Each person’s experience is different, and so are their needs. The following information may not help everyone with anxiety, but gives general tips and resources for further support that may be helpful in your journey.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is the most common emotional health problem. About one in four people struggle with anxiety at some time in their lives.
There are several anxiety disorders that can be diagnosed by a doctor. Some of these are Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Health Anxiety, and Panic Disorder.
Anxiety can happen on its own, or as a symptom of other conditions (such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). It often occurs along with other mental health issues, like depression.
Common symptoms of anxiety include:
- Long-term worry, always assuming things will turn out badly
- Sense of “impending doom”, feeling panicked or overwhelmed
- Racing heartbeat, feeling breathless
- Sweating, shaking, feeling tense or “jittery”
- Feeling restless, unable to relax
- Stomach/digestive issues, difficulty eating, dry mouth
- Racing thoughts
- Trouble concentrating and remembering things
- Feeling light-headed or dizzy
- Feeling “spaced out”
- Coldness, numbness, or tingling (in hands, feet, face)
- Feeling irritable or impatient, being “snappy”
- Being more aware of sights, sounds, smells, etc.
- Problems sleeping
- Headaches, lowered immunity
Understanding Anxiety
When we sense danger, the fight-flight-freeze-fawn (or “survival”) response is triggered. This is a non-voluntary reaction that mobilizes the body’s resources to improve the odds of surviving the threat:
- Adrenaline is released to give you energy and keep you as alert as possible.
- Breathing becomes faster, to bring in extra oxygen for running or fighting.
- Heart rate increases to allow more blood to be pumped to the muscles.
- Blood flow is redirected to larger muscles for increased strength and endurance.
- Muscles tense and may begin to shake so you are ready to “spring into action”.
- The body sweats as it prepares to exert itself.
- The digestive system is shut down so energy can be devoted to survival.
- Cortisol is released and causes racing thoughts (ie: assessing the risk, weighing options).
- The stress response may include “fawning” (trying to please or pacify the source of the threat).
- The body and mind may move into a “freeze” state if it does not seem possible to fight, flight, or fawn (or these are not effective).
If these changes occur in response to an actual threat to your physical safety (such as a wild animal), they will likely improve your ability to survive (ie: by helping you to either fight it off, run away to safety, or stay quiet and still so it does not see you).
If, however, they occur in response to an “emotional” threat (like attending a job interview, being rejected by another person, or running late for an appointment), this survival response will likely be unhelpful. At minimum it will cause you to experience unnecessary discomfort, and in turn may contribute to unhelpful responses.
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This is typically what is happening with problematic anxiety: the brain and body are reacting like there is physical danger when really there is not, like a smoke detector going off when someone burns a piece of toast.
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Those with anxiety often benefit from learning ways to reduce “false alarms”, and strategies to turn them off as soon as possible when they do occur.
Self Help Strategies for Anxiety
The following self-help strategies may be helpful for those who experience anxiety:
- Notice and challenge thoughts that contribute to anxiety. This includes “catastrophizing” (predicting worst-case outcomes) and “awfulizing” (exaggerating negative aspects of a situation). Try to replace these with more realistic thoughts to avoid triggering the survival response unnecessarily.
- Respond to anxiety helpfully. When symptoms of anxiety appear, remind yourself it just means the stress response has contributed to your brain thinking there is a threat. Also remind yourself anxiety is not dangerous (but uncomfortable), and you have survived it before. If you notice signs of anxiety and say to yourself, “Oh no! I’m distressed again! This is terrible!”, reactions will likely become more intense.
- Try to improve your sleep. Anxiety often leads to insomnia, while lack of sleep makes us more prone to anxiety in the first place. Establish a regular bedtime routine, try to go to bed and wake up at the same time each day, and avoid caffeine and alcohol.
- Regular exercise has a calming effect on the nervous system, and is very helpful for better sleep. Set small realistic goals (such as a short walk each day) and build these into your routine.
- Mindfulness has been proven to have direct, positive effects on anxiety. It involves non-judgmental awareness of the present moment, and there are many free tools available online to help you practice. Regular mindfulness can help the brain become less vulnerable to anxiety.
- Relaxed breathing is a very simple strategy that has powerful, positive effects on anxiety. Engaging in slow, deep, rhythmic breathing can actually reverse the “survival” response in the brain. There are many online tools that can help you practice relaxed breathing, many of which combine it with mindfulness.
- Progressive relaxation involves learning to relax each of the major muscle groups in your body on purpose. It is helpful for people with anxiety because they are often in a chronically “tense” state. As well, relaxing your body can help reverse the anxiety response in the brain.
- Take steps to manage stress effectively. This includes seeking a healthy balance between the various spheres of your life, holding yourself to realistic expectations, and practicing good self care. If you are run down and overextended, you will be more at risk of anxiety.
- Spending time outdoors is another simple strategy that can bring big benefit. Going for a walk or even sitting quietly in a natural setting can help reset the part of the nervous system involved in anxiety.
- As much as possible, continue to do things you are anxious about despite the discomfort. This will allow your brain to learn you can do them and still be safe, which can decrease the anxiety over time. Avoiding things that lead to anxiety may help avoid distress temporarily, but in the longer run can make anxiety more intense.
Seeking Support
There are many approaches to treat and manage anxiety. If you feel anxious much of the time, it impacts your daily life, or you notice other negative effects on your health or well-being, speaking with your health care provider to discuss your symptoms of anxiety and potential ways to address it is a good start.
There are effective treatment options for anxiety, including various types of counselling and therapy. One of the most common is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which focuses on helping change unhelpful thoughts and behaviours.
You may also wish to explore some of the following online, telephone, and community resources.
Resources for Immediate Support
- Individuals of all ages can call or text 988 to reach Canada’s Suicide Crisis Hotline. You will have the opportunity to be connected to a crisis resource that is age/culturally appropriate for you.
- Talk Suicide Canada provides immediate crisis support to those of all ages. Call 1-833-456-4566 (24/7) or text 45645 (4:00 pm - 12:00 am ET).
- LGBQT Prideline Durham Helpline provides emotional support, crisis intervention, and community referral information specific to the concerns and issues of the LGBTQ community. Call 1-855-87PRIDE (77433) from 6:00 – 10:00 pm daily.
- Kids Help Phone provides support via phone, text or chat to children, youth, and young adults. Call 1-800-668-6868 (24/7), text CONNECT to 686868 (24/7), or go to the website for live chat (7:00 pm–12:00 am).
- Frontenac Youth Services Crisis Response offers phone and mobile crisis response for children, youth and their families. Call Frontenac Youth Services at (905) 723-2802 or 1-888-579-5914 (9:00 am-5:00 pm Monday-Friday), or York Support Services Network at 1-855-310-COPE(2673) or (TTY) 1-866-323-7785 (Monday to Friday 5:00 pm-9:00 am, weekends, and holidays).
Community Resources for Anxiety
- BounceBack is a free skill-building program managed by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) to help manage issues including mild to moderate anxiety, stress, and worry. Services are delivered over the phone with a coach and through online videos and workbooks. For more details or to request service, visit the website or call 1-877-767-9642. Teens age 15-17 can access the program at BounceBack for Teens, or by calling 1-866-345-0224.
- CMHA Recovery College Wellness Centre offers a range of free in-person and online courses to help participants understand their mental health, develop strategies for personal well-being, develop life skills (including financial literacy), and learn skills to manage mood, emotions, and triggers. For more information or to register, visit the website.
- Ontario Shores Recovery College provides a series of virtual and in-person courses on various mental-health topics, including managing anxiety and panic. Registrants are not required to be receiving services from Ontario Shores to be eligible.
- Adult Integrated Mental Health Services (AIMHS) offers in-person groups on topics including anxiety, relaxation, mindfulness-based stress reduction, and OCD. Self referrals accepted. Call 905-440-7534 or 1-833-392-7363, or see website for more information.
- Connex Ontario provides free and confidential health services information for people experiencing problems with alcohol and drugs, mental illness or gambling by connecting them with services in their area. Call 1-866-531-2600 or visit the website for more information.
Free Apps for Anxiety
- MindShift is a free app from Anxiety Canada that provides a range of anxiety-management tools for adults and youth.
- Sanvello is a free app for teens and adults that uses the principles of CBT and mindfulness to help with various mental health challenges, including anxiety. Includes a library of tools for relaxation, breathing, mindfulness meditation, coping, mood tracking, and recording/reframing thoughts.
- Medito: Free Meditation, Sleep & Mindfulness is an app that provides guided and non-guided meditations, courses, and other tools to help you practice mindfulness and gratitude, manage anxiety and stress, relax, sleep better, and improve mental health.
- Breathe: Relax and Focus offers a variety of free and customizable guided breathing exercises to decrease the body’s stress response and support mood stabilization, anger control, and anxiety management.
- Insight Timer Wellbeing App provides free access to over 100,000 guided meditations and music tracks and ambient sounds to calm the mind, focus, sleep better and relax.
- Calm provides a range of free meditation and mindfulness tools to help you manage anxiety, lower stress and sleep better.
Online Anxiety Information and Resources
- Anxiety Canada provides information and tools for managing anxiety and related symptoms (like sleep difficulties). Includes resources for adults, youth, and children and their caregivers. Includes a variety of self-help tools included guided relaxation audios and anxiety plan templates.
- Anxiety Disorders (CMHA) provides information about various anxiety disorders, approaches to treatment, and how to support someone you care about.
- Sleep Resources (CCI) provides a series of information sheets and self-help worksheets to help improve sleep.
