How to manage anxiety: Quick relief and long-term strategies

Why managing anxiety matters

Anxiety exists for a reason: It’s your brain’s way of flagging potential threats and keeping you safe. But when it’s constantly firing (or firing way out of proportion to what’s actually happening), it stops being helpful and starts taking over.

“When anxiety goes unmanaged, it often finds ways to surface, like lava in a volcano ready to erupt,” explains Jami Dumler, a licensed clinical social worker at Thriveworks. “Unmanaged anxiety can cause ripple effects across multiple areas of your life: physical health, social life, productivity, and overall stress levels.”

When anxiety becomes frequent or seemingly constant rather than an occasional feeling, you might notice:

• Physical symptoms that pile up: headaches, stomach issues, muscle tension, getting sick more often
• Sleep issues: trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up still exhausted
• Changes in eating habits: losing your appetite entirely or stress-eating without realizing it
• Pulling back from people: canceling plans, avoiding social situations, feeling disconnected
• Strain on your relationships: irritability, difficulty being present, or withdrawing from people you care about
• Constant fatigue: feeling drained even when you haven’t done much

For some people, ongoing anxiety can also lead to unhealthy coping patterns, like turning to alcohol, making impulsive decisions, or developing other mental health challenges like depression.

Anxiety is highly manageable. With the right tools, practices, and support, you can keep it from running the show and experience benefits like sharper focus, better overall health, and a calmer mind.

8 simple ways to manage anxiety in the moment

When anxiety spikes, your nervous system is essentially sounding an alarm. Grounding techniques help you turn down the volume by pulling your attention back to the present moment and interrupting the spiral before it takes over.

Different techniques work for different levels of intensity. Lighter strategies (like music or tidying up) can help with mild stress, while more intense tools (like cold water or structured breathing) are better suited for panic or severe anxiety. Experiment to see what works for you.

Here are some to try:

1. Put on a song you love.

Music redirects your brain away from anxious thoughts and toward something familiar and comforting. Create a go-to playlist for moments when you need it.

2. Grab something comforting to hold.

A weighted blanket, a soft pillow, even a warm mug. Gentle pressure and soothing textures help regulate your nervous system.

3. Tackle one small, solvable problem.

Anxiety often spikes when things feel out of control. Completing a simple task—washing a few dishes, responding to an easy email—can give you a sense of control back.

4. Spend 10 minutes tidying a small space.

Clutter can amplify anxious feelings. If there’s a messy corner stressing you out, a quick reset can shift your mental state more than you’d expect.

5. Try aromatherapy.

Scents like lavender, chamomile, and clary sage have been shown to reduce anxiety and promote calm. Keep a rollerball or candle handy for when you need it.

6. Use tapping (EFT).

Emotional Freedom Technique involves light taps on specific points on your body while acknowledging what you’re feeling. Try this: Focus on your anxiety, rate its intensity, then tap on the side of your hand while saying, “I know I’m feeling anxious. I acknowledge it, and I’m choosing to feel calm and safe now.”

7. Touch something cold.

Intense cold can snap you out of a spiral and ground you back in your body. Hold an ice cube, drink something cold, or—if you need something more intense—splash cold water on your face or hold a cold pack to your chest.

8. Try the 54321 technique.

Name five things you can see, four you can touch, three you can hear, two you can smell, and one you can taste. This sensory exercise forces your brain to focus on the present instead of spiraling into “what ifs.”

“Managing anxiety doesn’t necessarily have a cookie-cutter answer for everyone,” says Hallie Kritsas, a licensed mental health counselor at Thriveworks. “For some, it might be better to keep busy, and for others, they might prefer to slow down and listen to their body.”

7 long-term habits for managing anxiety

In-the-moment techniques are essential, but lasting change comes from building habits that help you understand and regulate your anxiety over time. Here are practices worth integrating into your daily or weekly routine:

1. Track your triggers.

A huge key to managing anxiety is understanding what sets it off in the first place. For some people, there’s a clear pattern—specific situations, people, or environments that reliably trigger anxious thoughts. For others, it feels more random (though patterns often emerge once you start paying attention).

Start noticing when your anxiety spikes. Where are you? Who are you with? Did someone say or do something? Is there something in your environment—a sound, a smell, a feeling—that’s contributing? Keeping a mental or written log helps you identify patterns, prepare for triggering situations, and understand what’s really driving your anxiety.

2. Challenge anxious thoughts.

Anxiety is essentially fear about the future or the unknown, and it tends to tell stories that aren’t always true. Learning to question those stories is one of the most effective ways to loosen anxiety’s grip.

Here’s an example: You start feeling uneasy the night before a big presentation. Your stomach flips, your mind races through everything that could go wrong. At moments like this, pause and notice the specific thoughts fueling your anxiety: “What if I forget everything?” “I’m going to embarrass myself.” “Everyone will think I’m incompetent.”

Now, gently challenge them. If you’ve prepared, remind yourself: “I’ve done everything I can. I know this material. I’ll do my best, and that’s enough.” Directing these reminders at the specific fears—rather than offering yourself vague reassurance—tends to be more effective. You know what you need to hear. Tell it to yourself.

3. Move your body (in ways you actually enjoy).

You’ve heard this advice before, and there’s a reason it keeps coming up: physical activity directly impacts your brain chemistry. Exercise releases endorphins, reduces cortisol, and helps burn off the nervous energy that anxiety creates.

The key is finding something that truly fits into your life and you can sustain. For some people, that’s running or lifting weights. For others, it’s walking the dog, dancing in the kitchen, or doing yoga in the living room. If you dread it, you won’t do it.

4. Support your body with what you eat.

Anxiety is a mental health challenge, but your brain and body are deeply connected. What you eat can either support your nervous system or add fuel to the fire.

“Focusing on a diet rich in whole foods, lean protein, fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, and fiber—while limiting caffeine—can be highly beneficial for long-term anxiety management,” Dumler says.

You don’t need a perfect diet. Simply paying attention to how certain foods affect your mood and energy can help you make choices that support your mental state.

5. Build a reflection habit.

Having a consistent way to process your thoughts—rather than keeping them in your head—helps you understand yourself and your anxiety better. It also gives you an outlet for feelings you might not be ready to share with anyone else.

This could look like journaling for 10 minutes each morning, recording voice notes on your phone when you’re feeling overwhelmed, or simply sitting quietly and putting words to your feelings in your own mind. The format matters less than the consistency. Find what works for you and make it a regular practice.

6. Define what “peaceful” looks like for you.

What would a calmer, more manageable life actually look like? When you ask yourself this question, try not to focus on what you’d avoid. Instead, think about what changes would make things better.

This might reveal underlying pressure points: boundaries you need to set at work, relationships that drain you, habits that aren’t serving you.

“It’s important to identify what a healthy level of homeostasis for an individual could be,” Kritsas says. “This may also encourage an individual to make doable changes, such as healthy boundaries they could establish in their work, social, and familial lives.”

7. Lean on your people.

Anxiety often tells you that you’re alone, that no one gets it, that you’re a burden. Building a reliable support system helps counter that narrative.

“Having people you can lean on gives you a sense of belonging and understanding when your anxiety is telling you the opposite,” Dumler says.

You don’t need a huge network, even one or two people you trust can make a significant difference.

When to consider professional support

While self-management strategies are valuable, sometimes anxiety needs more than what you can do on your own. If anxiety is interfering with your daily life—your work, your relationships, your ability to function—it may be time to talk to a mental health professional.

There are two main approaches to professional anxiety treatment, often used together depending on your needs:

Therapy

Anxiety therapy involves working with a therapist to understand your symptoms, identify patterns, and develop personalized strategies for managing them.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most common and well-researched approach for anxiety. In CBT, you examine the connection between your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors then work to change the thought patterns that fuel your anxiety. It’s typically short-term and focused on building specific skills you can use long after therapy ends.

Exposure therapy, a type of CBT, involves gradually and safely confronting the situations or objects that trigger your anxiety. The goal is to build confidence over time, reducing your anxiety response and improving your ability to cope.

Medication

For some people, medication can be an important part of treatment—especially when symptoms are severe enough to make it hard to engage in therapy or daily life.

Common medications used to treat anxiety include:

• SSRIs: Citalopram (Celexa), escitalopram (Lexapro), fluoxetine (Prozac)
• SNRIs: Duloxetine (Cymbalta), venlafaxine (Effexor XR)
• Buspirone (BuSpar)
• Hydroxyzine
• Beta-blockers: Atenolol (Tenormin), propranolol (Inderal)

Medication doesn’t “cure” anxiety, but it reduces symptoms to a level where you can do the work of understanding and managing it. Many people use medication alongside therapy, then taper off as they develop stronger coping skills. Always talk to your provider before stopping or adjusting any medication.

Combined treatment

For moderate to severe anxiety, combining therapy and medication is often the most effective approach. Medication can take the edge off enough to make therapy productive, while therapy addresses the root causes and builds lasting skills.

What to expect in anxiety therapy

If you’ve never been to therapy—or you’re wondering what anxiety treatment specifically looks like—here’s a general roadmap:

Phase 1: Understanding how anxiety works

The first step is usually psychoeducation: learning about anxiety itself. The more you understand how anxiety functions in your brain and body, the better equipped you are to recognize it and respond effectively.

Phase 2: Building coping skills

You’ll work with your therapist to develop practical skills for managing both the physical symptoms (racing heart, shallow breathing, muscle tension) and the mental patterns (catastrophizing, rumination, avoidance) that come with anxiety.

Phase 3: Addressing the root causes

Once you have some relief from the most intense symptoms, therapy typically shifts to exploring what’s driving your anxiety—past experiences, thought patterns, life circumstances—and doing the deeper work of healing and change.

“For some, it can be helpful to externalize the anxiety. We would separate ‘person thoughts’ (what you actually think) from ‘anxiety thoughts’ (thoughts produced by anxiety), and then try to picture the anxiety and what it looks like outside the body,” Kritsas says. “By separating the two, we’re able to make anxiety its own entity, reducing feelings of guilt or ownership over these thoughts.”

By the end of treatment, most clients have gained real insight into their anxiety, experienced meaningful symptom relief, and built a toolkit of skills they can use long after therapy ends.

“While anxiety may not be completely ‘cured,’ clients often feel more in control of their symptoms and their ability to function,” Dumler says.

Will anxiety ever go away completely?

Anxiety isn’t something you “cure”, but it is something you can learn to manage, reduce, and live well alongside. With the right combination of self-care strategies, lifestyle changes, and (if needed) professional support, anxiety doesn’t have to run the show.

If you’re struggling, whether it’s low-level stress that won’t quit or something that feels more serious, reaching out to a mental health professional is a solid next step.