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Relax your body and slow your breathing

Feeling constantly ‘on edge’ leads to muscle tension, fatigue/exhaustion, aches and pains.

These tools will help you to feel calmer and release tension from your body. It pays to work on these techniques, so when you’re starting out, use one or both tools once a day when you are feeling reasonably calm. Once you’ve learnt the skills you can use them more effectively when you feel your anxiety rising.

• The Progressive Muscle Relaxation tool teaches you how to tense and relax different muscle groups in your body. The technique can be helpful if you suffer from backache and tension headaches.
• The Controlled Breathing tool teaches you how to slow your breathing rate. This technique will slow down your heart rate while relaxing your muscles. It tricks your brain into thinking that it's calm and rested.

Because you may not know when anxiety is going to occur, you can also access these tools on your phone through the High Res app.

Use problem-solving strategies

If you’re worried about a particular problem or situation you find yourself in, use the Problem Solving tool to help work through the problem and find the best solution.

When you’re starting out, use the tool to solve a relatively easy problem. Once you’ve learned the skills you can start to apply the problem-solving steps to all sorts of situations as they arise in your day-to-day life.

The better you understand the techniques the easier they will be to use. With practice, they'll become second nature.

Identify unhelpful thoughts

The way you think affects the way you feel. Unhelpful thinking contributes to anxiety symptoms. These can be so intense that they feel completely overwhelming. By the same token, positive self-talk can create a positive mood and mindset.

Challenge Your Thoughts tool to help you identify unhelpful thoughts you might be having about a particular situation.

If you’re in a group you might be overwhelmed by thoughts, like "what if all these people think I’m an idiot when I’m talking?"

You might even be overwhelmed by your anxiety symptoms, like "My heart is beating out of my chest and I’m going to die".

If you feel yourself starting to talk yourself into feeling bad about a problem, use positive talk to change your outlook. Start by telling yourself things like:

• “Even though this is horrible, it's not dangerous or life-threatening.”
• “These feelings will pass.”
• “I’ve survived anxiety like this in the past.”

The Challenge Your Thoughts tool can help you practice spotting unhelpful thoughts so you can replace them with more helpful, positive thoughts.

The aim is to give yourself the headspace to be able to think clearly about your situation and not become overwhelmed by events. Then you can develop a clear path forward.

When you’re starting out it’s a good idea to practice helpful thinking in a situation that is bothering you but isn't too overwhelming. Once you’ve learned the skills you can apply them to more anxiety-provoking situations.