Reduce Anxiety with Grounding Activities

Enjoyable Ways to Reduce Anxiety

 

This month’s blog is our way of giving you a big virtual hug. Life over the last few months seems like it has gotten more stressful for most people. Over the three-day weekend for President’s Day, we took a look at ways to help reduce anxiety. We realized that many of the activities that help reduce anxiety have a repetitive nature to them. Many of our favorite ways of reducing anxiety involve being out in nature, but we have included plenty of indoor activities when it’s cold outside or raining. Many of these you may already know, but myself included, can always use a reminder on how to relax.

 

Spend Time In Nature

 

Spending time in nature is a great way to relax and relieve anxiety. Whether you like taking a walk, feeding birds, or watching ocean waves pound the shore, nature helps us detox anxiety from our bodies because of the negative ions. Even if it’s cold outside, bundle up and enjoy the outdoors. If you have a dog, head out for a walk to clear your head and exercise your dog at the same time. Mini-breaks during the day of 10 minutes can make a world of difference in your coping abilities.

 

Plant Something in Your Garden

 

Digging in the dirt is a great way to reduce anxiety. Repetitive actions help reduce worry and anxiety. Believe it or not, weeding, because of its repetitive nature, helps calm most people. Go shopping for a new plant to add to your landscaping, or buy bulbs to plant. Purchasing cutting flower seeds will give you flowers for your home this spring and summer.

I know so many people who are planting a vegetable garden for the first time this year; even friends who live in townhouses are putting in a couple of raised beds and trellises so they can grow their own vegetables and be more self-sufficient. Spending some time gardening, even if it’s only ten minutes, helps ground you. When the weather warms up, try walking around your garden barefoot, a simple grounding activity that increases the negative ions you take in.

 

Lay On Your Back & Cloud Gaze

 

Try lying on your back on a cloudy day and watch the clouds roll by. This activity helps bring you into the present moment. As kids, we used to make believe we were moving the clouds, and the same activity has a calming effect for adults, too!  Try deep belly breathing while watching the clouds roll by, and you’ll notice that you feel calmer after only a few minutes.

 

Cook or Bake Something

 

Cooking or baking is a great way to help calm your nerves. I remember my mom reading cookbooks on cold days and planning the next thing she was going to bake or cook. Now, we use Instagram or Pinterest to find wonderful new ideas for cooking or baking.  Baking and cooking both can help reduce anxiety for two reasons. One, the aromas that come from cooking are calming, and secondly, the repetitive nature of following through a recipe helps calm our jangled nerves.

One of my favorite baking activities that brings some calm to my life is kneading bread. There is nothing like rolling and punching the dough down to relieve stress, plus bread, when it’s baking, fills your home with wonderful aromas.  Home-baked bread is so good!

 

Knit to Help Anxiety

 

Personally, I don’t think there are many lone indoor activities like knitting to reduce stress.  When you get into the process of knitting, the repetitive motions and the softness of the yarn can create a relaxed state of mind, similar to meditation or yoga.

Many studies have shown that knitting reduces blood pressure and cortisol, which is known as the stress hormone. Plus, when you finish your knitted or crocheted project, you have something beautiful to wear, give away, or add to your home decor.

 

Organize Your Pantry

 

Organizing your pantry is a way to bring more order and calm to your life. There are so many innovative ways to organize pantries these days. One of my favorites is a rolling ladder for your panty that allows you to access taller shelves without getting a step ladder. Rolling ladders are available at many online stores and allow you to make better use of your pantry space.

Baskets, plastic tubs, and stackable shelving all help make the most of your valuable pantry space. There is something gratifying about getting an area organized and more accessible that lowers stress levels.

 

Read a Good Novel

 

Reading a good novel takes you to another time and space and can help absorb your stress and reduce your anxiety. Novels, more than non-fiction, can help chase the worries away. Novels are considered better for stress because they provide a mental escape from daily worries by allowing you to fully immerse yourself in a different world, effectively distracting you from stressors and promoting relaxation through the use of your imagination and focus on the story, ultimately lowering cortisol levels, your stress hormone, in the body.

You can put in requests for novels at Sonoma County Library’s website and have them delivered to the library near your home. You can download books from more than 7,000 newspapers, borrow and download eBooks, magazines, and comics, view high-quality arts and crafts videos, or request books to be sent to your nearest library.

 

Dance Your Anxiety Away

 

Dancing is one of my go-to stress and anxiety-reducing choices. My family kidded that I learned to dance before I walked, so this is natural for me. Crank up your favorite music and let your worries drain from your body. I danced alone at home, with my kids and with my dogs. Many times, I throw in singing along with the music because singing has been shown to reduce anxiety, and it’s fun.

 

Breath Work Can Reduce Anxiety

Breath work works wonders on lowering cortisol levels and reducing anxiety. It’s simple, you can do anywhere, or any time. One of my favorites is simple box breathing, 4-4-4. Inhale on the count of 4, hold for 4, exhale on the count of four. Huberman at Stanford has some wonderful techniques to reduce anxiety and stress. Cyclic sighing can help breathe away anxiety. It helps break the anxiety spiral. Here is a article that will show you how to do the breathing technique and why it works so well.

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