Smart exercise to reduce anxiety in no time

Anxiety is a fact of life, but it’s important to be prepared with good techniques to manage your feelings.
Psychiatrist and researcher Jud Brewer has the trick to help both adults and children unwind and find calm in the present.

When anxiety takes hold, it can be difficult to break the negative spiral. Breathing becomes shallow, sweat breaks out, thoughts spin and your pulse races.

It’s important to be able to relax and calm yourself in these situations. But how do you keep a cool head when your body’s stress system is running at full speed? Jud Brewer, an American psychiatrist and neuroscientist, is an expert in this field.

– “We need to ground ourselves in what we’re experiencing in the moment,” says Brewer in episode 103 of the podcast “Feel better, live more with Dr. Chatterjee”. 

The mindfulness exercise that helps with anxiety

Taking the pulse or focusing on the breath are two examples that Brewer says can bring us back down to earth. But it’s not always that easy. Both a racing pulse and shallow breathing can cause discomfort. Many may need to use multiple senses, such as touch and sight, to find calm. Fortunately, Jud Brewer has a tip: a simple mindfulness exercise called Five finger breathing.

Here’s how the exercise works

1. Start by holding your left hand up in front of you with the back of your hand facing you.
2. Place your right index finger on the outside of your left hand, right where your thumb starts
3. Inhale while pulling your right index finger from the base of your thumb to the top. 
4. Exhale while sliding your index finger down towards the inside of your left thumb.
5. Continue in the same way with the rest of the fingers of the left hand: Inhale as you drag the index finger upwards and exhale as you drag the index finger downwards. 

Good for children

The exercise is often recommended to calm children, but Brewer laughs and says it’s just as calming for parents.

– “You can repeat the exercise, but even one round is enormously helpful in combining the tactile sensation with the visual and the sensation of drawing in air,” Brewer says.