1) What Anxiety Feels Like
Anxiety can show up as racing thoughts, tight chest, stomach upset, sweating, shakiness, or feeling detached. It often arrives in ordinary places: mornings, emails, queues, bedtime.
Anxiety
An alarm system trying to protect you. We can train it to ring less — and ring wiser. This page explains what anxiety is, how it works, and practical tools to steady the system.
2) Biology / How it happens
- Sympathetic system: fight/flight, adrenaline.
- Neurotransmitters: serotonin (mood), GABA (calm), norepinephrine (alert), dopamine (drive).
- Cortisol: helpful in bursts, unhelpful when stuck “on”.
- Breathing & CO₂: slow, longer exhale dampens alarms.
The autonomic system flips between alert, calm, and shutdown states.
3) Day-to-day tools
- Grounding 5-4-3-2-1: 5 see, 4 feel, 3 hear, 2 smell, 1 taste.
- Breathing: inhale 4, exhale 6–8. Softer shoulders, slow nose breath.
- Movement: walk, stretch, shake out arms to burn adrenaline.
- Warmth: blanket, warm mug, or warm water over hands.
Tiny, repeatable rituals teach the alarm that you’re safe.
4) Exposure ladders
Avoidance strengthens fear. Ladders mean facing the fear gradually.
- List steps from easy → hard.
- Practise the low step until anxiety eases.
- Climb slowly; repeat steps as needed.
Retrain the alarm, one gentle rung at a time.
5) Thinking tools
Supportive self-talk
Swap harsh inner lines for kinder, believable ones.
Kind, specific language supports calming circuits.
Reframes
Keep the facts, add choice and agency.
Accurate, balanced reframes stop the spiral without false positivity.
6) Printables
Important Note
The information here is for general understanding and support and is not a substitute for professional care. If you feel unable to keep yourself safe or someone else is at risk, call 999 (UK) immediately.