential. So bring out pen and paper and get to work. What are the chances of the worst-case scenario ACTUALLY happening?

If a friend shares this fear with you, what would you tell them? What facts would you use to challenge their (mostly irrational) catastrophizing?

Keeping things in perspective is essential to living without any pathological anxieties.

Tip #8: Make Peace With The Worst Case Scenario

But what if the worst-case scenario does happen? Sometimes, no matter how many rational arguments we use to combat our catastrophizing tendencies, we can’t help ourselves but obsess about the 0.0001% chance of our fears materializing. “What if” is our anxious mind’s favourite way of holding us hostage to our pathological anxieties.

If keeping things in perspective doesn’t solve the issue, your best course of action is to make peace with the worst-case scenario. What if your worst fear happens? For example, what would happen if you get fired? And how can you mitigate the risks?

You could start by polishing-up your CV. Saving more aggressively than usual so that you have a crisis fund. Getting in touch with family to ensure that worst comes to worst, you’ll be able to stay somewhere while you get your act together. Whatever it might be, you’ll almost certainly be able to survive it.

Will Your Most Basic Needs Be Met?

In the worst-case scenario, will you have basic shelter? Will you have some food so that you don’t starve? This might not be ideal but it’s sufficient.

By realizing that you will be able to meet your basic needs, even in a worst case scenario, you could find strength. You no longer crumble when faced with challenges. You press ahead with the knowledge that the worst outcome is still manageable.

Paradoxically, being fine with the lowest lows could propel you to the highest highs – with minimal pathological anxiety along the way.

Not Afraid To Go Back To The Steel Mills

David Tepper, a multi billionaire hedge fund manager, was asked about the origins of his astounding confidence and resilience. Coming from a very humble background, Tepper answered that he “was never afraid to go back to Pittsburgh and work in the steel mills.”

Tip #9: Minimize Social Media

Although social media has a number of distinct benefits, most people use it much more often than they should. Importantly, for the most part, people don’t use social media to meaningfully improve their lives (although they might think that they do). Instead, their presence on social media is restricted to consuming and/or creating attention-seeking garbage content (which, granted, can be very lucrative).

Scientific studies are now associating the use of social media with a number of harms. In the context of this article, the scientific literature has shown that use of social media is strongly associated with higher levels of anxiety (see for example this study, and this one).

The cause and effect relationships are complex and, sometimes, not entirely understood. However, these include (i) dopamine-linked compulsivity and (ii) fear of missing out (FOMO) where many “influencers” seem to be living a life that you’re not.

Given the sheer importance of this topic, watch out for our upcoming article on this. In the meantime, you should aim to limit mindless & compulsive social media use. Importantly, try to eliminate garbage content (which is the case more often than not) and focus on what could add value to your life instead.

Tip #10: Use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is non-pharmacological therapy that helps you manage your problems by focusing on (1) your thoughts (i.e. cognitions) and (2) behaviours. CBT has been scientifically shown to be highly effective in treating anxiety disorders.

We tend to focus too much on how we’re feeling. We let our feelings dictate more than they should – for example, not going to the gym because we are feeling lazy after a long day at work. Or binge-eating because we are feeling stressed or sad.

Modern CBT places emotions as one of four key systems. The other three are (1) cognition, (2) behaviour and (3) physiology. The fundamental point is that the four systems influence one another. For example, by changing your behaviour and/or your thoughts, you’re able to change how you feel.

From this general standpoint, the CBT model provides a framework for everything we have discussed so far – whether that’s behaviour (becoming physically active) or cognitions (overcoming catastrophizing). In fact, some strategies mentioned so far are frequently recommended by CBT specialists.

Below, we discuss two cognitive CBT techniques for overcoming anxiety.

CBT Technique #1: Identify and Challenge Meta-Thoughts About Worrying

For example, we might tell ourselves that excessive worrying is necessary since it allows us to never be caught off-guard. We can never lower our hyper-vigilance or we might pay a heavy price if we do. This in turn gives us seemingly rational justification for perpetuating the chronic anxiety cycle.

A critical step to overcoming chronic anxiety is recognizing when things have gone too far. While a healthy dose of worry and anxiety are justified (as discussed in the opening of the article), chances are your anxiety has taken a life of its own. Recognize the unhelpful meta-thoughts maintaining the anxiety cycle and cognitively wrestle with them.

Once you give it some thought, it will become apparent that the price of constant hyper-vigilance is higher than any possible benefits derived. In many instances, hyper-vigilance wears you out so much that you bring about the very fears you are trying to avoid.

CBT Technique #2: Use ‘The Worry Decision Tree’

(1) Ask yourself: What am I worried about?

(2) If more than one stressor, take each at a time. Once you identify the stressor, ask yourself: is there anything I can do about it?

(3.1) If the answer is no, what is the point of worrying? If you can’t shake your anxiety although there is nothing you can do about it, then you should distract yourself. HOWEVER, make sure that the distraction you choose is a productive one since choosing the wrong distraction could lead to catastrophic consequences (such as addiction).

(3.2) If the answer is yes, then start taking action! Going into problem solving & planning mode should by itself ease the anxiety as you are taking steps towards addressing the issue at hand. Once you have done all you can, we are back to the previous step: what’s the point of worrying if there is nothing more you can do at the moment? If needed, you resort to productively distracting yourself.

To accept the things we cannot change; courage to change the things we can; and wisdom to know the difference

While this sounds intuitive, our default is to excessively worry about things beyond our control and do nothing about things we do have control over. Liberating yourself from anxiety necessarily entails breaking this dynamic.

V – The Bottom Line

You should now understand that contrary to popular belief, anxiety and stress aren’t categorically bad. They were evolutionarily designed as powerful tools to effectively tackle challenges and get shit done. However, in today’s society, they ceased to be helpful tools. Instead, they have taken over our lives and transformed us into sub-optimal versions of ourselves. Fearful, fragile and miserable.

This article has provided you with 10 highly actionable (non-pharmacological) tools to take back control over your mind. Apply these tools consistently to breakthrough into a much better version of yourself.

As always, we wish you good luck on your journey to strength in adversity, calm amidst the storms, relentless resilience and uncompromising health.

Your self-proclaimed family,

The Sapiens Maximus team