Palpitations, sweating, sleep disturbances: Restlessness from anxiety is known to us for various reasons. Depending on the type and duration of the symptoms, there are options for fast improvement.
How do you experience restlessness?
The feeling of restlessness can occasionally happen when you’re excited like when you’re about to go on a trip you waited for or when you are meeting someone you want to see again.
But most of the time, you probably feel restlessness when you’re anxious or overwhelmed. Triggers can be everywhere: an exam, a challenging or uncomfortable task, an unpleasant conversation, or having to speak in front of other people the next day because you might have to present something at work.
The most common expression is the so-called „restless leg syndrome,“ when your leg or foot can not stay still. But also sweating, a racing heart, sleeplessness, panic attacks, or fear can be signs of restlessness from anxiety. If you have any of those symptoms, definitely check with a doctor.
If your doctor says it’s okay for you, you can try the following exercises to improve your symptoms.
How to reduce restlessness FROM ANXIETY?
First, whenever you feel the urge to cry, just cry and let it all out. There is no need to keep it all in. Covering up those emotions will lead to them piling up inside and bursting out at some point – or you might feel more and more restless.
To help you cope with feelings of irritability caused by anxiety, you can try some of the following tips.
1️⃣ Meditation is the number one piece of advice when suffering from anxiety and restlessness. But not everyone can sit still and watch their thoughts and breath. I wasn’t able to do this. So I played around with different forms of meditation and found writing meditation very effective.
2️⃣ Sleep is essential when you want to deal with symptoms of restlessness from anxiety. When feeling anxious, you might not be able to sleep well, so trying to improve the quality of sleep can be something that helps you. How can you do that? Try adjusting what you eat and drink each day. Check out the link above to learn more about teas that can calm you down, and click here to learn more about the impact of ingredients on anxiety. Another way to improve your sleep is by updating your bedtime routines or checking out some tech gadgets that might help you with that.
3️⃣ It might sound weird, but restlessness can also mean you have some energy left in your system that needs to go out so you can get calm again. In this case, exercising can help. I’m not talking about running or doing heavy lifting. Just some stretches, yoga, or pilates can be enough.
4️⃣ The last recommendation I want to give is about breathing exercises. Again, check with your doctor first if they are safe for you to try and then check them out. My favorite and the most simple one is the so-called „4-6“ breathing exercise, where you inhale for four counts and exhale for six counts. I recorded a video to demonstrate this technique. You can find it here on Instagram:
If you want to try some different breathing exercises, you can check out this post:
From my personal experience, I can say that I had to start practicing those mindfulness exercises regularly to improve my situation in the long term. But it was definitely worth investing in me 🥰