Anxiety Relief: 4 Things To Check In On

0:07Welcome to today's episode of the Mindset Mentor podcast. I am your host Rob dial if you have not yet done so, hit that subscribe button so you never miss another podcast episode. I put out episodes four times a week to help you learn yourself, to understand yourself so that you can grow yourself because if you can grow yourself, you can make your life better. And so if that's something that interests you, hit that subscribe button so you never miss another episode. Today, we're going to be talking about anxiety relief. I'm going to give you four different things to check in on to hopefully help you with your anxiety relief.

0:40And when I say anxiety relief, I don't mean like full-blown anxiety attack or panic attack or anxiety disorder. I mean like you're just feeling anxious. You're feeling stressed. You're feeling not right. You can feel it inside of your body, you know? And it's really what to do when you don't feel good. It's just a few things to check in on and see like, hey, am I feeling this way? Am I feeling this way? Do I need to do this? And it'll help you when you're feeling a little bit anxious, but it'll also help you when you're just not feeling that great. And the other day, I was actually driving over to dinner and I just kind of felt like shit, if I'm being honest.

1:18It wasn't like anything, I didn't feel terrible. It wasn't like horrible. It was just like, I just kind of felt blah, right? There was nothing wrong. There was no big event that made me feel this way, but it was just kind of blah. It was like the color was kind of stripped from the world and it was a little bit more black and white versus technicolor, right? It's like the saturation was turned down in the world. And I think sometimes it's people feel this way sometimes. And first off, I want you to say, understand like there's nothing wrong with that. Everybody deals with, man, I'm just not feeling it today.

1:48And for years, I was the type of person where I was like, I'm not feeling today. And I would just push through it, chug coffee, get it done. And really what I'm going to teach you is how to take a step back and kind of check in with yourself to see if there's a couple of things you can do to fix it. And then you can help yourself with whatever it you need to do, taking action for the day. The idea that something is wrong and must be fixed and the story that we tell ourselves about why we feel this way or shaming or guilting ourselves for feeling this way is more important than anything else. But this helps you just become more self-aware so you don't beat yourself up because that's what most of us do, right?

2:27We get to a point where we don't feel really good and it's like, well, you're supposed to get this done. You should have done this. You shouldn't feel this way. Life is great. So many other people have so much less than you. Get your shit together. And so really what it comes down to is these things because we can get to a point where we don't feel really good and you don't feel great and it turns into something is wrong with me and it turns into this, I need to fix this. And then it turns into why does this always happen to me? And you get in your own head and you get in your feels and it all becomes like a shit storm inside of your head.

2:57And now you went from not feeling good to feeling way worse, right? And so let's dive into it. When I was feeling kind of blah, I went through this acronym and just going through the acronym made me feel better because I was able to kind of self-diagnose for a minute, right? And the acronym is HALT. The first part of HALT is hungry. And so, you know, you ask yourself, am I hungry? Because when you're hungry, if you have, you know, an empty stomach, you have low blood sugar, it can actually make you feel completely different than if you did have something that was healthy inside of your stomach.

3:31You know, for me, sometimes I go till one, two o 'clock and I don't eat anything. And that usually is fine. But sometimes it's, you know, it's the point where it's like, man, I really need some food because I don't feel like my brain is working correctly. So it could be that you're hungry. It's also could be like, you know, you have a really heavy, greasy food and your body needs to shut down to digest. It could be that you have too many seed oils. You have too many, too many, processed foods that you're eating. But if we go to being hungry, right, and we look at it, you have to look at it and realize that, you know, when you look at studies with how blood sugar and food affect your mood, research shows that low blood sugar can lead to being irritable, can lead to anxious thoughts, and it can lead to poor cognitive function.

4:20There's many studies that have shown that glucose availability directly affects the brain function and the mood. And so sometimes if you're just hungry, you can feel a little bit out of you, can feel a little bit anxious, a little bit stressed. Also, if you didn't have a good meal last night and you haven't had breakfast maybe, you might not have the nutrients that you need. A diet that's lacking in essential nutrients can impair your brain function and your mood as well. So like deficiencies in vitamins like B12, folate, and omega-3 fatty acids are linked to depression and mood disorders as well.

4:57And so the first thing you got to ask yourself when you're feeling that way is like, am I hungry? Because just being hungry can drastically affect your mood. The second thing you ask yourself, so that's the first part of the H, which is the H, that is hungry. Am I hungry? The second part of the H, the H, which is the A, is angry. Are you angry at something? Are you angry at someone? are you angry at yourself? Who are you angry at? What are you angry at? And what would make you feel different? And really like get there and think about it like, oh yeah, I'm angry because this person did this thing.

5:29And maybe you're carrying something with you that happened two hours ago or a conversation with a coworker that pissed you off. And now two hours later, you're still kind of working in the background of your brain. Like it's not on the front burner, but it's kind of on the back burner. It's still kind of taking a little bit of your your cognitive functioning, right? And so with your stress hormones, anger triggers the release of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. And if you have too much of that, you know, chronic release of these hormones are negatively impact mental health. It leads to anxiety, it leads to depression.

6:04And so there's nothing wrong with adrenaline, there's nothing wrong with cortisol, both of those are very needed in the human system. But chronically inside of your body can cause a lot of issues. And sometimes you're angry from something that happened a week ago and you just continue to keep bringing it up in your head. Sometimes you just need to be angry and realize that there's nothing wrong with that. Some people, you know, learned when they were kids that, you know, being angry and throwing a temper tantrum, which is a child's way of getting anger out of their body, is unacceptable. And so we learn to just push down and push down and push down until it becomes too much.

6:41Sometimes you've been going through it too long and you just don't want to deal with it anymore. And so you need to find a pillow. You need to scream into that pillow. You need to take the pillow and beat it on the bed. And it's okay to have an adult temper tantrum. If you go back to my episode months ago about how to self-soothe, it is okay to have an adult temper tantrum sometimes. Don't take it out on anyone else. Make sure no one else is around. don't scare your children or anything like that. But if you need to go into your car and drive down the street and scream at the top of your lungs and, you know, grip the steering wheel and shake it for a little while, completely fine.

7:18The point is to get it out of you. Because sometimes there's just like anger bubbling under the surface for something that happened three weeks ago. So maybe you need to take it out and, you know, maybe you need to go to the gym and work out really hard. Maybe you need to get a punching bag or maybe you need to go for a run and just like run until you freaking cry your eyes out. Whatever it is, it's about getting it out of you and not burying it, which is what most people have been trained to do through childhood a lot of times. And then you end up blowing up on someone who has nothing to do with your issues.

7:49And, you know, they're just the, uh, they're, they're kind of catching strays really more than anything else. Also, if you're angry, you know, talk to a friend, get it out some way or another. And, um, you know, it's, you know, is it actually you? Is it the way that you're viewing your circumstances? That's how you can talk about it with a friend. So the second thing of the HALT is angry. Am I angry? The next thing is L, which stands for lonely. Have you been alone for too long? Do you just need to be around some good people? Don't underestimate that you can be around people and still feel lonely.

8:25Sometimes the loneliest that you'll feel is being around other people who don't are not good people who don't make you feel seen who don't make you feel hurt and so maybe you need to get around better people maybe you need to get around some people there are many many many studies that have linked social isolation and loneliness to various mental health issues including depression including anxiety including stress social connections can actually be a buffer against your stress when you're around people that you enjoy that you love that you're having fun with that you're having a good conversation with, going to the ball game and you love being at the ball game and you love being around your friends and talking shit with each other, it can release oxytocin.

9:03And oxytocin is like the cuddle chemical. It's the love chemical. It's what released during and after the birthing process to make us fall in love with our children. And so when you have positive social interactions, it actually increases levels of oxytocin. And the hormone that really promotes trust or promotes bonding. It reduces stress and improves mood. And oxytocin and serotonin, those two chemicals can actually buffer against cortisol. And so it can actually lower your cortisol levels, your stress, your anxiety levels. Sometimes you just need to be around some good people. And so, you know, be careful who they are.

9:42Don't just trust just anyone. You know, there are people who are batteries who make you, I always say like you get around them and they give you energy. And then there's people who are vacuums and you're around them for 20 seconds and they feel like they're sucking their energy from you, right? And so be around the right people. The right people can definitely shift your internal state. So that's the L of HALT, which is lonely. Am I lonely? And the last part of it is tired. You know, people are starting to take sleep a lot more serious, which is good, but I still think not enough. Like I would say one of the things that I prioritize more than almost anything else throughout the day as far as how I feel is my sleep.

10:17I think if we studied how much people sleep, we would realize a lot of people's problems internally and externally come from their lack of sleep. You know, lack of sleep directly, it's directly correlated with poor mood and cognitive function, right? Sleep deprivation can actually lead to increased irritability, depression, and anxiety. And so when you get adequate sleep, it's essential for your emotional regulation and your mental health. And so during your sleep the interesting thing about is that your brain processes emotions and memories during sleep and so not getting sufficient sleep can disrupt these processes and it leads to impaired emotional and cognitive functions so maybe you just need more sleep and that'll help you as well so sleep should be a priority for you there's a study that's done that found out that about 95 percent of people need at least seven hours of sleep every night and for me i usually shoot for at least eight, sometimes nine hours of sleep.

11:10And, um, you know, I'm a Guinea pig. I try things out. So I've tried seven hours. I've tried six. I've tried six and a half. I've tried eight. I've tried nine. What I found is that I just happened to one of the people who needs at least eight. Right. So that's, that's the, the hungry, angry, lonely, tired. That is the halt. And so let's go back to my story where I was driving in my car and I felt kind of blah. Right. Um, I went through H and I was like, am I hungry? And I was like, yes, I am. I was literally driving to dinner. So I was like, yeah, I'm freaking hungry. Okay, check that box. So that one we got, okay.

11:41I hadn't eaten very much. It was probably like 7.15 at this time, right? So I probably had low blood sugar, which made me feel not that great. Then I went to angry. Was I angry? I wasn't angry. Was I lonely? I wasn't lonely. Was I tired? I was tired. And the reason why is because we had people over at the house. I didn't go to sleep until pretty late. and I had a call that was at 7 a.m. and I could not move it. And so I was like, I went to bed late. I got like five and a half hours of sleep. And normally I try to move a call if I can, but this one I could not move it. So I had like five and a half hours of sleep.

12:18And so I was able to self-diagnose and I was like, okay, hungry, angry, lonely, tired. I am hungry and I am tired. And just knowing that made me feel way better. and so I was able to look at it and I was able to go oh no big deal I'm not a piece of shit because I feel this way I'm not an idiot I don't need to guilt myself I don't need to shame myself I'm hungry and I'm tired so I'm gonna eat some food because I'm on my way to dinner and I'm tired so I'm gonna make sure that I prioritize my sleep tonight I go to bed early and I make sure that I do it I knew it made me feel better because I was able to kind of self diagnose and it's made me feel better in the moment while I was still driving.

13:00But I knew that there was some action that I could take and that there was nothing wrong with me, which is good. Because a lot of times we'll just feel something and then we'll think, oh my gosh, I'm feeling this way. I feel this way often. And we start guilting ourself and shaming ourself, all of those things. But when you look and you go, yeah, I'm just hungry and tired. No big deal. Okay. I can overcome these two things. So for me, I had dinner and about halfway through dinner, I felt way better and I was like okay I feel pretty good and then I was like you know what I'm going to make sure I do I'm going to make sure I do my my evening routine earlier than normal so I can get to bed early I went to bed early and and then woke up the next day and I felt amazing and so it was instead of bringing that over and thinking there's something wrong with me there's something I don't know what's wrong with me why can't I why do I always feel this way all that stuff I was able to self-diagnose and I think that it's really important for everyone out there to listen to me and understand that it's important to know why you feel the way that you feel.

13:55It's important to know that you can make yourself feel better by taking different actions. There is a massive connection between the brain and the body. If you start to think that you're anxious, a lot of times what happens is your mind will go, yep, I'm feeling anxious. And then it will go to your body and your body will create more cortisol and more adrenaline to match what the brain is thinking. And in this moment when you can see, okay, I'm just hungry. I'm just tired. No big deal. It kind of clicks that connection away. It disconnects them and says, okay, now I'm seeing this. I don't need to continue to feel anxious.

14:28I don't need to continue to feel like there's something wrong with me. I don't need to continue to feel bad. And so it's important to understand that you cannot disconnect the brain from the body. The brain is just inside of the body. And so if you're thinking a certain way, it's going to make you feel a certain way. And so if I can change the way that I'm thinking about how I'm feeling because I've now self-diagnosed, it was just a big weight off my shoulders. And so once again, if you start feeling stressed, if you start feeling anxious, if you start feeling like there's something, you just don't feel good, you feel like you're just kind of blah, ask yourself, am I hungry?

14:58Am I angry? Am I lonely? Am I tired? The more of those you have, the more likely you are to feel anxious, stressed, whatever it might be. So that's just a way to self-diagnose and help you be a little bit less anxious. So that's what I got for you for today's episode. If you love this episode, Please share it on your Instagram stories. Tag me in at RobDialJr, R-O-B-D-I-A-L-J-R. And if you're interested in learning more about how we can help you improve and get better, we have something called Mindset Mentor Plus, which is a way to take all of these episodes and actually download them more into your brain.

15:30We give out journaling prompts. We give out lesson plans. We give out entire worksheets to help you take these and integrate them more into your life. If you want to learn more about it, all you have to do is go to mindsetmentor.com once again mindsetmentor.com you can get all the information there and with that i'm going to leave you the same way i leave you every single episode make it your mission to make somebody else's day better i appreciate you and i hope that you have an amazing day