By Skylar, 6th Grade

Anxiety can be a lot on teens. The teenage years are ripe with new experiences, opportunities and challenges. There are also many stress factors. For example, teenagers might worry about starting high school, looking a particular way, fitting in with friends, final examinations/schoolwork, performing in plays at school or playing in school sports. Now more than ever, teenagers have even more worries with political affairs, new diseases, not to mention grades!!! 

However, these simple techniques help. Many people with anxiety find it helpful for dealing with moments of high anxiety and regaining their calm. 

Methods To Combat Anxiety

 I am a person who deals with bouts of anxiety often, so I gave each method a rating. The criteria is this: 1 point for calming someone down effectively, 1 point for grounding, 1 point for redirection, and 1 point for peace of mind.

> 3-3-3 method: this is a grounding technique whereas the first three is to observe three things you can see, hear, and touch. I rate this a 3 out of 4.

>Aromatherapy: 1 out of 4. Although the smells ground me, It did not calm me down to an extent.

>5-5-5 method: To do this breathing exercise, you have to breathe in for 5 seconds, hold your breath for 5 seconds, and breathe out for 5 seconds. I gave this a 3 out of 4, because it calmed my heart down significantly.

Listening to Music: 4 out of 4. Although this is a bit biased, finding your favorite artists to listen to is an excellent to calm down and release unwanted tension

5-4-3-2-1 method: This involves identifying 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste. 4 out of 4, because I grew up with this method so it’s kind of grown on me. It’s similar to the 3-3-3 Method, but longer and more complex to cool your brain down.

These are all the methods I have tried. I hope this helps. Toodles!