No-fuss anxiety tips #4: Movement Matters
Welcome to this fourth blog in a mini-series of no-fuss tips for managing anxiety. Each article in the series contains simple tips and techniques for managing anxiety, drawing on therapeutic thinking from a range of psychological and psychotherapy theories. In this blog, we’ll take a look at how movement matters when it comes to anxiety, and the positive benefits that being physically active can have on your anxiety.
What this mini blog series on anxiety won’t do is explore the origins and purpose of anxiety for you – this type of deeper exploration is what counselling offers. That said, having strategies for managing anxiety is a great place to start. Each article is designed to be quick read, no-fuss. So, let’s get into technique number four: movement matters.
Exercise as an antidote to anxiety
Exercise and physical movement are a powerful antidote to anxiety. When you experience anxiety, our body’s autonomic nervous system (ANS) response prompts the flight, fight, freeze reaction. This response is useful when facing an immediate threat to our safety. However, a nervous system that is triggered regularly and repeatedly takes its toll. Some people are particularly sensitive to threat and danger, often as a result of past experiences of trauma, and their flight, fight, freeze response can be triggered by a whole host of perceived threats - seeing someone looking at us a certain way, or anticipating other’s reactions when we enter a crowded room - can be a trigger. No matter what the threat, when our bodies enter fight, flight or freeze, it is primed and ready for physical movement or physical tension.
Therefore, moving your body and exercising when you’re anxious allows you to put the flight, fight, freeze response to some use that benefits us, to “work out” physical effects of anxiety. Your body has chance to move, act and respond. Exercise also gives an increased sense of self-esteem and self-mastery as you take positive action towards your wellbeing. Research shows that regular exercise is effective in managing anxiety, both as a preventative measure and in response to an anxiety attack (Anderson & Shivakumar, 2013).
What movement is manageable for you?
Today, consider what forms of exercise are manageable for you in your current situation? What goal can you set yourself for today that includes an element of physical movement? What support or resources can help you meet that goal? Simple no-fuss ideas include:
Ask a work colleague to take a power walk with you in your lunch break
Take the stairs instead of the lift
When you’re stood at the hand-dryer after washing your hands, squeeze your glutes
Try a pelvic floor tense and release when you’re stuck in traffic
Keep a small glass of water on your desk – your eventual thirst forces you to get up and move to fill your glass when it empties, rather than staying static as you drink from a large container
Whilst the kettle boils, challenge a family member to a plank competition
Exercise has the added bonus, too, of helping with sleep. Really helpful if anxiety is causing you to have sleep issues, as you lie in bed awake ruminating.
Next steps?
If you’re keen to find a greater sense of ease when it comes to your anxiety, then look out for more blogs within this anxiety-themed series. The next blog in the series is #5 and focuses on how accepting that you are good enough can help manage anxiety.
If you’d like to talk through how counselling can help you towards a deeper exploration of your anxiety, do get in touch with me, Claire Law.
I’m a BACP Senior Accredited Psychotherapist offering professional counselling and psychotherapy in Preston, Lancashire and online for adults based in the UK.
We can talk through how online counselling or face-to-face counselling at my therapy room in Preston could be helpful for you in managing your anxiety and getting to the roots of what lies behind your anxiety. I’d love to hear from you.
References:
Anderson, E., & Shivakumar, G. (2013). Effects of exercise and physical activity on anxiety. Frontiers in psychiatry, 4, 27.