Nov 2611 min read

9 Effective strategies for managing stress and anxiety

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Stress and anxiety have become epidemic. In a 2018 year study undertaken by YouGov "74% of people have felt so stressed they have been overwhelmed or unable to cope". Imagine dealing with this level of stress day after day, and how it affects a person's mental and physical health.

My goal is to change those statistics, one person at a time, by showing you the tools and strategies that will help you become more resilient in the face of adversity. Here you will find 9 effective strategies for managing stress and anxiety.

And you may ask, "Why is it important that I manage stress and anxiety?"

"The shit we swim in" by fine artist Anthony Butkovich

The Impact of Prolonged Stress on Mind and Body

Persistent high stress levels may contribute to depression, weaken the immune response, and make the body more vulnerable to illness. This ongoing strain can also lead to digestive issues, headaches and body pain, disrupt sleep patterns, lead to weight gain, memory and concentration problems, and even heighten the risk of cardiovascular conditions due to increased blood pressure.

If you could observe the effects of sustained cortisol levels on the body—like the inflammation it triggers—you’d see the crucial importance of effective stress and anxiety management for overall health.

So lets take a look at the 9 tecniques I have for you to manage stress and anxiety.

1- Breathing techniques

Most people have shallow breathing, which leads to energy depletion and increased heart rate. Knowing how to slow your heart rate through your breath is one of the things that is absolutely required for a successful stress and anxiety management. Breath alone has the power to take you back to calmness.

You can set aside a scheduled time to practice breathing techniques or you can practice as the need arises.

There are many breathing exercises for stress and anxiety (check the link to try out and see which ones work the best for you), but I will show you the one that I personally use and advise my clients to use in their breathing practices.

I usually use the deep, slow breathing (DSB) method, through the nose only.

Choose a quiet location and close your eyes if you're not driving. If you're driving you can still do the exercise but with your eyes open, of course.
Inhale slowly through your nose without forcing it.
Exhale slowly through your nose without forcing it, making your exhalation longer than your inhalation.

Now let me give you some insights on this breathing technique.

How do you know you're doing a diaphragmatic/abdominal/belly breathing?

In deep slow breathing (DSB), this is important because it's when you know you are really doing a deep breathing exercise, which is what we want.

"Camino a la Felicidad" by fine artist Michelle Hart

Shallow breathing stays in the chest, so if you observe yourself during your breathing, you will be able to tell if it's your chest or your belly that is rising. We want the belly to do most of the rising.

For that to happen, the breath needs to be deep to reach those areas of the lungs that are lower into the abdominal area.

So place one hand on your belly and the other one on your chest. As you breathe in, feel your belly rise. As you breathe out, feel your belly lower. The way of knowing if you're doing a good job at deep breathing is if the hand on your belly moves more than the one on your chest.

The power of a long exhale

One of the components of DSB is that the exhale is longer than the inhale. And you can play with that and improve the time you spend on inhalation to the point where you can add a pause before you start exhaling.

But why is a longer exhale so important? Because a longer exhale will make the vagus nerve carry signals to the brain, telling it that it is time to calm down and activate the parasympathetic nervous system (the one responsible for rest and digest), and deactivate the sympathetic nervous system responsible for a stress response of fight, flight or freeze.

The vagus nerve meanders through our body, affecting our emotional states, heart rate, inflammation levels, blood pressure, and digestion.

The vagal tone directly affects our well-being—specifically, our capacity to self-regulate and to connect with others. By improving your breathing, you will improve your vagal tone.

There are other components of your breathing though, that will also increase your vagal tone.

The importance of nasal breathing

Another important thing I added to my breathing technique was the nasal only breathing component.

"Constant Thoughts" by fine artist Felipe Esparza

I learned to take control of my breath when I started doing yoga, and now I try to breath only through my nose, even when I am exercising. I feel I have more control of my heart rate and that I can do so much more.

And here's why. If you breathe through your mouth, consider this:

We are all born nose-breathers meaning we are born to breathe through our noses. This allows for feeding and breathing at the same time when we are babies, but there are other physiological benefits to nasal breathing.

I will focus on the benefits related to stress, anxiety and the nervous system and try to simplify it for better undestanding, but know that there are many other benefits.

When we breathe through our nose (both inhalation and exhalation), there is 50% more airway resistance than when we breathe through our mouth. That resistance is basically a measure of pressure. So if the air goes into the lungs with increased pressure or airway resistance, it will reach deeper into the lower areas of the lungs.

And guess what we have in the lower areas of the lungs? We have countless nervous fibers that are part of the vagus nerve, i.e. part of the parasympathetic nervous system that I mentioned before.

So when we breath through the nose, we are allowing for deep breathing and triggering those vagus nerve fibers that will lower our heart rate and take us to a calm state.

It's so simple and yet so powerful. That's why knowing how to control your breathing is one of the most important strategies for managing stress and anxiety.

2- Gratitude practice

In a previous article, I've talked extensively about the power of daily gratitude practices to bring us wellbeing and as a way to return to calm. Our minds simply cannot be stressed while in deep genuine gratitude.

Gratitude is a powerful emotion that switches our atention from the bad, to the good, and that releases the right chemistry in our brains and bodies to activate the parasympathetic nervous system.

Learn all about how to practice gratitude daily in my article "Gratitude: 14 reasons why (and 14 ways how)" and consider it as part of the strategies to overcome stress and anxiety.

3- Mindfulness and awareness

This is all about being present and fully engaged in the moment, without judgment or resistance but with full kindness and acceptance of what life throws at you and also of your thoughts as they arise.

One way to be more mindful, aware and in the present moment is to focus on the already mentioned breathing, but also on any sensations in the body.

Instead of entertaining thoughts about the past or worrying about the future, which may be causing you stress or anxiety, being present with kindness will make you more grounded and focused on what is really happening right now.

As you return to calmness you are then able to resolve life challenges and find solutions more easily.

4- Positive outlook

As thoughts arise, you are able to observe them and decide if they are useful to you or not. By not believing everything your mind thinks, you can challenge any Negative Automatic Thoughts (ANT's) and replace them with their positive opposite.

This will bring you resilience and a positive outlook of yourself, life and others that is conducive of achieving your life goals and of bringing you wellbeing by keeping stress and anxiety at bay.

Check out my article "7 Ways to turn your mind into your best ally". It explores everything about how to keep a positive outlook and how to manage and reduce the ANT's.

5- Being in nature

We are part of nature, not separate. We thrive in the middle of nature, we recharge energies and allow stress and anxiety to be released easily when we're in nature.

Spending time in nature, particularly near areas like waterfalls, oceans, or forests, will help you reduce stress and anxiety due to the high concentration of negative ions present in the air.

These are essential to counteract the harmful positive ions that we breathe daily when in the presence of any kind of devices and machines, electromagnetic disturbances, polution, artificial lighting, air conditioning, televisions or synthetic materials, just to name a few.

Most people are not aware of how ions can affect our mood and wellbeing. Today’s world is filled with devices and materials that generate high levels of positive ions, leading to a state of electrical imbalance in the air around us and within our bodies.

The negative ions produced by nature have beneficial biochemical reactions in the body, leading to feelings of relaxation and wellbeing. The more negative ions you inhale, the more your stress and anxiety levels will decrease.

"Letting Go" by fine artist Angela Obenhaus

So go for that overdue walk in nature. If possible, add that to your daily schedule as often as you can.

6- Exercise

This is not news, we all know we should be exercising, right? Not only so we can achieve or maintain an ideal weight, but also because it is one of the most amazing strategies to reduce stress and anxiety.

How? Well exercise will do all these things when it comes to stress and anxiety :

Releases endorphines: Have you ever heard of the term "runners-high"? Not only will running release endorphines, but any exercise will. These feel-good neurotransmitters allow you to be in a good mood, optimistic, clear, focused and calm.
Reduces stress hormones: Exercise will actually reduce levels of adrenaline and cortisol, released during stress and anxiety, improving your cardiovascular, digestive and immune systems.
Improves sleep: very often sleep disturbances are related to stress, depression and anxiety and exercise has the power to combat all that effectively and allow a good night's sleep, which is essential for an individual to cope with life's daily stressors.
It's a type of meditation: Even though in motion, you will get in the zone and feel present with your breathing and with your body. It's a wonderful way to practice mindfullness and a type of meditation in itself.

And that takes us to the next strategy that helps reduce stress and anxiety...

7- Regular meditation

A practice with roots stretching back thousands of years, meditation was originally a way to connect more deeply with life’s mysteries. Today, it’s widely used to reduce stress and enhance relaxation.

As a mind-body practice, meditation helps create a deep sense of calm and focus. By concentrating on a single thing, it quiets the mind and reduces mental clutter, improving both physical and emotional health.

Meditation offers a lasting sense of inner peace, emotional stability, and balance. It can be a powerful way to manage stress, helping you feel more centered in daily life by teaching you to be less reactive in a stressfull situation.

There are many types of meditation.

Body-scan meditation, where you slowly check in and observe all parts of your body.
Breathing meditation, where you focus on your breathing.
Object focus meditation where you focus on an object without judgement.
Movement meditation that can be achieved by focusing on the movement of your body or the world around you during a walk.
Loving-kindness meditation where you focus on caring feelings as you think of yourself and others in your life.
Mantra meditation which involves chanting a word or phrase aloud or in your mind.
Mindfulness meditation, where you pay attention to what is happening in the moment (breathing, thoughts, body sensations, sounds) with no judgement but with full acceptance of what is.
Spiritual meditation, used in nearly all religions and spiritual traditions, as a way to understand and connect to a higher power.

8- Hypnosis

I believe hypnosis is just another yet more powerful type of guided meditation, but a meditation with a purpose.

Instead of the goal being only to improve self-awareness in the present moment, which requires regular practice of meditation, hypnosis can be a quick way to access and integrate that mindfulness and awareness. While doing that you can also access the subconscious mind to resolve certain limiting beliefs, habits, behaviors, perceptions and traumas.

In hypnosis you're not only working with the present; you're working with the whole temporal spectrum of an individual, helping them to heal from past experiences and replace issues in the present moment with images of themselves in the future.

Imagining future scenarios related to their goal, describing desired behaviors, emotions and feelings into the present moment, creates a incredible rewiring of the brain, where the individual welcomes that way of being and their future self, right here right now. It is one of the most incredible tools for transformation and manifestation.

I owe so much to hypnosis in the way I feel about life in general and on how I am able to cope with the ups and downs of life and create the life of my dreams, on my terms; that I can't say well enough about this amazing gift that nature gave us.

It's an ability we all have, it's a natural state of mind that is incredibly under-used and that I believe should be the base standard for all health care.

I also believe that after a few guided sessions with a trained hypnosis practicioner and resolving certain presenting problems, everyone should be empowered by learning how to practice self-hypnosis, especially for managing stress and anxiety.

"Breakthrough" by fine artist Mark Roden

Ways in which hypnosis can resolve stress and anxiety:

1- Deep breathing & relaxation: one of the main goals of hypnosis is to counteract the physiological symptoms of anxiety such as rapid heart beat, shallow breathing and muscle tension, and achieve deep relaxation and calmness.

2- Desensitization: the individual is safely exposed to anxiety-provoking situations through visual imagery, helping them become less reactive to these triggers over time. It is especially effective for phobias or fears, where the person creates a new sense of safety around the feared situation or object.

3- Stress management: Hypnosis can equip individuals with self-guided relaxation techniques and personalized coping strategies, empowering them to handle stress in a more balanced way. By practicing these self-hypnosis skills, individuals may find it easier to reduce and prevent episodes of anxiety before they arise.

4- Easing symptoms: For certain anxiety-related conditions, such as phobias or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), hypnosis can serve as a method to reduce specific symptoms, including recurring intrusive thoughts or distressing flashbacks.

5- Suggestion therapy: During hypnosis, the practicioner introduces constructive suggestions directly to the patient’s subconscious, reshaping negative thinking patterns, strengthening self-assurance and nurturing a more optimistic perspective which will help the individual build a mental foundation for positive change.

6- Emotion regulation: Hypnosis helps individuals better regulate their emotions and manage the levels of stress and anxiety.

9- Ask for help

Seeking help to address stress and anxiety is one of the most empowering decisions a person can make. Many people try to cope alone, feeling they should handle their burdens on their own, but reaching out isn’t a sign of weakness—it’s a choice for self-care and strength.

Persistent stress and anxiety can sap joy, make it harder to connect with others, and diminish both mental and physical well-being. Over time, these struggles can cloud decision-making, affect sleep, weaken the immune system, and even influence heart health.

Asking for help creates a support network—one that allows for fresh perspectives, new coping strategies, and guidance in moments when things feel overwhelming.

A skilled professional can help reveal patterns of thought or behavior that might be keeping stress and anxiety alive, unlocking new ways to manage emotions and find calm. And through this process, an individual gains tools that don’t just help for today but can transform their approach to life’s inevitable challenges.

"Only change stays the same" by fine artist Pamela Gosnell

Ultimately, seeking support is a profound act of self-respect. It means believing in one’s own well-being enough to know that life can be better, lighter, and more fulfilled.

If you would like to experience hypnosis to resolve your stress and anxiety, I am here for you. Send me a message through support@holistictransformationcenter.com for a free consultation call with me.

And if you came this far in the article, I have a free gift to help you manage stress and anxiety. I created some useful tools that you can download for free. All you need to do is to subscribe on this link while adding the code "DE-STRESS", and you'll be sent a link to the following free downloads: