Constantly worried and overwhelmed? Therapist shares 8 tips to manage anxiety

If you are persistently worrying and feeling too overwhelmed, find out what steps you can take to manage your anxiety.

Anxiety is a natural sense of dread, especially when you are anticipating an upcoming event. It can even help you prepare better. Without enough anxiety, you may not take your exams or client presentation seriously.

If you are suffering from anxiety, you may want to take active measures to manage it; otherwise, it is damaging to your overall health. (Picture credit: Freepik)

But just like anything else, too much anxiety can be damaging to your health and counterproductive. Whether you are swarmed with countless ‘what-ifs’ or feeling constantly fidgety, anxiety can feel overstimulating, leaving you exhausted. This heightened mental state, however, also affects your body. Aarushi Kohli, a mental health and rehabilitation therapist, shared with HT Lifestyle that anxiety rewires your physiology, suggesting how powerful it is.

Anxiety does not stay as a mental issue, as she stated, "We often think of anxiety as something that happens only in the mind, like the overthinking, the worry, the constant feeling of being on edge. But anxiety is also deeply physical.”

So the persistent sense of uneasiness or dread soon manifests physically as well, through racing heart, shallow breathing and muscle tension. Your nervous system reacts, and as the therapist noted, struggles to differentiate between actual danger and emotional or imagined threats. This means issues like social judgment, rejection, and failure can all elicit the same physical responses, just like when one is confronted with actual tangible danger.

How does anxiety affect your health?

Anxiety may affect your sleep quality too! (Shutterstock)

Anxiety is not just a mental state; you face very real, physical consequences. The therapist elaborated,“Stress hormones like cortisol stay high, sleep becomes light, digestion slows, and energy drops. Over time, the body begins to expect this tension, as if being alert all the time is the only way to stay safe. That’s how anxiety gradually rewires physiology: the nervous system learns to treat calm as unfamiliar and vigilance as normal."

This means when you are anxious all the time, your nervous system also adapts to this constant tension, causing you to worry even when there is no real tension. With this persistent worry, major physical symptoms also follow.

How to manage anxiety?

Therapist Aarushi sharedthese 8 expert tips that mayhelp manage anxiety:

1. Pause and notice

Check in with your body- your breath, posture, or any tension. Awareness is the first step to calm.

2. Slow your breath

Breathe out a little longer than you breathe in. It gently tells your body,‘You’re safe.’

3. Move gently

Stretch, walk, or practice slow yoga. Movement helps release the stress your body holds.

4. Create small safety rituals

Sip tea slowly, sit by a window, or listen to music. Tiny moments of ease retrain the body to relax.

5. Name what you feel

Say to yourself,‘Something in me feels anxious right now.’ Noticing without judging builds inner safety.

6. Rest before you crash

Pause for short breaks instead of waiting till you’re exhausted. Your body learns it can rest without guilt.

7. Reach for connection

Share how you feel with someone you trust. Feeling seen helps your body settle and feel less alone.

8. Reach out to a professional

If how you are feeling is coming in the way of building a life that you envision for yourself, seek help.

Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.