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You are here: Home / Archives for Anxiety

Anxiety

How Does Meditation Reduces Anxiety?

December 12, 2021 by Dikshi Gupta

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), almost 18.1% of the population aged 18 and above (approx 40 million adults) in the US alone suffers from anxiety disorders each year. Not to mention that anxiety disorders are officially the most common mental illness in the US.

This staggering number raises concern among people about the constantly rising cases of mental problems in the US and all over the globe. People often turn to medication and prescribed drugs to ease their restless minds to fight this disorder. However, popping pills might not be best for your body in the long run, according to several studies.

Recently, several studies have shown the power of meditation and mindfulness breathing for reducing anxiety and clinical depression. In this article, we will discuss how meditation reduces anxiety disorder and the benefits of breathing exercises and meditation.

Meditation reduces anxiety download the app now

What is meditation?

Before diving into breathing and meditation benefits, it is vital to know what meditation is. Meditation is the systematic process of training your mind to be more poised, focused, and capable of redirecting thoughts from negative to positive. Used by people for generations, meditation is a complementary mind-body medicine that can develop a positive mood and emotions and reduce problems like anxiety and chronic pain.

Meditation reduces anxiety and is even known to cure clinical depression with regular practice. Our ancestors used it to find spiritual wisdom. However, now meditation is becoming more trending because of its psychological benefits. You can learn more about meditation and practice it by downloading the Joyscore app.

How to practice mindful breathing

Irregular breathing can topple the oxygen and carbon dioxide balance in your lungs and lead to anxiety, fatigue, panic attacks, and other physical and emotional agitations. Proper breathing helps reduce anxiety, and many different breathing techniques can help you in immediate and long-term stress reduction. Let’s look at some breathing techniques that can facilitate breathing benefits lower stress levels.

Practicing Yoga

1. Belly Breathing

Belly Breathing is a great technique to reduce stress levels in your body and achieve a more calm and composed mindset. You can do this exercise while sitting down or lying on your back with a pillow under your head and elbows. The procedure is listed below.

  1. First, Put one hand on your chest and the other hand on your belly.
  2. Let your stomach relax, and make sure not to force it inward. 
  3. Start breathing through your nose slowly and notice your stomach rise and fall with breathing.

2. 4-7-8 Breathing

The 4-7-8 breathing, also known as the relaxing breath, is another way to calm your anxiety and enjoy breathing benefits—this technique functions as a natural tranquilizer for your nervous system. 

“4-7-8” states the number of seconds an individual has to hold their breath after exhaling each time. You can do this exercise both while being seated or lying back. However, starting with the seated position is recommended if you are a beginner. 

3. Lion’s Breath

The Lion’s breath breathing technique comes from the Hindu culture. It is also called “Simhasana” in the Sanskrit language and has proven beneficial for anxiety disorders. To put it simply, in this exercise, the person sticks out its tongue and roars like a lion. It is yet another helpful deep breathing technique that can help in relaxing the muscles in your face and jaw, relieve stress, and provide other breathing benefits.

Benefits of meditation for anxiety

Meditation is a century-old, if not more, practice that can provide mental and spiritual enlightenment. And now, this ancient practice is becoming wildly popular because of its benefits. People now practice meditation to ease anxiety or use meditation to release stress. Here are some of the advantages that meditation and breathing hold for anxiety and stress reduction.

1. Meditation reduces anxiety and stress.

People all over the world use meditation to relieve stress and anxiety. Any stress, mental or physical, can increase the levels of cortisol chemicals in your body. These chemicals can negatively impact your body and lead to anxiety and depression. 

Many types of research have proven that spending regular, accurate time in meditation benefits the body and decreases these chemical levels. It can also diminish physical health concerns caused by stress such as chronic pain, fatigue, high blood pressure, or insomnia.

Guided meditation helps reduce anxiety
Guided Meditation

2. Provides better self-awareness

Meditation helps to increase your self-awareness. It makes you more present at the moment, allows gratitude, and thankfulness into your lifestyle. While different meditation techniques give different results, all types of meditation elevate your mood, mind, and self-awareness.  

This heightened self-awareness leads to an increased capacity to identify and begin to understand your source of anxiety and take necessary steps to overcome them.

3. Better emotional health

The meditation benefits also extend to your emotional health. Several forms of meditation can result in a better self-image and a more positive outlook on life. It calms the mind down, makes us more emotionally stable, and more capable of handling the uncertainties of life.

4. Provides better concentration

One major cause of anxiety is overthinking. When your mind races because of stress, it starts to imagine (primarily negative) scenarios and gives birth to anxiety disorders. However, meditation reduces anxiety and helps you filter out these negative thoughts that lead to an enhanced attention span. In a way, just like lifting weights is a workout for your body, meditation is like a workout for your brain.  

5. Improved sleep

Everybody loves sleeping, it is relaxing and refreshing, but sleep plays a much important role in our emotional and physical well-being. Stress and anxiety cause sleep deprivation and insomnia in most cases. As a result, insomnia can cause agitation, tiredness, and even more stress and anxiety.

Meditation helps you achieve deep sleep and prevents insomnia by enabling a more relaxed sleeping process.

Final thoughts 

Anxiety is a constantly growing problem, not only in the US but also worldwide. The growing number of cases certainly causes a chill down the spine. However, meditation is a proven and tested way to fight anxiety, stress, and other mental problems. Meditation reduces anxiety and can be nectar for your mind. 

We hope that this article helped you and answered your questions. You can also download our Joyscore app for daily meditation mindfulness exercises. 

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: Anxiety, breathing techniques, Joy, meditation, reduce anxiety, Tips

How To Cope With Anxiety

October 6, 2020 by Dikshi Gupta

Life is a blend of a little that we experience and mainly how we respond to it. Anxiety is the mind’s reaction to stress or fear of what will happen. Your first day at work, moving to a new place, approaching exams, an interview, public speaking, etc. can trigger nervousness and anxiety. Anxiety is becoming more common in today’s unprecedented COVID times as the situation was not anticipated and everyone was/is stuck at home.  

But remember that an anxious mind results in an obnoxious life. If appropriately dealt with, anxiety can also motivate you to perform better, for example, a job interview. But if left unattended and untamed, it can lead to severe anxiety disorder and other mental problems like depression. 

An anxious girl
An anxious girl

Signs that you might be anxious:

  • You feel scared, have racing thoughts in mind, tend to overthink, or worry too much
  • Lack of patience and restlessness
  • Difficult to concentrate on a specific task
  • Inconsistent sleeping pattern like trouble falling asleep and waking up in the middle of the night
  • Getting startled or irritated easily and changes in appetite
  • Panic attack occurrence because of extreme fear accompanied by shallow and fast breathing, rapid heartbeat, sweating, shaking, dry mouth, short breath
  • Extreme tiredness, lack of energy, dizziness are few other signs 

But, everyone who worries a lot may not have an anxiety disorder. You may also feel anxious because of a tight schedule, lack of sleep, pressure at work, or even from too much caffeine. An unhealthy and stressful lifestyle can make you even more anxious. So, before opting for medications, try to alter your lifestyle as it might be useful to cope with the symptoms. 

A stressed girl facing anxiety
A stressed girl facing anxiety

Some tips to help you lower anxiety and manage symptoms:

  • Stay connected with your trusted loved ones, and share the concerns bothering you because seclusion and loneliness can worsen anxiety while talking about it might calm you down
  • Review your responsibilities and try to share or delegate them to others to manage your stress levels
  • Practice relaxation techniques such as meditation, visualizing techniques, yoga, and deep breathing as they get rid of chaotic thoughts from your mind, restore normal breathing, and eases anxiety  
  • Exercise is a stress buster and anxiety reliever. Try to ingrain at least 30 minutes of exercise in your routine. Start with simple ones, may it be stretching or walking in a park
  • Get quality sleep of 7-8 hours every night as sleep deprivation can increase anxious thoughts. Hence, avoid using your phone in bed, avoid caffeine before bedtime
  • Consider reducing your caffeine intake, alcohol, cigarette consumption as it stimulates higher levels of anxiety
  • Stick to a healthy diet by staying hydrated, eliminating processed foods, eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. Artificial flavors, sugar, and preservatives in processed foods may cause mood changes and impact temperament
  • Lastly, try to accept uncertainties, challenge your thoughts, and end this mental habit of worrying

Therefore, proper self-care is vital to manage your anxiety levels, and nothing diminishes it faster than action. Especially activities like breathing in a particular pattern can help you reduce anxiety in an instance. So, act now and download the JoyScore app to experience calmness and peace in your life. And remember to live in the moment to take charge of your life.

Filed Under: Mind Tagged With: Anxiety

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Dr. Bob Singhal

Professor Bhupendra 'Bob' Singhal, has taught creativity by joy and right brain thinking, a renowned international architect, won major design competitions, has over 70 awards, publications, media mentions and served as President of the American Institute of Architects South Bay. In 2011, in his book Joy in Health and Happiness: Your Optimal Path to Success, Professor Singhal wrote about the transformative power of joy and helped readers learn to enhance their daily experience of it.

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