NoPanic

Tag: stress

  • The Prevalence of Anxiety Among Students: Statistics and Insights

    By Adil Sethi, Content Team academic

    Stress and anxiety have become very common among students, which unfortunately influences academic, affective, and interpersonal life. As students experience higher demands in school, social life, and their future careers, students need to recognize and control anxiety to do well in school and life. Stress and anxiety refer to the feelings that one gets when he or she feels pressured and or worried and may include factors such as a more than normal heart rate. The problem is that FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out, and the presence of fear impact the lives of individuals including students. This piece will explore the impact of stress and anxiety disorders focusing on the students, then types of anxiety disorders, causes and signs of it and at last this piece will shed light on treatment options and effective strategies to manage stress and anxiety.

    Impact of Stress and Anxiety

    Work and academic stress can affect life through sleep loss, inattention, and poor decisions. Anxiety disorders bring about physical sicknesses such as hypertension and a weakened immune system. Hypertension and chronic stress can cause abusive behavior or unresponsiveness to people’s needs, poor performance at work and school, and even poor general health.

    Types of Anxiety Disorders

    Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): Students who suffer from GAD are preoccupied with daily issues such as tests, courtship, and occupation, among others. These can translate to problems focusing, sleeping problems, and other somatic complaints, including headaches and muscle tension.

    Panic Disorder: This is manifested in brief but clearly imposed and intense forms of fear, which include panic attacks. These can be disabling; for instance, a student may be having heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and dizziness that can make the student miss or drop out of classes and or isolate oneself from society.

    Social Anxiety Disorder: It relates to an individual’s extreme fear of being evaluated or of being laughed at in front of his or her peers in situations like presenting an idea in a class or a meeting. Such outcomes include isolation from other people, thus affecting academic performance and social life.

    Specific Phobias: These are serious, senseless phobias of specific objects, situations, or events, such as speaking in public, being high up, or being around animals, that can restrict a student’s practice and engagement.

    Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): Children with OCD can be preoccupied with certain thoughts or images they cannot get out of their head; they may do rituals in an attempt to ward off their worst fears and spend lots of time; usually a lot of the day doing these obsessions and compulsions.

    Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Sometimes students suffer from traumatic events, so there are flashbacks, severe anxiety, and avoiding places and situations associated with traumatic events.

    Causes and Signs of Stress and Anxiety

    Genetic predisposition: One may have anxiety if they have had previous family members diagnosed with anxiety.

    Stressful life events: Stress coming from academic work, monetary worries, and social stressors are some of the causes and signs of stress and anxiety.

    Personality traits: Students who are perfectionists or highly sensitive tend to be more anxious than others due to certain inherited features.

    Health conditions: One can get anxiety as a result of chronic diseases or hormonal disorders or when an existing anxiety is aggravated.

    Statistics on Student Health Anxiety

    • According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), about 31.9% of adolescents aged 13-18 have experienced an anxiety disorder, with a higher prevalence in females (38.0%) compared to males (26.1%)​.
    • Another APA study showed that over 60 % of college students present the features of at least one mental health disorder, including anxiety.
    • Research indicates that 36.5% of US college students acknowledge stress as a major cause of poor performance among students being excluded. 29.5% of respondents pointed out anxiety as a factor that has influenced their response to the COVID-19 vaccination program.

    Symptoms of Anxiety

    Physical: Palpitation, sweating, headache, gastrointestinal upsets and tiredness are some symptoms of anxiety.

    Emotional: Abnormal and excessive thoughts of danger, fearfulness, irritability, and portentousness.

    Behavioral: Missed class, avoid situations that make them anxious and restless, and they find it hard to concentrate on their studies.

    Impact on Student Life

    Anxiety disorders can greatly affect students by creating poor academic performance and absenteeism while affecting interpersonal relationships and personal health, compromising aspects such as insomnia and digestive system problems. It might also prevent other social and extra-curricular activities, thus adopting an isolated lifestyle with a low quality of life.

    Treatment and Management of Student Health Anxiety

    Therapy: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is effective in the management of anxiety as the major goal is to help the students alter the way they think. Another treatment type is called exposure therapy, and this is the kind of CBT that allows a student to be exposed to fears and reduce them without any problem.

    Medication: Anti-depressants and anti-anxiety tablets can be taken to prevent the symptoms from showing up, but only under the doctor’s recommendation.

    Lifestyle Changes: Moderate exercise, adhering to correct nutrition, obtaining enough sleep, and relaxation procedures such as meditation and yoga lower the level of anxiety significantly.

    Support Systems: Discussing with peers or kin or joining a group of similar people can help one gain emotional support and advice.

    Self-Help Strategies For Anxiety Disorders

    Mindfulness and Meditation: Angelic activities that include ways of comforting and reducing stress levels.

    Time Management: With the help of correct scheduling and planning, one can cope with academic requirements and have feasible goals.

    Healthy Lifestyle: Practicing healthy eating, exercising, and making sure they get enough rest.

    Avoiding Stimulants: It has also been discovered that avoidance of caffeine as well as alcohol can assist in controlling anxiety.

    Effective Strategies for Students to Reduce Anxiety Symptoms

    1. Mindfulness and meditation can assist in bringing the mind to be more reasonable, overcoming the worried state. Headspace and Calm are two examples of apps that have special sections dedicated to students.
    2. Today, exercise in the form of jogging, yoga, or even a brisk walk can reduce stress levels by up to thirty percent due to the production of endorphins.
    3. Dieting and sufficient intake of water have positive effects on stressful conditions, and being energetic would help to face stressors.

    Another valuable competency is time management; using a planner or an app to allocate tasks and set due dates helps avoid bringing tasks to the last minute and stress connected with it. Moreover, it is also important to sleep enough since a fresh mind copes with stress more effectively. Finally, people may turn to their friends, family, or counselors for support, which can help to alleviate unpleasant emotions and give suggestions. Thus, the specified habits should be taken in order to build a healthier life that would be free from stress.

    Conclusion

    Anxiety is not a terminal illness but can be treated effectively with the use of therapy and changes in one’s lifestyle. If a student and or his close ones are struggling with anxiety, they can call the No Panic helpline on 0300 7729844, discuss the problem, and receive needed assistance. The helpline is open every day between 10am and 10pm. There are more helpful resources on our website.

    Sources Used

    https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/any-anxiety-disorder

    https://www.apa.org/monitor/2022/10/mental-health-campus-care#:~:text=URL%3A%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.apa.org%2Fmonitor%2F2022%2F10%2Fmental,100

    https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/any-anxiety-disorder

  • The Dreaded Deadline, and How to Deal With It

    By Paris Gill, Content Team Contributor

    The sun is finally out, it’s just about getting warmer, and summer is upon us. But for students like myself, May and June are the worst times of the year. The summer exam periodis an incredibly stressful time of year for those in education, and it can be very overwhelming swimming through the mounds of deadlines and anxiety-inducing situations of exams. Unfortunately, this stress doesn’t end come the end of education. The dreaded deadline pressures are something that extend wide into the future, in the workplace and life generally. 

    But fear not! There are some ways of reducing the tension and stress surrounding the exam and the deadline which I have discovered over the many years of practicing how to stay cool and calm before the summer holidays. 

    There are many different types of deadline anxiety, which I have personally noticed in myself and when talking to peers about what stresses them the most. Broadly, these consist of: 

    • 1. Anxiety around the importance of a deadline
    • 2. Anxiety because of many deadlines at the same time
    • 3. The anxiety of feeling unprepared

    1. The Importance of a Deadline

    In a school setting, your GCSEs and A-Levels/BTECs might be the most important exams you’ve ever sat. Goals for the future, either specifically getting into a college, university or workplace, or the general desire to do well, can make these exams seem incredibly daunting to sit. As a result, there may occur a form of self-sabotage with revision paralysis, where either nothing is going in or, being overwhelmed, you don’t even know where or how to start studying. 

    For after university or in a job setting, an important deadline may mean others rely on you to meet it with precision and accuracy, or your reputation may be held to the standards to which you complete your work. Again, the amount of pressure then put on this deadline is astronomical.

    There should therefore be an exercise of perspective when completing any sort of “important” deadline. By focusing on purely the task at hand and not worrying about the bigger picture, this at first may seem counter-intuitive. However, what I have realised by practicing this technique is that it draws mental energy away from worrying about the “domino effect”, and instead I can better direct my efforts to achieving this task or deadline as an isolated assignment. By focusing on the bite-sized chunks rather than the massive overthought-out picture of importance, the pressure on each individual task decreases.

    Additionally with exams, the phrase “what will be will be”, although cheesy, has kept me level-headed through a lot of stressful times! If, for example, I had done better in my Chemistry GCSE than I did, I might have taken it for A-Level and, like a lot of my friends, hated it and dropped it immediately! But because it didn’t initially work out like I wanted it to, in the end I was better off for it. 

    2. Too Many Deadlines

    Multiple exams or deadlines at the same time can become super overwhelming to balance and figure out how to prioritise and prepare for them. My dissertation and final project for a different module were due 2 days apart, and so I had to balance my spring holidays between doing both to an equally high standard, knowing they would influence my graduating grade. That put a lot of pressure on doing them both well and submitting them on time! 

    This is why I have sworn by a study timetable ever since my schoolyears. I now pride myself on good time management skills, but this is only through years of practice in balancing priorities and knowing where to direct my energy. With multiple coinciding deadlines, it’s really important to maximise efficiency and energy so you don’t get burnt out.

    Knowing how you work best can really help with this, exams or work deadlines. For example, if you can only focus on one thing at a time, allocate a couple days to each topic or project to fully immerse yourself in that task. On the other hand, if you need to do a little bit of everything, schedule a few different tasks to work on each day. 

    The length of time and time of day for productivity is also useful to figure out. The Pomodoro method, where you workfor 25 minutes and break for 5, can really help some people stay focused throughout the day. For me, however, I like to get carried away with work and not interrupt my flow, so turning off my phone and sitting in a library for a couple hours works better for me. I also study much better in the mornings, but a lot of students enjoy working late into the night – it depends on your preference!

    3. Feeling Unprepared

    Feeling unprepared or out of time is usually my biggest anxiety surrounding an upcoming deadline. As a busy student or someone with a lot of different work tasks, a deadline with a short amount of prep time, or a task which has become bogged down with the millions of other things to complete, can cause anxiety and frustration upon actually reaching the deadline. 

    This feeling was increasingly common this year when preparing for job interviews, particularly moving to a field I’m not currently in. As an English student who was interviewing for legal jobs, being the only non-law student at assessment days, or not having full access to certain resources, added an extra level of imposter syndrome to these already-stressful environments.

    My advice for feeling unprepared isn’t to prepare 1000% and panic if you haven’t, but allow yourself the grace to lean on what you know and admit what you don’t. No one is perfect, but admitting this will allow you to take some of the pressure off of the deadline and just prepare what you can. You’ll find that with a calmer attitude and less pressure on being perfect, you might just do better than you think!

  • Helping Employees Manage Stress

    By Natasha Devon, Patron

    In my experience, people will broadly have one of three responses when asked about stress. There are the people who claim never to experience it (usually for reasons of associating it with ‘weakness’). There’s the other extreme – people who believe it is their default state and somehow a badge of honour. And then you have the rest of us. Those who try to avoid stress whenever possible but find it difficult because the world is an increasingly stressful place. 

    My view on stress changed when I undertook Mental Health First Aid England instructor training, back in 2017. We were shown a graphic of a ‘stress bucket’ and taught that every time we encounter something frustrating, anger-making or panic-inducing, a little stress will flow into it. The aim is not to prevent this (because that would be impossible) but to regulate the total amount of stress sloshing about in the bucket by regularly draining it, via a metaphorical tap. 

    Turning on your stress bucket tap isn’t something to do in response to feeling stressed. It’s a daily, preventative measure – kind of like brushing your teeth. Generally speaking, there are three really good ways to do it. The first is physical activity, the second creativity and the third relaxation. Today, I take time to do something that fits into one of these three categories as often as I can – I aim for a total of one hour every day. 

    Of course, there are still times when I feel overwhelmed. If there’s one, giant thing taking up lots of space in my bucket then the smaller things seem less surmountable. That’s why during the pandemic, when we all had this enormous source of worry, many of us lost the ability to deal with the smaller trials and tribulations of life. I have a friend who copedremarkably well with the life-threatening pandemic sweeping the world’s population, but during one lockdown cried for three hours because she put a red sock in her white wash. That’s classic stress bucket overflow. 

    Whilst daily turning on the tap isn’t a perfect solution for every scenario, it’s a good baseline rule. The challenge for many, though, is finding the requisite time and energy. 

    Recently, I’ve been visiting more work places with my campaign Where’s Your Head At. I’ve been challenging employers to ask themselves whether a working parent in their organisation would realistically have the time and money to practice this vital form of self-care. If not, what could they do to facilitate? 

    Work circumstances can, of course, hugely increase amount of stress flowing into the bucket. In his (brilliant) book the Wellbeing Toolkit, Andrew Cowley cautions that wellbeing should not be conflated with self-care. You can’t offset a hugely unmanageable work load with a few cut-price yoga sessions, for example. 

    Yet often, when employers ask staff to anonymously submit suggestions for reducing workplace stress the requested changes are relatively simple. It could be introducing a rule that no one sends work emails after a certain time of day. It could be providing free gym memberships for employees. It could be making it common practice for everyone to leave their desks and take a decent lunch break. It could be introducing quiet areas or ‘chill out zones’ where staff can go when they need half an hour to think, or restore. 

    And evidence shows the return on that investment will likely be huge. Stress not only increases the chances of developing both physical and mental illnesses, it can also reduce an individual’s ability to problem solve, make decisions and think creatively. 

    A thriving business requires productive and present staff and stress is the enemy of that aim. 

    Find out more about Natasha’s work at www.natashadevon.com

  • Why a Digital Detox can Reduce your Stress Levels

    Dr Charlotte Armitage, Founder of No Phones at Home CIC

    Smart devices are part and parcel of everyday life for the majority of people. There are insidious in every element of our lives from the professional to the personal. Whether it’s checking emails, paying for parking, ordering food, tracking our energy use, banking, in education or the plethora of social media platforms used to communicate with friends and loved ones. 

    In today’s world, by the age of 12, 97% of children will own a smart device, and a child born today who lives to the age of 90, is expected to spend around 25 years of their lives looking at a smart screen. 

    Yet the impact that all this screen time is having on mental health, child development, relationships and psychological wellbeing has only recently started to come to light as more research and data is published. 

    There is a growing concern amongst mental health professionals, doctors, teachers and parents about the negative impact smart devices are having on our mental health and psychological wellbeing. Much like we experienced withprocessed food and smoking, we are now in place in societywhen the need to raise education and awareness on smart device use is required to make more informed decisions for the benefit of our health and wellbeing.

    Smart Devices and Stress  

    Being on a smart device for long periods of time can contribute to stress for several reasons. 

    One of the main issues is around the constant information overload faced with the pervasive nature of the devices in our lives. Constant exposure to notifications, emails, social media updates, and news alerts can overwhelm your brain with information, leading to cognitive overload and increased stress levels.

    The ‘always on’ nature of our lives by being constantly connected to work, social networks, and news, makes it difficult to disconnect and relax. The boundaries are blurredbetween work and personal life, leading to increased stress and burnout.

    Other ways in which devices can contribute to stress levels include: 

    • Disrupted sleep, with the blue light emitted by smart device screens interfering with the production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep. Using devices before bedtime can disrupt your sleep patterns, leading to fatigue and increased stress.

    • Reduced physical activity due to spending too much time on smart devices leading to a sedentary lifestyle, which is associated with various health issues, including increased stress levels. Lack of physical activity can also negatively impact mood and mental well-being.

    • Excessive use of smart devices can also lead to addiction-like behaviours, where you feel compelled to constantly check your device for updates and notifications. This dependency can contribute to stress and feelings of anxiety when you’re unable to access your device.

    To mitigate these effects, it’s important to establish healthy boundaries with your smart devices, such as setting designated times for device use, practicing digital detoxes, and prioritising real-life interactions and activities. Finding a balance between technology use and offline activities can help reduce stress and improve overall well-being.

    Digital detox to alleviate stress

    Creating phone-free time can help alleviate stress for several reasons. Establishing phone-free time reinforces boundaries between work and personal life, allowing you to disconnect from work-related stressors during leisure time. 

    Enforcing a digital detox, by taking breaks from your phone allows your brain to rest from the constant barrage of information and stimuli. This reduction in cognitive load can help alleviate feelings of overwhelm and stress.

    Setting boundaries around phone use can also empower you to take control of your time and prioritise activities that nourish your well-being.

    Simple changes you can make: 

    – Turn your phone onto aeroplane mode overnight to limit the distractions. Or think about removing the phone from the bedroom. This can take away the habit of scrolling before bed and as soon as you wake up.  

    – Establish a morning routine that avoids the mobile phone, and only check it once you’ve completed your routine. 

    – Consider taking a social media break. Logout or delete the apps to create some comparison free space. Learning more about social media platforms and how the algorithms work can also help you make more informed choices when you are using apps. 

    – Actively seek phone-free activities. Head out into nature, meet up with friends and family to get creative, pick up a book. Engage in other activities for leisure and enjoyment instead of scrolling or gaming. 

    – Log how you feel when using your smart device, and how much time you’re spending on it. People are often surprised by the amount of time they spend on their devices and correlate it with their mood and feelings. 

    We live in a digital era with smart devices playing an increasingly pivotal role in education, work and leisure. In order for us mitigate the negative implications of this increased digital-heavy world, we need to create phone-free time to allow  much-needed breaks from the demands and distractions of technology, fostering relaxation, mindfulness, and better overall mental health.

    No Phones at Home is a CIC committed to raising awareness and education around the impact of smart device use. Head to the website for a free planner guide to help carve out dedicated phone-free time in your busy schedules, along with further advice on healthy smart device use.

  • Exam Stress

    By Chaima Kenache, Content Team Contributor

    Exam stress is one of the few anxiety inducing events that the majority of people can relate to regardless of who they are. For a moment, consider the average GCSE student in the UK, juggling the demands of studying 8-10 subjects five days a week, with the supposed restful two days often consumed by revision and upcoming exam preparation. The pressing question emerges: when do these developing minds find respite? How can stress and anxiety not take hold when faced with an unending stream of impending deadlines? A staggering 66% of children openly express feeling most stressed about homework, assignments, and exams, and unfortunately the number continues to increase. Children often internalise this false belief system that their self-worth is intricately tied to their academic accomplishments and anything below the unwritten standard they’ve set for themselves is considered a “failure” or just a result of “stupidity”. The cycle of keeping up with academics, not because it intrigues, but because of the mental consequences of failing or falling behind is both unhealthy and dangerous. No child should feel tied down because of a number on a page,  no child should feel the need to place academic validation above their personal wellbeing and mental health. However, unfortunately, a lot of teenagers do feel this way, and conditional love is a key reason for this. Teenagers who perceive their parents’ affection is contingent upon academic performance are more likely to succumb to these stressing standards to not only avoid disappointing their family members, but also to prove their ‘worth’ to themselves, further intensifying the anxiety and fear of failure that they already had.   

    Luckily, there are ways to combat this issue. Firstly, parents should always promote the importance of good wellbeing and show love towards their children regardless of their successes or failures. One effective way for parents to assist their children in addressing mental health challenges is by acquiring knowledge on the subject. Actively participating in support groups and engaging with organisations dedicated to raising awareness about mental health equips parents with valuable tools. This knowledge not only empowers them to support their children during times of mental health struggles but also enables them to recognise early signs, allowing for timely intervention and the provision of essential support. Secondly, the use of mindfulness and relaxation techniques are powerful tools when tackling exam-related stress. Techniques such as keeping up with good exercise and knowing when to step away from work to engage in a more fun and alleviating activity are crucial to maintaining a healthy balance. Furthermore, procrastination and poor time management is also a key issue that magnifies anxiety during this period. To reduce this, students should break down study materials into shorter, more cohesive chunks of revision,  over an extended period of time. Alongside this, setting realistic goals with maintaining a consistent study schedule can help students stay organised and reduce the last-minute cramming that often contributes to anxiety. To reduce feeling of anxiety because of this expectation to not fail and therefore disappoint, it’s essential for students to recognise that exams are just one aspect of their academic journey, and that their value extends and isn’t based on just one test. However, teenagers sometimes can’t do it alone, seeking support from peers, family, or educators can provide valuable perspectives and reassurance. Moreover, sharing concerns and discussing study strategies can create a supportive network that diminishes the isolating effects of exam anxiety.

    Navigating exams, particularly for teenagers, can be highly stressful. Effective strategies to reduce anxiety include mastering time management, incorporating relaxation techniques, employing ‘chunking’ or information grouping methods, and seeking a non-judgemental outsider to listen and advise you when you need it. This provides a student with a nuanced and composed state of mind, which not only decreases the possibility of them catastrophizing everything causing them into a ‘mind blank’ before the exam, but also allows students to feel settled, removing anxiety around exams in the future.   

    Young people who are struggling to deal with anxiety around exams can get support by emailing youth@nopanic.org.uk.

  • Six Tips to Help Handle Stress and Find Balance

    Rachel Coffey, Rachel Coffey Coaching

    In the fast-paced and demanding world we live in, stress is something that has become part of most people’s lives. Juggling work, relationships and personal responsibilities can sometimes feel like trying to balance on a tightrope. However, learning how to effectively handle stress is crucial for our mental and physical well-being. In this article, we’ll explore practical strategies to help you navigate the storm of stress and find a sense of balance in your life.

    Identify Stress Triggers:

    Understanding the sources of your stress is the first step in managing it effectively. Take some time to identify the specific situations, tasks, or interactions that tend to trigger stress in your life. By recognising these triggers, you can work on developing targeted strategies to address and mitigate them.

    Prioritise and Organise:

    Feeling overwhelmed is a common contributor to stress. Break down your tasks into smaller, more manageable steps and prioritise them based on importance and deadlines. Creating a to-do list can help you organise your thoughts and focus on one task at a time, reducing the feeling of being swamped. Make sure you tick off anything you’ve accomplished. At the end of the week, revisit your list and re-prioritise, taking anything that no longer needs to be on there off. 

    Practice Mindfulness and Relaxation Techniques:

    Mindfulness and relaxation techniques, such as breath-work, meditation, yoga or Thai-chi can help calm your mind and reduce stress levels. Incorporate these practices into your daily routine, even if it’s just for a few minutes. This can create a sense of balance and clarity, helping you approach challenges with a calmer mindset. If mindfulness isn’t your thing, even listening to a piece of uplifting or calming music and creating a little space to quieten your mind can really help. You could also try No Panic’s recovery services.

    Regular Exercise:

    Physical activity is not only beneficial for your body but also for your mind. Regular exercise releases endorphins, which act as natural stress relievers. Find an activity you enjoy, whether it’s jogging, cycling, dancing or simply an outdoor walk and make it a regular part of your routine to promote overall well-being.

    Establish Boundaries:

    Learn to say no when necessary and set clear boundaries in your personal and professional life. Overcommitting can lead to increased stress, so it’s essential to be realistic about how much you can take on. Communicate your limits to others and don’t be afraid to delegate tasks when possible. Remember saying yes to things you can’t accommodate simply leads to frustration all round. Say yes to the things that are most achievable, necessary or enjoyable and leave space for others to pick up the tasks that don’t fit in your basket.

  • Hobbies Can Reduce Anxiety And Stress

    Hobbies Can Reduce Anxiety And Stress

    Taking up a hobby is a great way to ease anxiety or stress. It gives you something enjoyable to focus on, at the same time taking your mind off anything negative that you may be experiencing. Pleasurable pastimes can be a good way to calm down an overactive mind, alleviate anxiety and lower panic symptoms.

    Discovering what works for you may be trial and error, what suits a friend might not be your ‘cup of tea’ so be patient and try out a few things to see what suits you best:

    CRAFT: Many things fall into this category. Drawing, painting, card/candle making, scrap-booking, are all manual tasks that you can use to express emotions and create at the same time which can be very rewarding.

    MUSIC: This could simply be listening to all different kinds of music, especially uplifting tunes.  Dancing and singing are also known to lift our mood.

    WRITING:  Stories, poetry, letters and journaling are perfect ways to express built-up emotions.

    EXERCISE:  Exercise releases endorphins which are hormones that make us naturally feel good. It also increases our body temperature which can have a calming effect as well as burning off excess energy that can lead to anxiety.

    ANIMALS, Studies have shown that interaction with animals can decrease stress. Playing with or stroking an animal can increase levels of the stress-reducing hormone oxytocin and decrease the production of the stress hormone cortisol.  Which leads to us naturally feeling better. If it isn’t possible to have a pet of your own, maybe you could volunteer for a local rescue centre?  They are always short-staffed and need helpers to walk dogs or play with cats.

    READING:  Studies have shown that reading can help reduce stress levels from between 60 and 70 percent.  It relaxes your body by lowering your heart rate and easing tense muscles.  Many people find themselves being whisked off to another place and giving their minds a much-deserved break from anxious thoughts.

    PHOTOGRAPHY: Nowadays we don’t need an expensive camera to take up this hobby. Most mobile phones take great photos.  Taking photos of nature or the sea is a therapy that many recommend.  Start by just getting out of the house into the open air, then look. If you go out purposely to take pictures, you will be surprised how you see things around you differently.

    COOKING: It doesn’t have to be extravagant, MasterChef type of food but looking up new recipes, exploring new flavours and different types of food really can be fun.

    GARDENING: Research has revealed that gardening has a positive effect on our mental health. It doesn’t matter how old you are, it is so satisfying to nurture plants. Feeding, watering and helping things grow is very rewarding.  You can even provide yourself with healthy fruit and vegetables in the meantime.

    Everyone has different interests, but trying out something new could really help turn your life around.

    How can No Panic help?
    No Panic specialises in self-help recovery and our services include:
    Providing people with the skills they need to manage their condition and work towards recovery.
    Our aim is to give you all of the necessary advice, tools and support that you will need to recover and carry out this journey. No Panic Recovery Programs