Today, lifestyle stress and more particularly psychological stress are very common. And whatever the severity, it can prevent you from falling asleep and reduce the quality of your sleep. This will foster your tiredness who in turn will foster anxiety. An infinite loop.

Some techniques will allow you to react better to stressful events and increase your resistance to detrimental repercussions.

But before this, wonder why do some people have a "nervous breakdown" while others don’t? 

The cause is largely a matter of personality, attitude and life experiences. The intensity of the stress reaction depends mainly on the message sent by the brain to the endocrine glands, and therefore on the person's perception of the situation in question. Whether the person sees the situation outcome as more or less severe.

Let's take an example to illustrate this. In the dark, some people may think that a coat rack in their room is a human stranger that is watching them. If they believe so they will be as afraid as if it was a real stranger. While others will just think it's a coat rack. 

The perception of the reflection that one makes to oneself plays an important role. Another example would be that a five-minute delay to an appointment usually doesn't create stress, unless someone thinks that the one is going to miss the plane, or if the brain imagines another catastrophic scenario. Negative expectations promote and lead to stress or anxiety issues.

Stress and anxiety often get us afraid while we’re not in real danger. And fighting fear to protect us from fear only makes our fear worse. That's the anxiety trick.

In addition, when the stressful event disappears, whether the event has caused you harm or not, the feeling of fear also disappears. So why can't we make it disappear before the event?

Some techniques are able to trigger the "relaxation reaction" and stop the physiological reactions caused by the nervous system. This relaxation reaction occurs naturally after the stressor has disappeared. In the case of anxiety this relaxation reaction may need to be provoked when the stressor is permanent which is often the case.

First and foremost, you will have to try to correct the problem at its source by finding the cause and then its solution. This is the most effective way to eliminate stress and anxiety. 

But if you can’t find a solution to make the problems disappear then these are some tips.

The changing attitudes method

This method looks at the problem from a mental point of view: it is the mind that communicates its concern, which then sends signals to the metabolism. Approaches that aim to help people in a sustainable way focus on a significant part of their work on changing attitudes.

To do this, whenever there is a situation that bothers you, you must convince your brain that the consequences of this situation will not be dangerous for you. Then there is no reason to be anxious. If you really think this situation is kind of dangerous for you, then convince your brain that what you're feeling is good stress and that you're going to get over it thanks to this good stress.

Of course, this is not easy and it needs practice but it can be very helpful.

Physical activity

Vigorous physical activity burns excess stress hormones and reduces the accumulated physical and brain tension. Half an hour of brisk walking, jogging, cycling can induce a relaxation reaction. Regular physical activity promotes a permanent reduction in tension.

Breathing exercises

In the event of an immediate crisis, breathing is the only biological mechanism that can fastly reduce the crisis. Stress speeds up breathing and increases your heart rate, however when breathing is consciously slowed down and made deeper (called abdominal breathing) it will decrease your heart rate and allow you to take back control on yourself. The secret is a long and longer exhalation than inhalation.

Consider breathing and meditation exercises for the long term. It helps a lot.

The floating method

You've probably been tricked into trying to protect yourself by avoiding something you are anxious about. But this strengthens your fear over time. By avoiding the problem and by convincing yourself that it’s the best thing to do, you will continue to feel vulnerable about it and you're going to get stuck in the habit of "protecting" yourself. The point of the floating method is to actually face the problem and feel the anxiety, being sure to stay there and letting the anxiety leave first.

People that fought back anxiety say that the real way to disarm anxiety is to increasingly spend time with anxiety, to expose yourself to the thoughts and sensations, and to allow them to leave or decrease over time. While you are in contact with your anxiety, use the changing attitudes method to make it easier to cope.

We remind you that the Circular™ ring is not a medical device and should not be used to diagnose or monitor a pathology.