In a SingleCare survey carried out in 2020, 62% of respondents declared that they have been experiencing some degree of anxiety. Meanwhile, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America estimates that 31% of all adults will suffer an anxiety disorder at some point in their life. Finally, a report by The World Health Organization points out that 264 million adults around the globe have persistent anxiety.

So, if you’ve been battling fear, nervous tension, and panic attack episodes, you’re far from alone in fighting this battle. In fact, you are sharing it with millions of people of all ages, genders, social statuses, and cultural backgrounds.

Today, we are giving a little background to the subject of anxiety — what triggers it, how to recognize it, and how to battle it according to science.

What Triggers Anxiety?

What we call by the common term “anxiety” actually falls into different groups and stages.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is the most common anxiety disorder, followed by panic disorder, phobia-related disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. All of these conditions have to do with severe anxiety episodes that can reoccur for days, months, and even years.

Different forms of anxiety can have different reasons and genesis. According to psychologists, some of the most common triggers of anxiety are:

• Problematic experiences in childhood, adolescence, or adulthood;
• Physical or emotional abuse;
• Being neglected in your family or losing a parent;
• Bullying or being socially excluded;
• Having an underlying mental or physical condition;
• Substance abuse;
• Prolonged stress and exhaustion;
• Unhealthy home or working environment;
• Pressure, habitual burnout,
• Having a toxic spouse or family member, etc.

Or else said — difficult life circumstances can take their toll, and you can’t always expect to go through them fully untouched. Be it consciously or not, you will always have your triggers, and your reaction to them can vary from mild to severe, depending on different internal and external factors.

What are the First Signs of Anxiety?

It may be a cliche, but the fast-paced urban living itself presupposes a certain level of anxiety in our everyday lives. Noise pollution, unbalanced nutrition, and unnatural sleeping patterns are a very common set of prerequisites that trigger a purely physical reaction of being stressed, feeling tense, and having difficulties being your most balanced self. That’s why making a conscious effort to improve your mental health status is compulsory, and neglecting what your body tells you can quickly escalate into developing long-term anxiety.

There is a long list of red flags you should keep an eye on to recognize that things may have gone too far. And some of them include:

• Feeling weak, tired, and fatigued for prolonged periods;
• Feeling restless, tense, or nervous for no particular reason;
• Experiencing irritation, mood swings, or unexplainable bitterness;
• Having trouble with focus, concentration, and memory;
• Having persistent headaches or stomach problems;
• Feeling out of control with your emotions and reactions;
• Having troubles falling or staying asleep;
• Having an irrational feeling of danger or doom;
• Experiencing sudden hyperventilation or an increased heart rate;
• Having episodes of unexplainable sweating or trembling;
• Being too self-conscious and having low self-esteem;
• Feeling irrational guilt and damaged self-image, etc.

At first, you may ignore many of these symptoms as “accidental” or “normal.” However, the first step towards addressing the problem is recognizing that there is nothing normal in feeling down in your everyday life. So, if you’ve been neglecting the hints, it’s probably about time you face them and begin healing.

How Long Do Anxiety Attacks Last?

At some point, overlooked anxiety has the potential to quickly escalate into repetitive anxiety attacks. And these can seriously worsen your quality of life.

Anxiety attacks (also known as panic attacks) are sudden outbreaks of intense panic or fear. They can have a very specific trigger, or they can storm in straight out of the blue. But, no matter the cause, the result remains the same — a dreadful cocktail of emotional and physical symptoms.

During an anxiety attack, the dreadful fear is often accompanied by disorientation, shaking, dizziness, nausea, and an uncontrollable heart rate. Some people also report different and not-so-common manifestations such as mouth dryness, hot flashes, and shortness of breath.

An anxiety attack can last for a brief 10 minutes or up to half an hour. In addition, unnatural tension can build up long before the actual anxiety attack starts — sometimes days in a row. So once you get to know your way of experiencing anxiety attacks, you can take timely steps to prevent the actual crisis.

Is It Possible to Stop an Anxiety Attack?

Experts haven’t found a fully effective way to prevent or stop an anxiety attack midway through. Anyway, controlling the condition is not impossible if you make a conscious effort for both prevention and reaction to the situation.

We keep talking about prevention, as it is virtually your only long-term working solution. It might include professional therapy, a lifestyle change, working on your triggers, or all of them — systematically and thoughtfully.

If the anxiety attack happens to storm in anyway, there are still things you can do to relieve its symptoms and shorten its duration. Learning how to stop anxiety muscle twitching or how to stop anxiety nausea might be challenging, but it pays off.

What are 5 Ways to Calm Down an Anxiety Attack?

Experts recommend different steps for calming down an anxiety attack, depending on your triggers and your symptoms. Normally, getting personalized counseling is the best thing you can do to make sure you’re reacting accordingly.

Still, here is what helps during an anxiety attack for most people:

#1 Recognize What’s Happening

Anxiety attack symptoms can be scary enough to make you think your life is in actual danger. The pounding heart, sweating, shortness of breath, and throat tightness can literally make you believe you’re dying — making the episode even harder to cope with.

Once you know the symptoms, you can learn to recognize them. Once you recognize them, you can learn to understand that they will pass. Anxiety attacks are not life-threatening, although they might feel like such. So, repeating to yourself that this will pass and leave you untouched will always be your first and very best strategy.

#2 Practice Breathing Exercises

You might be tired of hearing to “calm down” and “breathe deeply.” But did you know that deep breathing gives your body signals that it is safe? The reason is purely physiological — your deepest, slowest, and most calmy rhythmic breathing occurs when you’re sleeping. Check out our RelaxifyApp Breathing Exercise.

Practicing breathing exercises is recommended both as a prevention technique and an SOS reaction during an anxiety attack. For example, you can try taking an at least 4-second-long deep breath, then keeping the air in for a few more seconds, and breathing it out slowly and steadily.

#3 Find a Grounding Technique

“Grounding” is not a term strictly reserved for astrologers and esoteric coaches. It literally means staying grounded in reality — a trick that has a lot to do with overcoming irrational episodes of dreading before something non-existent. Check out our RelaxifyApp Guided Body Scan Exercise.

There are plenty of grounding techniques you can try before you find the one that works for you. One of the most common ways to perform your reality check is to focus on a physical object and simply think of it. It can be a necklace, a stone, a leaf, a souvenir, or basically anything. The trick is to focus on its properties, think of its textures, its origins, its meaning, or whatever keeps your thoughts away from the faux menace you’re dealing with.

#4 Walk Away From Where You’re Standing

It’s not just about physically removing yourself from the place that potentially triggered you. It’s about the movement itself — the steady rhythm of your steps, the motion of your body, and the symbolic fact that you’re pushing forward.

As you walk, you can play a chosen mantra on repeat in your head. Repeating a phrase that has a deeper meaning for you can bring you back to your normal condition and help you out of an anxiety attack. It can be an affirmation, a spiritual saying you vibe with, or simply your favorite Star Wars quote. It doesn’t matter, as long as it works for you.

#5 Seek Counseling

If anxiety attacks hit too hard, last for too long, or take too much out of your pleasure in life, counseling might help you find a long-term solution for your difficulties. The underlying reasons for anxiety and panic disorders are successfully addressed with cognitive-behavioral therapy, and your therapist can also recommend a supplementary medical treatment to support the process safely.

At the end of the process, you will have learned not only how to stop an anxiety attack at night or at your workplace. You will know how to prevent the anxiety attack from happening at all — by doing the shadow work needed to overcome what got you there in the first place.

Say goodbye to automatic negative thoughts with your daily exercises in RelaxifyApp! 👋

Do you have the feeling that something’s always standing in the way between you and real happiness? It’s probably an overloaded working schedule, a dull routine, a few extra pounds you see in the mirror, or just a strange longing for something that’s always just around the corner…

People tend to focus way more on what they’re missing instead of what they have right here, right now. That perpetual strive for the past far gone, or the future far ahead keeps us detached from the present moment. And the present moment is the only real thing we can experience and enjoy. 

So, should we work on changing the circumstances? Should we work on changing our perspective? Or should we do both? Here are our thoughts on how to enjoy life – both long-term and short-term. 

What Makes a Person Happy in Life?

Happiness is not a concept with a clear and unproblematic explanation, to begin with. In fact, it has been the subject of hundreds of philosophical, psychological, and even physiological research dating back to the dawn of humankind. 

According to Plato, only those who are moral may be truly happy in life. Later on, the Cynics believed that happiness arises from abandoning all conventional desires and living a simple life free from all possessions. In the Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas wrote that true happiness could only be experienced by union with God. Finally, the 20-th century psychiatrist Viktor Frankl stated that one could be truly happy only after one understands and experiences the value of suffering in the name of something bigger than yourself. 

Today, happiness is still a matter of one’s own philosophy, values, and mindset. That’s why some people who are seemingly living their best lives still feel unfulfilled, and some people who are seemingly in a bad situation still somehow manage to cherish the moment. 

In a nutshell, enjoying life can arise from two fundamental factors. The first is aligning your lifestyle with your inborn values. And the second – learning how to enjoy the moment while you’re still on your way there. 

What are the Seven Pleasures of Life?

Learning how to enjoy the life you have here and now is a personal journey; for different people, pleasure arises from different things. For some, it might be silently walking through a tranquil forest. For others, it might be organizing a long movie night with their best friend. And for some, it might be dancing their trouble away in a week-long music festival.

Willard Spiegelman – a professor of English and American literature, has an interesting book called “Seven Pleasures – Essays on Ordinary Happiness.” There, he distinguishes seven different types of everyday pleasures from his point of view, and these are:

• Dancing – on your own, in a large crowd, or however you like it;
• Reading – in the library, on your favorite sofa, or in your definition of a calming environment;
• Walking – in the park, on the beach, or simply through your neighborhood;
• Looking – at a leaf of grass, at the sky, or even at your favorite Netflix show;
• Listening – to your comfort playlist, to the song of the cricket, or to the voice of your loved one;
• Swimming – in the river, in the sea, or in the nearest swimming pool;
• Writing – a diary, a poem, or a short story you’d like to tell.

Indulging in these types of simple pleasures is easy and basically free. All you need to do is put conscious effort into appreciating the things you’re already doing, noticing the things that surround you, and “organizing” these little but powerful joy bringers in your daily life. 

How Do You Enjoy Life with Simple Things?

General life satisfaction depends on many internal and external factors. It is indeed about having basic security, a healthy living environment, a fulfilling social and romantic life, and a job that inspires and keeps you on track with your values. But it is also about cherishing the things you have and learning to enjoy yourself even when your circumstances are far from your perception of “perfect.”

Learning how to live life happy begins with enjoying the simple pleasures in life. Some of them you already encounter every day but somehow fail to notice. Others you can easily implement into your mindful routine for life appreciation and emotional alignment. And if you need some ideas, here they come!

• Practicing gratitude is a good way to alter your perspective and increase your life satisfaction. Yes, you might be feeling mad at your child for spilling their cup of milk on the carpet. But make sure you kiss them on the forehead and feel grateful for having them late in the evening when they fall asleep.
• Practicing mindfulness is not an eastern-yoga-esoteric thing to do. It’s your effort to notice, become aware of, and let yourself be sincerely amazed by the grandeur of what surrounds you. If you raise your gaze from the pavement, you might see the crown of the trees swinging in the wind or the silver moonlight brushing the skyscrapers. And that’s beautiful, isn’t it?
• Putting yourself first is not selfishness; it’s self-care. Leave the dishes unwashed tonight and head for a walk outside. Leave the laundry alone and grab a book you’ve been planning to read for ages. Ask for help, share responsibilities with household members, and treat yourself like you would advise your child to treat themselves one day. It’s liberating!
• Taking proper rest is a must if you want your body and mind to function properly. Built-up stress and tension will take their toll, making you feel not quite yourself at some point. So – don’t use your day off to do more work. Instead, book a massage, take your ten minutes for deep muscle relaxation, and ensure you get enough sleep at night.
• Social media detox will do miracles for you, especially if your screen time counter shows more than two hours a day. After all, your handheld device can do nothing better than keep your mind occupied with things that happen elsewhere, to people you barely know and don’t even like. So, why not invest these hours into yourself instead?
• Analyzing your negative habits and thinking patterns might help in addressing them later. You can begin your journey with a professional well-being survey to get a snapshot of your current condition. After that, you can reflect on the results and do your own project for yourself – because you matter, and you matter a great deal. 

At the end of the day, wanting to enjoy life is the first step toward actually enjoying it. Even your morning cup of coffee or tea can be more than just a wake-up routine. In fact, it might be your first sip of daily delight, as long as you plant that meaning into it. 

How Can I Enjoy Life at Home?

If you’re a social butterfly, staying at home and doing nothing might not sound like the best day ever for you. But what if “doing nothing” turns into doing things for yourself, your environment, and your ability to enjoy your own company?

Here are a few brief ideas on how to enjoy life alone while staying home:

• Get rid of the clutter. You don’t need to compete for a neat freak show – you just have to put away possessions that take too much space and mean nothing to you. You can clean and declutter your home yourself, or you can reach out to a friend or a cleaning company if cleaning makes you nervous. What matters is the result – a home that makes you feel… At home, you know.
• Decorate it your way. If you’re into flowers and room plants – get plenty of them. If you’re into Van Gogh, buy a reproduction and hang it where you can see it. If you like scented candles, fluffy blankets, movie posters, or extra bookshelves – make sure you have them. Make your home not a place to spend the night but a place to live happily and in harmony with yourself.
• Get a pet. If that’s your thing, of course. If it is, but you’re somehow still hesitating – make the move. A purring cat or a dog that’s always there to love the time spent with you is a kind of therapy itself. It’s an extra family member that gives your home a soul. And it’s a new friend that you will love unconditionally.
• Set the atmosphere. It costs nothing to play your feel-good song list as an atmosphere while you’re home. It costs very little to put some printed pictures, dim lights, and grounding items here and there to build up the ambiance. And it pays off millions of times!

Last but not least – staying home does not necessarily mean staying in your pajamas. If you love your pajamas, that’s great. But putting on makeup, perfume, and fancy clothes can change how you feel about yourself if you need that change right now. 

Wait… But Should I Enjoy Life at All Times?

Now, back to philosophy. Nowadays, social media, conventional media, lifestyle magazines, and life coaches run a perpetual race to represent absolute bliss as the ultimate goal in life. But what if you simply accept that all emotions matter, and not being okay is totally okay?

In fact, it’s a sign of good emotional health to let yourself experience your full spectrum of human feelings and sentiments. Canceling your grief, sorrow, disappointment, or occasional bad mood won’t make them go away. It will just make it harder for you to heal and move on. 

Paradoxically or not, you can – in a weird way – enjoy all of your emotions, be them positive or not so positive. Because feeling it all means you’re living it all – and filtering your emotions into fake happiness means you’re numbing a large part of who you are as a human being. 

So – no – being blissfully happy all the time and enjoying life like it’s your last day on Earth is not always achievable. It was never meant to be. And that’s what makes life fascinating! All you need to do is remember how to be fascinated. 

A hug per day keeps the doctor away. Just like the apple.

Historically and evolutionary speaking, hugging was most likely the easiest way of sharing body warmth between individuals, including when warmth was life-saving. Anyway – both back then and today, hugging has much more power than that.

A hug is a universal way of sharing happiness, excitement, and sadness. Sometimes a tight, caring hug from a loved one is enough to feel good. 

Many researchers confirm the benefits of hugging and cuddling – a hug goes deep in your emotional world and improves your mental and physical health. 

Why is a Hug so Powerful?

Have you noticed how babies are reaching out to cuddle? They find immediate comfort and peace in mom’s arms. A study shows that when a baby grows up with an affectionate mother, it is happier, more joyful, less stressed, and more empathetic as an adult.

So, here is how a hug is a game-changer:

• A simple hug can reduce stress and make you feel more peaceful and comfortable. 
• It will increase the “bonding” and “caring” hormones in your blood.
• When you hug someone, you may notice how your muscles relax, and you may start feeling less tension in your neck and shoulders. 
• You instantly become peaceful, and you feel full of love. 
• Hugging improves your heart rate, blood pressure, and mental health. Plus, it strengthens your immune system!
  

This being said, one shall never underrate the therapeutic and healing properties of hugs. So, whenever a friend or a family member is going through a tough time, you can just give them a long tight hug to raise their spirits and remind them of the simple pleasures in life.

What Happens When You Hug Someone for 20 Seconds?

Every hug and physical touch helps maintain the feeling of closeness, intimacy, and trust in all types of relationships. Many scientific studies show that hugs lasting for 20 seconds or longer have the most powerful impact on your body and well-being. 

Some of the 20-second hug benefits are:

• Increased level of oxytocin
• Increased satisfaction and delight
• Lowered level of stress
• Improved connection and bonding
• Lower blood pressure
• A healthy heart 

There is something powerful and empowering in long hugs. And if it sounds odd and abstract – you can try hugging for 20 seconds a day with your partner and examine this sensation yourself. 

What are the Benefits of Being Hugged?

If you still feel unsure about how hugs are good for you, we’ve listed some of the hugs’ medical benefits below:

Hugs Protect you From Stress-Based Infections

When stressed, our immune system usually weakens, thus leading to different deficiencies and health issue predispositions. A recent study shows that if you hug frequently, it will lower the chance of getting infections based on stress. The more you hug, the less overwhelmed and anxious you will feel.

Cuddling Releases the Hormone of “Feeling Good”

When we have physical contact with a person we love, our body releases hormones responsible for feeling good. These hormones are oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin. Researchers found out that if you hug for more than 6 seconds, your body will release a high level of oxytocin and serotonin.

Hugging Improves Your Self-Esteem

Can you imagine that a hug plays an important role at a cellular level in your body? There are times when you feel down and not worthy. During these times, hug a beloved one. It is a form of social support, or exactly what you need to boost your self-esteem.

Hugging Reduces Pain  

In this study, people diagnosed with fibromyalgia start to feel less pain when a light physical touching of their body is involved. In addition, hugging helps you release physical strain in your body, reduce muscle tension, and even sleep better.

Why do Tight Hugs Feel so Good?

Tight hugs have a positive impact on your body and your brain. Getting a hug from someone you love gives you a sense of familiarity and protection. A tight hug communicates friendship, warmth, acceptance, and appreciation.

A long, firm hug makes your body produce more serotonin in your brain. This will elevate your mood and will reduce depressive and anxious feelings. It also beats the feelings of loneliness, isolation, and anger.

Tight hugs make you feel you can trust this person and you are in a safe zone. As a result, you become more mindful and present with the current situation. So – do your best to give tight hugs every time you hug someone – it means much more than a loose hug and says more than a million words. 

The Power of a Hug: Quotes

Do you think hugging and cuddling bring the greatest joy you can experience? You are not alone. 

According to the famous family therapist Virginia Satir: 

“We need 4 hugs a day for survival, 8 hugs a day for maintenance, 12 hugs a day for growth.” 

Here are some other inspiring hug quotes you can use for inspiration:

• “I have learned that there is more power in a good strong hug than in a thousand meaningful words.” – Ann Hood. 
• “However long a hug lasts, it doesn’t last long enough.” – Kyle Schmalenberg.
• “Be a love pharmacist: dispense hugs like medicine—they are!” – Terri Guillemets
• “The only cure for certain pain is an affectionate, pauseful, warm hug.” – Meghna Sodha 
• “Putting your love into hugs is much more effective than putting it into words.” – Maria Bastida
• “Hugging: the truest form of giving and receiving.” – Carol ‘CC’ Miller
• “Sometimes you have to hug yourself and squeeze your own shoulder and be thankful it is humanly possible.” – Richelle E. Goodrich
• “Love is hands, holding you.” – Caroline Kepnes

Celebrate the Power of a Hug!

Finally – we also have a special holiday celebrating the positive influence of a hug!

January 21st is an annual event dedicated to hugging. The National Hugging Day, created by Kevin Zaborney, aims to give us the tool for deeper connection, bonding, and affection. 

To celebrate the day, you can offer a hug to a beloved one… Or literally anyone! 

In recent decades, mental health awareness has been a focal point of multiple governmental and nongovernmental organizations aiming to understand society and its present-day challenges better. This includes both well-being evaluation and its following support programs for improving the mental health of people of all ages, regions, and social groups.

Mental health experts have been using tens of traditional and innovative ways to make a momentary snapshot of peoples’ emotional health. Nevertheless, professionals increasingly accept well-being surveys as the swiftest and easiest way to make a valid conclusion with minimum effort. 

What exactly are well-being surveys, why are they practiced, and how are their results used? We’re about to give you the basics in the paragraphs below. 

What is the Feeling of Well-Being?

To measure the level of well-being, we need to have a clear definition of well-being in the first place. Although the answer to this question is far from unambiguous, we could compare the level of well-being to the quality of life.

It’s about a person and their positive perception of life in multiple aspects. It goes from physical and emotional health, through satisfying social and romantic relationships, to work-life balance and financial independence.

All in all, the feeling of well-being is when you are satisfied with your personal state as a human being and with your social role in your society. However, this feeling is not static and may change for various internal and external factors. That’s when your well-being score fluctuates. And the more you are aware of the changes, the more you are able to react and regain your balance.

How Do You Rate Your Well-Being?

It would be hard for a non-professional to evaluate their own well-being without external guidance or expert surveying. So, the easiest way is to use ready-made surveys with multiple wellbeing survey questions that will take you through your internal realm in merely a few minutes. 

You can find these types of surveys online, in different well-being apps, and – of course – by reaching out directly to your mental health provider. After you complete such a survey, you will receive easy-to-read results, often followed by a thorough explanation of your score.

In RelaxifyApp, your well-being survey will be used as a base for developing your own well-being program with mental fitness games focused directly on your current pain points. 

What is a Well-Being Survey?

Now straight to the point. A well-being survey is a questionnaire that aims to assess your performance under different criteria – often emotional, cognitive, social, physical, and even spiritual. The questions may or may not be divided into different sections, and your answers can take anything from five minutes to half an hour, depending on the length and depth of the survey you participate in. 

You can decide to take the well-being survey by yourself. Also, it can be offered to you by state officials, research organizations, NGO-s, or even your employer. Staff wellbeing surveys are a huge part of corporate responsibility nowadays, as they provide grounds for optimizing internal processes and taking better care of employees. 

Well-being survey results can point out early signs of mental distress. They can also prevent burnout, help spot unproductive thinking patterns, and even help you rethink your social behavior. That’s why answering some questions is merely the beginning. And what follows is the proper reaction to whatever your answers reveal. 

What is Worker Well-Being?

Worker well-being relates to the individual satisfaction an employee receives in the environment they work in. This includes, but is not limited to the satisfaction from:

• Safety and quality of the physical environment in the workplace;
• Balance between personal life and professional responsibilities;
• Working hours and the possibility for flexible or remote work;
• Economic stability and independence granted by a competitive salary;
• Social benefits, reputation, and respect one receives from their profession;
• Social environment and relations in the immediate and larger team groups;
• Creative satisfaction, inspiration, engagement, and thrill from the job;
• Opportunities for growing, developing, and working on one’s talents;
• Respectful, considerate, and open-minded company management;
• Levels of stress in the workplace;
• Equality and diversity in the workplace, etc. 

So, it’s not enough to survey your employees, find out they’re angry and offer them Thursday afternoon games to relieve anger. Instead, it’s way more important to develop a general strategy for worker well-being that will not address poor results but avoid and prevent them in the first place. 

What Should I Ask in a Well-Being Survey?

Many employers and their HR teams often find themselves lost when having to design a functional well-being survey. In the best-case scenario, a psychologist or a psychotherapist will prepare the questionnaire for you. That’s the safest way to go because these people have a license to evaluate a person’s well-being by asking the right questions. 

The most popular format in mental fitness apps is the “Strongly agree” to “Strongly disagree” scale, applied to various statements. It’s about giving the person a simple and easy-to-understand declaration and asking them to show how it relates to them at the moment.

Examples of such statements in RelaxifyApp that you can use as employee wellbeing survey questions are:

• “I have people that I can talk to about my feelings.”
• “I have clear goals in my life.”
• “Other people acknowledge my accomplishments.”
• “I choose freely what to do and say.”
• “I feel really tired.”, etc.

Depending on the answers, you’ll be able to easily capture the overall situation of the individual. And then – to provide a solution for their challenges. Your solution can include anything from extra breaks to stress release games or even corporate access to burnout apps. 

At the end of the day, it’s imperative to know the challenge in order to address it. And well-being surveys will help you both in spotting problems and measuring how well you’ve managed to handle them.