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Best You: Quick tips to de-stress

With everyday stressors plus the pandemic, anxiety is something everyone can relate to these days.

INDIANAPOLIS — These days, anxiety is something everyone can relate to. Deadline pressure at work, trying to manage everything at home with the kids, and that pandemic, too!

Doctors say anxiety can actually lead to health problems like digestive trouble, heart problems and even diabetes.

"Anxiety, if bad enough, can really freeze people in their tracks," said Dr. David Diaz, a psychiatrist at IU Health.

He offered several quick tips on how to de-stress in the moment.

  • Give yourself a massage. Rub the back of your neck and head. That can help get rid of the tension that builds up and causes headaches. 
  • Remember to take a break. Change up your environment. If you've been working at your desk for six hours, get up and take a walk outside. 
  • Take a mental break. That's right — take your mind somewhere else. "It's OK to take a minivacation in your head," Diaz said. "Even for five minutes." 
  • Plan an actual vacation. Don't know when you can go? No problem. Diaz says plan one anyway. Just thinking about getting away can help. 
  • Try scents. Diaz says lavender has been mentioned as a scent that can help calm people down.

Diaz says — as with everything — something that works on you may not work on someone else. And vice versa. The important thing is to try. And if your anxiety gets too bad, consider consulting your doctor.

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