If you ve struggled with stress / anxiety before what’s helped you the most?

[C1239]

If you’ve had stress or anxiety before what’s helped you get through those times and made it easier to deal with?

Exercise
Friends
Exercise with friends. My best therapy is to go for a brisk walk with friends.

Epsom salt baths (Magnesium)
Quoting alcohol and caffeine
Walks in nature daily
Swimming twice per week for an hour.
Challenging negative thoughts or creating balanced responses to thoughts
CBT
Getting workload under control
Living in the present
Keeping up with friends, online and in person
Seeing and living more broadly rather than fixating on work with no play.
Limiting social media
Progressive Muscle relaxation
Breathing exercises

Ashwagandha
5-HTP
L theanine and lemon balm
All took the edge off for me.

Quiting not quoting alcohol! "I want the finest wines known to humanity..."😂

Exercise - running, swimming, Pilates and strength training. It's literally the best thing you can do for your mental and physical health.

Getting enough sleep
getting enough time with other people I care about
getting enough fun time
time in nature
regular meals, limited Junk
exercise

All the stuff it’s easy to say but so Hard to do

Time - this too will pass.
counselling
some more time.

Finally a great GP who told me I was extremely stressed, not depressed, that the antidepressants weren’t working and that I needed to rest my busy busy brain. Six weeks off work, some sleeping pills for a very short period of time, a lot of tv. I also had an amazing boss who confiscated my laptop and work mobile.

it does get better.

The posters saying take time off work - how long do you think is helpful

1. CBT
2. sertraline

@BeezHoney am going to order this to see if it helps me. Do you mind kindly sharing which it is you take x

Moving away from the person who caused the stress.

And as soon as that happened, all the anxiety disappeared.

But during it - propranolol, talking to people.

Having children.

Bit of an expensive way to help it tho!

Giving up sugary crap carbs (biscuits, etc) and alcohol. Turning down crap jobs (I'm self-employed). It means I have less money but am not so stressed. I'm using the time to clear out years of clutter from the house - calm house means calm mind, I'm hoping! Yoga - every day without fail. Going to church (for the meditation, singing, and thought-provoking stuff that takes me away from the day to day and makes me think there's a big plan in place!)

I took six weeks. In hindsight I should have taken more - my stress was 100% work
related.

I went to see occupational health - cried through the meeting and they asked me to take more time off!!

six weeks seemed so long at the time and I felt so guilty. Now I see it wasn’t any time at all.

20s - depression: antidepressants and talking to friends
40s - anxiety: 10 minute walks, meditation, fish oils, kind of facing the fear -instead of fearing the fear -iykwim & HRT

😂

Sure! So I get my magnesium glycinate from Amazon (500mg - 2 x a day) the brand is “Best Immune”
amd Ashwagandha I order from myprotein. About £6 a pack, and they’re 1 a day.

I usually take all 3 after dinner, before bed. My sleep feels so much more “full” if that makes sense? And I have 2 toddlers 😂 I also do not worry about shitttt anymore. This time last year I was so terrified of world events happening that I reckon I was on the brink of a breakdown. I was constantly in fight or Flight mode, looking back, it was so exhausting. I was an anxious mess - now, I have so much less cortisol coursing through my veins. It’s been a game changer honestly ❤️

One thing I will say is do your research, because I do believe that they are not recommended. If you are already taking prescribed medication and also I have seen it recommended that you take it towards the latter end of the day, because apparently you have a natural cortisol rise at the start of the day (which is supposedly good for you) so I take them at the end of the day.

hope this helps lovely ❤️

Walking but it has to be where there’s grass, trees etc.

@jennyjones198080 did you take their advice and stay off longer ?

Time in nature

SSRI’s
Rest - only psychologically gentle activities. Like I had to watch cartoons for a while as I couldn’t cope with normal TV situations.
CBT
Strict routine - immediately take medication on waking. Speak to my mum between 10-11am. Speak to my sister around 2pm. 6pm go to bed with one child to watch cartoons and cuddle.
sleeping tablets - needed them for about 6 weeks straight to sleep at all as I was wired and very distressed.

Me too. Glad it worked for you too. Stopped the downward spiral and then not being able to make good decisions about self care etc. It also helps me change the self-talk in my head. I had a few sessions of counselling which helped me to see things differently, despite life being pretty shit at the time.

I listen to myself and have this 'right, I need to have an hour out and do something for me'. Might be going for a walk or a swim. Or even just go and relax in the bedroom. Swimming helps, because you have to breath properly.

Using the Balance app for meditation and doing yoga help. My sleep score on the nights I do the app is always so much better.

I so gave my stressful job, took a step down and really focused on the culture and working practices when finding a new job. Best decision.

Cutting out people from my life who caused me stress. Also exercise, getting outside in nice surroundings, being with animals and meditation.

Oh and one other thing I discovered. Throwing a tennis ball back and forth with someone. It seemed to trigger a lift up out of the fog sometimes for me. Like magic.

Sertraline
Counselling
Tapping
Family
walking
Endless blackberry picking