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Your body under stress behaves well. It produces certain hormones, like cortisol, that prepare you for fight or flight. Unless you need to arm wrestle a vicious meter Nazi ticketing your car in Manhattan or flee the state for a slew of unpaid parking tickets, there may be unpleasant side effects when that hormonal surge isn’t put to good use.

Your body under continued stress behaves badly. Otherwise helpful stress hormones create a cascade of events that may culminate in a sense of generalized anxiety. And with job market uncertainty, savings that went “poof”, grad school on hold, and relationships under strain, anxiety overload can feel like stepping off a sheer cliff, over and over and over again.

Clearly a call to your doctor is in order if you are experiencing symptoms of unmanageable anxiety or outright panic. Any home remedies might help you avoid getting to that point?

Think A-B-C: Aerobic exercise – Breathing techniques – Comfort foods.

Aerobic Exercise

A good cardio routine pays out twofold. With oxygen circulation and production of endorphins like serotonin (a feel-good chemical that soothes nerve endings in your brain), you’ll feel better after even one workout. If you want that sense of well-being to last beyond each 30 minute run or killer spinning class, commit to a minimum of 3 days a week. Today’s fitness world is all about the “mind-body” connection in recognition that a fit body fosters a fit mind.

If you become anxious to the point you’re stuck to the couch, enlist the help of friends. Go in on a personal trainer that will cut you a deal for small group work and beg for boot camp – cardio intervals interspersed with weight training. Too intense? A walk around the neighborhood with your best friend before or after work can also help regulate mood. And the socialization may be a good distraction from the repetitive thinking that can accompany un-tethered anxiety.

There’s even a bonus. The calorie burn of a regular routine will also help you avoid the belly fat that often accumulates with prolonged stress. Body wisdom suggests even if you never have to wrestle a parking attendant or flee your home state, you will need to outrun someone some day. The fat that is stored in the abdomen (sweet, sweet muffin top) is most readily available to burn. So don’t wait for the crisis . . . burn, baby burn!!

Breathing Techniques

The power of breath in controlling symptoms of anxiety can’t be over-rated. Picture yourself stopped dead in traffic, closing in on your dream job interview, five minutes to travel the last five miles. Your mind starts reeling with all the other things you should/could do – leave the car idling on the highway and run like hell (you’ve seen that in the movies), roll down your window and scream at the driver in front of you, join the cacophony of horn-blowers, throw yourself off the next bridge since you’ll be unemployed forever . . .

Dial into your breathing pattern. Is it rapid and tense? Maybe you’re holding it. Both engage your sympathetic nervous system – yup, fight or flight – and you can short circuit that just by slowing your breathing rate. An oxygenated brain thinks more clearly, is capable of being responsive rather than reactive. Imagine taking a minute of full deep breaths and see yourself picking up your cell phone and explaining your predicament to a very compassionate executive assistant who laughs and says your interviewer must be tangled in the same snare.

If you’d like some guidance on how to breathe better, consider taking a yoga class where they practice “Pranayama” – the art of breath control. In addition to learning a sequence of yoga poses, many designed to sooth and restore, skilled teachers instruct you on how to use breath to elicit the relaxation response. And if you find a yoga guru to guide you in meditation, you may be pleasantly surprised that it can help you make friends with your mind!

If yoga classes aren’t convenient, try this simple breathing exercise at home:

Lay a yoga mat or thick towel on the floor of a quiet room. Put on some tunes that soothe. Type “yoga” into an I-Tunes search if you need inspiration. Lie flat on your back, legs extended and relaxed, and close your eyes. Make a triangle shape with your hands by overlapping your thumbs and connecting your index fingers. Bring the triangle to your abdomen, placing the thumbs across your navel with the fingers pointing down and resting lightly on your lower abs. Begin breathing slowly, in and out of your nose if possible. See if you can direct the breath into your lower abdomen and have your hands rise slightly with the inhalation and sink with the exhale. Stay with this for the duration of a song, maybe two. 

Full, deep belly breathing is very yogic and oh so relaxing! If you practice relaxation techniques regularly, you’ll find it a lot easier to engage them when you really need to.

Comfort Foods

A big bowl of mom’s mac and cheese might do the trick in the short term. But recognize comfort foods don’t need to be red-line bad for you. Reframe what comfort means and work them into any meal. Warm oatmeal and other complex carbohydrates (whole grain) boost serotonin and stabilize blood sugar. Toss down a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice to reduce stress hormones and pump up your immune system with vitamin C. Almonds are full of vitamins that foster resilience so throw some in your yogurt for lunch. Since avocado works to lower blood pressure and is so nutrient dense, indulge in a little guacamole for a happy hour snack. Sauté a little spinach over rare tuna for dinner – both help regulate cortisol. And when you’re ready for sleep but toss and turn instead, a glass of skim milk might do the trick as the calcium lowers anxiety and reduces muscle spasms.

No one is immune from experiencing some anxiety, particularly when stressors add up. Start by separating the stress that can be worked with from that you can’t control. Ask yourself if your thinking brings you closer to long-term goals or does it suck you down a drain? If you find yourself swirling, try A-B-C . . . move a little, breathe a little more, have a glass of milk. And with the clarity that results, pause in gratitude for the one thing (person, animal, circumstance) for which you are grateful every day.