Cycle of bad habits and anxiety

[lilmutegirl]

Things I think would help decrease my anxiety: decreasing (or eliminating) caffeine and sugar intake, increasing exercise, meditating, or practicing some sort of mindfulness or calming exercise. Unfortunately, I also feel compelled to consume caffeine and sugar when I am anxious, and feel like I can't focus to exercise or meditate. The more anxious I am, the more I engage in this destructive behavior. I'm sure that if I made a concerted effort toward these things, eventually it would be easier, but I have a lot of trouble adopting positive habits.
Have any of you found ways to decrease anxiety through lifestyle changes? If so, how did you get started?

 

[Sacrament]

I know that if I eat well and exercise (and overall take care of myself physically and otherwise), my confidence is higher, and therefore my anxiety is lower.

In terms of exercise, it's a matter of literally writing down a daily schedule of certain exercises (Walking, Dips, Lunges, Jumping Jacks, Calf Raises, etc), and checking them off one by one as you do them. Put that piece of paper with the schedule somewhere you can clearly see, and it'll be easier for you to do those exercises. You can even do them while watching your favorite show on TV.

 

[Louco]

I wouldn't call drinking coffee a destructive behavior... In my case, it's not just something that I love but it also gives me much needed energy, even if it gets me a little more anxious or even give me a heartburn sometimes.

I think taking it easy at first to be the best. A positive change for me was starting to wake up early in the morning, even if I have nothing to do. Now that I have my mornings back, it's possible to find more useful things to do with my time, and I don't make finding a job something even harder for me by sleeping all day and being up all night either. Quite a simple yet significant change.

 

[DanielLewis]

I know my worst bad habit that increases my anxiety, perhaps dramatically, is getting poor sleep. I literally sleep like 2 hours a day. A lot of times, it's not even good sleep. So, I think my anxiety has been a lot worse than it would be if I was well rested. This is really #1 on my list of bad habits that I need to change. #2 is no fapping/no porn. If I can fix both of these this year for good, I should see dramatic improvement in my confidence and anxiety levels. These are the most fundamental changes I need to make right now.

 

[Pacific_Loner]

It appears from your post that you actually know what to do to decrease your anxiety level:

Things I think would help decrease my anxiety: decreasing (or eliminating) caffeine and sugar intake, increasing exercise, meditating, or practicing some sort of mindfulness or calming exercise.

You know that NOT doing these things is bad for you:

Unfortunately, I also feel compelled to consume caffeine and sugar when I am anxious, and feel like I can't focus to exercise or meditate. The more anxious I am, the more I engage in this destructive behavior.

You know what you have to do:

I'm sure that if I made a concerted effort toward these things, eventually it would be easier

But you're lacking willpower

but I have a lot of trouble adopting positive habits.

Have any of you found ways to decrease anxiety through lifestyle changes? If so, how did you get started?

You pretty much covered it all: Decreasing caffeine and sugar intake, eating real food, exercising, going outside and doing some sort of calming activity like yoga or meditation. There is no miracle recipe to get started, you just have to DO IT. None of this is particularly difficult, when you think about it. You will eventually have more energy and it will stop being such a pain to do. In the end you will even enjoy doing all of it.

 

[vj288]

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