Five Ways To Reduce Stress & Anxiety

By Wyatt A.

No matter who you are, you are not immune to stress. Most people downplay the stress and anxiety they deal with on a daily or weekly basis, though that can easily make matters worse. I’m not suggesting you vocalize every ounce of panic or concern, but concealing your stress and anxiety is known to create a cycle of suppression, ultimately making these once manageable emotions now irrepressible.

So, how do you manage stress and anxiety? That’s an age-old question. A lot of answers are helpful, though obvious, such as: exercise, balanced diet, good sleep, etc. Do classic remedies work? Sure. But they often don’t address the root cause. What is the root cause of my stress and anxiety? That’s a deeply personal question, and though I may not have the answer, I can help direct you down a path where you can discover the answer for yourself. 

Here are five ways to reduce and manage your stress and anxiety once and for all. 

Reading

I know being off your phone, ‘unplugging’ from our tech-dominated world, might be on the cusp of a traditional remedy to managing stress and anxiety, but reading (from an actual book) is proven to work wonders. It’s well known that we take in a considerable amount of blue light from our phones, laptops, TVs, etc., but it seems most people don’t care. Reducing screen time before going to sleep is a common suggestion and for good reason, since blue light suppresses melatonin, but a high level of exposure during the day is linked to an increase in hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline, directly contributing to stress, anxiety, and irritability. So, put the phone away and pick up a book. Yes, a real book with pages. Not just any book because reading is meant to be fun, so grab a book you think you’ll like, and if you don’t, put it down and grab another. No one's judging you, besides me if you don’t like to read. 

Once you have a book in hand, congratulations, you are on a direct path to managing your stress. Reading is proven to reduce stress levels, lower blood pressure and heart rate, and ease muscle tension. In fact, only six minutes of reading reduces stress levels by 68% making it more effective than listening to music or walking (Lewis, 2009). Reading is meant to engage your imagination, which stimulates creativity and shifts you into a calmer mental state. Let’s dive briefly into the science behind it. 

Studies using an fMRI machine (functional magnetic resonance imaging) which measures brain activity and the changes of blood flow, shows that reading can be a complex task that stimulates the brain’s neural pathways. As you concentrate on reading, your stress hormones dissipate and you gradually feel calmer and in control. Besides feeling more at peace, since reading enhances brain activity, there are some additional benefits such as an increase in memory, cognitive function, and even your capacity to learn. The more you read, the more progress you make towards a cycle that promotes mental and emotional fitness. Unfortunately, the number of people who read has drastically declined, nearly 40% over the last two decades (Dooley, 2025), which is a real shame because you’ve just learned about how beneficial it can be! Imagine a source of entertainment and pleasure that is proven to reduce stress and anxiety, improve your memory and overall mental health, and people abstain from it. Don’t be like those people, be a book worm. 

To take it one step further, there are studies that show reading out loud can be even more beneficial. Studies have shown that compared to reading words silently in our heads, reading words out loud directly improves the memory of them. Besides just word retention, reading out loud increases comprehension, boosts focus, increases our fluency, and even increases our listening skills. 

But it’s not just reading out loud that’s helpful, talking to yourself out loud can potentially be even more beneficial. 

Talking To Yourself Out Loud

The moment you speak your thoughts out loud, you might be surprised to hear how you actually talk to yourself. Giving volume to your internal dialogue immediately puts it into a different perspective and it’s often easier to identify the intentions of your thoughts and how hurtful they could actually be. A large proponent to stress and anxiety is how you treat yourself, and negative thoughts spoken out loud lose their power. In your head they may reign supreme, driving you to an intense emotional state that’s hard to escape, and you might not even be totally aware you’re even doing this in the first place. We’re so used to our thoughts that it’s easy to forget how automatically they can ramble on, especially if you are prone to speaking down to yourself. 

Talking to yourself out loud is shown to increase self-compassion, mindfulness, and helps you focus on the present. A lot of anxiety is caused by being too focused on the past or the future, often trying to control things that are simply out of our control. Many therapists actually recommend speaking your thoughts out loud because it forces you to really listen to them. The language center of the brain becomes engaged, and your thoughts start to slow down, and the process of understanding these thoughts in a new light begins. 

Why is it that we’ll speak to others with respect and kindness but then treat ourselves like we’re worthless? If you’re someone with a harsh inner critic, imagine how your friends would react if you spoke to them the way you speak to yourself. It’s equally important to speak to yourself how you would speak to a friend, though it’s not as easy as it may sound. The process of understanding your self-reflection and self-awareness all starts with reducing your negative thoughts. 

Reducing Negative Thoughts

To reduce your negative thoughts, start by analyzing them to see if there is a common theme. Are you ruminating about the past, wishing you could do things differently? That’s a major source of stress and anxiety for most people. Past trauma is a considerable cause of anxiety in general, but being able to pinpoint the source of these unwanted feelings is actually good news. It may not feel like it, but being able to verbalize what’s causing you stress means you can work through it, especially with the help of a professional. 

However, most people don’t have a clear source, they just happen to be their own worst critic and don’t see a way out of it. Besides making your day-to-day life worse, negative self-talk is known to affect your health, especially compared to positive self-talk. There are literal health benefits to be optimistic such as: increased lifespan, increased resistance to illnesses, reduced risk of death via cardiovascular disease or stroke, etc. Next time the inner critic shows up, remember that chronic negativity takes a real toll on your health and you could be taking minutes off of your life if you continue down this path. 

What is positive self-talk? Great question, because it doesn’t mean treating yourself like you’re the greatest person ever. Being narcissistic is never recommended, but viewing circumstances in a different light is how you can adapt those negative thoughts into something beneficial. Compared to a traditional (but not vulgar) negative thought such as, “I can’t do this,” positive thinking isn’t necessarily “I can do this,” that’s perhaps too simple to be helpful. Instead, saying “let’s give it a chance” or “it’s an opportunity to learn” gives the issue a new perspective where moving forward doesn’t seem as hard. Like most things in life, take baby steps. Slowly work your way into being the most optimistic person you know, and soon people will be asking you for help with their own negativity. 

Besides thinking positive, keep in mind that towards the end of the day is when a lot of people begin the cycle of self-bullying. Before bed is when judgemental thoughts begin to creep out, critiquing your whole day, how you didn’t get enough done. Sometimes these thoughts then cross over into anxiety about the upcoming day, and before you know it, you’re stuck in a destructive loop. It’s recommended that after 9pm to refrain from all thoughts about yourself, because for most people the thoughts won’t be positive, so refraining from any self-reflection can lead you into a smoother night’s sleep and help start the next day anew. So, if you find your inner dialogue is criticizing your every move, try going for a quick walk and pausing all thoughts in general, and try to be present. 

Being In The Moment

“What does this present moment require of me?” 

Asking yourself this question is a terrific start to getting out of your head and becoming more mindful. This simple question helps to realize that whatever you may be doing, the stakes aren’t high, and usually never are. If you have trouble falling asleep, ask yourself this question and the answer is usually “absolutely nothing.” That alone could be the final push to catch some z’s. To go one step further, start to appreciate your surroundings: your comfortable bed, the soft pillow beneath your head, the warm feeling of having the blanket over your shoulder. Instead of being your negative self, you might start to really appreciate that you get to go to sleep. 

If you struggle to clear your mind and be present, it’s suggested to use your five senses to get out of your head and to start an active frame of mind. Sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. It’s funny how often we overlook the things we learned about as kids. When’s the last time you genuinely looked around and observed things and appreciated them just because you could? If that happens often for you, that’s terrific, and you should keep that in mind next time you’re feeling anxious. Whether it’s the sounds of birds chirping, the texture of a sweater, the flavour of a piece of chocolate, or the smell of a candle, focusing on even one of these senses can help make everything around you slow down, and slowly but surely, whatever was causing you stress or anxiety will begin to feel insignificant. 

Another effective way to be present is taking deep breathes, however, studies show that 80% of people have some form of a nasal deviated septum. What if your breathing is obstructed, and you’re not even aware?

Nasal Issue Obstructing Your Breathing?

Deep nasal breathing is a well known calming technique, but what if you’re unable to breathe through your nose to its full potential? Many people, including myself, have gone their whole lives not realizing that the amount of air they take in could be far less than it should be, which could directly contribute to feelings of stress and anxiety. Research even shows that there is a direct connection to an increased level of anxiety, depression and even migraines with nasal obstructed breathing.  

 In my case, I always knew that I wasn’t great at breathing through my nose, but I never knew how bad it actually was. Eventually I had a CT scan done and the results were shocking. Turns out I had been living my entire life with a severely deviated septum and a left concha bullosa, an air pocket in bone inside my nasal cavity. Essentially my nasal breathing was extremely obstructed and I just learned to live with it. If you want to learn more about how I fixed my deviated septum and how it improved my life, please check out Is Your Breathing Obstructed?

Recap

Let’s quickly review these five ways to reduce stress and anxiety:

Reading - put your phone down and pick up a book you enjoy. Reading lowers your heart rate and reduces stress and anxiety.

Talking To Yourself Out Loud - hearing your thoughts out loud puts them into a different perspective, and forces you to actually listen to how negatively you may be treating yourself.

Reducing Negative Thoughts - don’t be your harshest critic, instead turn that energy into positive self talk and change your outlook altogether.

Being In The Moment -  don’t dwell on the past or worry about the future. Focus on being in the moment, use your senses, and breathe deeply.

Nasal Issue Obstructing Your Breathing? - if breathing doesn’t help, you may have a physical blockage contributing to your stress and anxiety.

Stress and anxiety aren’t cured overnight, and unfortunately, they never go away completely. Having these feelings is simply what it means to be human, and trying to avoid these feelings altogether will only make things worse. The best you can do is try to identify its cause, follow the steps to alleviate them, and if you can, learn from them, because what feels like the end of the world usually turns out to be temporary.

Reference List:

Lewis, D (2009). Galaxy Stress Research. University of Sussex

Dooley, K (2025). Reading For Pleasure In Free Fall. University of Florida