Why Anxiety Feels Different Now And What's Actually Happening in Your Nervous System

Anxiety

Jul 14

This blog is adapted from one of our recent podcast episodes. You can take a listen at the button above.

If you've been feeling more anxious than usual lately - more wired, more on edge, harder to come down from things, you're not imagining it.

Anxiety and burnout have both risen by close to 10% in the last year. And what I hear from clients over and over again is some version of the same thing: "I've always had some anxiety, but it has never felt like this."

This blog post isn't a clinical detached breakdown of anxiety symptoms. It's a real breakdown about what is actually happening inside your body right now, why it feels worse than it used to, and what you can actually do about it.

Key Takeaways

In this blog post, you'll learn:

What anxiety actually is and why it's not a character flaw
The three nervous system states and what each one feels like
Four reasons anxiety is so bad right now in 2026
What a window of tolerance is and why yours may have narrowed
Five practical nervous system regulation tools you can start today
When self-help isn't enough and it's time to seek therapy
How EMDR fits into anxiety treatment and when it doesn't

What Anxiety Actually Is: A Nervous System Response, Not a Character Flaw

Before getting into why anxiety feels so different right now, it helps to reframe what anxiety actually is.

Anxiety is not a weakness. It is not a character flaw. It is a nervous system response, specifically, one designed to keep you safe.

When your system detects a threat, anxiety is supposed to arise. It prepares your body for quick, decisive action. It puts you on the edge so you're ready to respond. In genuinely threatening environments (think grizzly bear territory), that state is exactly where you want to be.

The problem isn't anxiety itself. The problem is when the nervous system can't tell the difference between a grizzly bear and a work email. And when it stays in that activated state long after the threat has passed.

The Three Nervous System States

Understanding your nervous system means understanding the three states it moves between:

Safe and connected — You think clearly, you engage, you feel present. This is the state where you can access your best thinking, your warmest relationships, your most effective problem-solving.

Fight or flight — Your system has detected a threat. Heart rate increases, breathing becomes shallow, muscles are ready. If there's an actual emergency, this is exactly where you want to be. But it is exhausting when it won't wear off and when the system stays activated long after the danger has passed.

Shutdown and freeze — This happens when the system has been activated for so long, or the threat feels unsurvivable, that it goes into collapse mode. You go numb, check out, feel flat. This state is often mistaken for depression or laziness, but it's actually the nervous system's last-resort protective response.

Most people with chronic anxiety are spending too much time in fight or flight. And here's the important clinical note: when anxiety runs consistently high over time, its close cousin is depression. The shutdown state doesn't come out of nowhere - it comes from a system that has been running on overdrive for too long.

This is not a character flaw. It is a learned pattern. And learned patterns can shift.

Book a free consultation at Seen Therapy →

Why Do I Feel Anxious All the Time? Four Reasons Anxiety Is So Bad Right Now

If your anxiety has intensified recently and you can't pinpoint exactly why, you're not alone… and there are real, identifiable reasons.

1. We Were Never Designed for This Volume of Information

The human nervous system was not built to process the amount of information it's being asked to absorb every single day. News cycles, social media, notifications, global events - all of it arriving in real time, all of it demanding a response.

If you can pull out your phone and find a tragedy that happened somewhere in the world today, your nervous system is going to respond to that. Not because you're weak or oversensitive, but because your brain cannot fully distinguish between something happening near you and something happening anywhere on the planet. It registers threat. It responds accordingly.

The practical implication: expose yourself to what you can actually affect change over. Limit consumption of what you can't. This doesn't solve everything, but it narrows the input.

2. The Pace of Change Is Destabilizing

AI. Economic shifts. Political polarization. Rising cost of living. In 2026, we are living through a super cycle of change. And the nervous system processes uncertainty as danger, regardless of whether that change is positive or negative.

Economic growth can be destabilizing. A new technology can be destabilizing. Even good change, if it's rapid and unpredictable, signals threat to the nervous system. We are being asked to process an enormous amount of new information at one time, and our systems are showing the strain.

3. Loneliness and Disconnection

More than half of US adults report feeling isolated and connection is one of the most powerful nervous system regulators available to us. From an evolutionary standpoint, this makes complete sense: the best way to increase your chances of survival is to have people who care about your survival. When that support is absent or feels absent, the nervous system responds with elevated threat detection.

Isolation is particularly tricky because alone time can feel like relief, especially for people who are socially overwhelmed. But the relief comes from removing an immediate social problem to solve, not from the isolation itself. The underlying subconscious experience of isolation is still one of danger.

4. High-Functioning Burnout

You're still showing up. Still performing. Still checking everything off the list. From the outside, it looks like you're doing beautifully. But underneath, your tank is emptying fast and the body is keeping score.

This is especially common for parents, professionals, and caregivers - people who have high-demand lives in multiple domains simultaneously and have built an identity around managing all of it. The cost is real, even when it's invisible to everyone around you.

What Is a Window of Tolerance?

One of the most useful concepts for understanding anxiety is the window of tolerance, which is the zone where you can feel your feelings without being overwhelmed by them.

When you're inside your window, you can handle a difficult conversation without shutting down. You can feel sad without it consuming the entire day. You can be stressed and still think clearly.

Above the window: Too activated. Anxiety, panic, irritability, racing thoughts, difficulty falling or staying asleep.

Below the window: Too shut down. Numb, disconnected, exhausted, flat affect, difficulty caring or engaging.

Chronic stress and trauma narrow the window over time. Things that wouldn't have pushed you outside your window before now do. And here's the feedback loop: as the window narrows, exposure to more stressors narrows it further. The goal of therapy isn't to eliminate emotion (feelings aren't bad, they're information) it's to widen that window so you can stay present throughout more of your life.

Five Practical Ways to Regulate Your Nervous System

These aren't magic fixes. But they are evidence-informed tools that work with your nervous system rather than against it.

1. Connection — start here

Safe relationships are one of the most powerful regulators the nervous system has. This is a huge part of why therapy works. If you can only do one thing on this list, prioritize real human connection - not scrolling through other people's lives, but actually being in a room with someone who feels safe.

2. Movement — as a signal, not a punishment

Moderate, controlled movement sends a signal to the nervous system that the threat has passed. This is not sprinting. This is not pushing your heart rate high. A walk. Gentle movement. Something that says to your body: we made it through, we're okay.

3. Breathwork — specifically the exhale

A long exhale activates the parasympathetic nervous system aka the brake pedal. Box breathing, extended exhale breathing, and other breathing exercises aren't silly little coping tricks. They work because of the physiology behind them. If you don't want to look up scripts: simply make your exhale longer than your inhale for one full minute and notice what happens.

4. Name what you're feeling

Labeling an emotion activates the prefrontal cortex and dampens the amygdala. In plain language: naming what you're feeling makes it more cognitive, more manageable, less overwhelming. You're not suppressing it - you're giving your brain a way to engage with it rather than just being flooded by it.

5. Reduce information overload

This doesn't have to be permanent. It can be an experiment. Instead of scrolling, consider finding the newsletters of the people you actually enjoy following and reading those instead. Limit the infinite scroll. If people smarter than you designed a system specifically to keep you trapped in it, you don't have to play.

What doesn't help: Pushing through, numbing with alcohol or overwork, trying to think your way out of it. These create feedback loops that narrow the window further rather than widening it.

When Is It Time for Therapy?

Self-help tools are valuable. They're also not always enough. Here are some signs that the nervous system needs more than regulation strategies alone:

When your window of tolerance has been chronically narrow and the tools aren't working. If you've been trying to widen it and nothing is shifting, something deeper may need to be addressed.

When anxiety has identifiable roots. Specific memories, patterns, relationships that breathing exercises alone aren't going to touch. This is where EMDR is particularly effective - getting to the root rather than managing the symptoms.

When things work in the moment but keep coming back. Regulation tools help you manage the wave, but the wave keeps returning. If anxiety is cycling back at the same intensity without a deeper shift, that's a signal.

When anxiety is starting to organize your life around avoidance. You're doing grocery delivery instead of going to the store. You're shrinking what you do, where you go, who you see. The world is getting smaller. That's a pattern that therapy can directly address.

A Note on EMDR and Anxiety

EMDR is highly effective for anxiety that results from trauma, and most chronic anxiety has roots in past experience. If you've read through this post and recognized yourself, EMDR may be worth exploring.

One important clinical note: EMDR is not the most efficacious standalone treatment for specific anxiety disorders like phobias. A recently published research article (April 2026) addresses this directly. That doesn't mean EMDR can't be helpful for anxiety disorders, it can be. It just means it may not be the only line of care needed.

If you come to me with a specific anxiety disorder, you might work together and then also be referred to someone else who specializes in that presentation. That's not a failure - it's good clinical care.

The most important thing is not figuring out the exact right treatment before you start. It's finding a therapist you feel you can develop a good relationship with, who knows what they're doing and can walk you through what comes next.

Ready to talk? Book a free consultation at Seen Therapy Services → 📞 417-708-7909 seentherapy.org

Frequently Asked Questions About Anxiety and the Nervous System

Why do I feel anxious all the time even when nothing is wrong?

Chronic anxiety often means the nervous system has learned to default to a threat-detection state - not because something is actively wrong, but because it has been conditioned to stay alert. This is especially common in people with a history of chronic stress, trauma, or early relational instability. The nervous system is doing its job; it's just calibrated to a threat level that no longer matches the current environment.

Why is anxiety so bad right now in 2026?

Several converging factors are contributing to elevated anxiety levels: information overload, rapid cultural and economic change, political polarization, rising cost of living, and widespread loneliness and disconnection. The nervous system processes uncertainty as danger, which means even positive change can be destabilizing when it's rapid and unpredictable.

What is a window of tolerance?

The window of tolerance is the zone where you can experience and process emotions without being overwhelmed by them. Chronic stress and trauma narrow this window over time, making it easier to move into either hyperactivation (anxiety, panic) or hypoactivation (numbness, shutdown). Widening the window is a primary goal of trauma-informed therapy.

What is the difference between anxiety and burnout?

Anxiety involves the nervous system's threat-detection and activation response - elevated heart rate, racing thoughts, difficulty settling. Burnout involves a depletion of resources from sustained high output with insufficient recovery. They frequently co-occur, particularly in high-functioning individuals who continue to perform even as their internal reserves are exhausted. Both respond well to nervous system-informed therapy.

Does EMDR help with anxiety?

Yes, particularly anxiety that has roots in past traumatic experiences. EMDR addresses the underlying memories and patterns that fuel chronic anxiety rather than just managing symptoms. For specific anxiety disorders like phobias, EMDR may be part of a broader treatment approach rather than the sole intervention.

When should I see a therapist for anxiety?

Consider therapy when self-help tools aren't producing lasting change, when anxiety has clear roots in specific memories or patterns, when avoidance is starting to organize your life, or when anxiety is interfering with your ability to function or engage in the life you want. A good therapist will be able to assess what's happening and guide you toward the most effective approach.

Related Resources

Hello. Hello. Hello, friends, welcome to the podcast where we simplify everything about mental health. Just kidding. But here's what we are gonna do. We're gonna sit down together a licensed mental health professional, that's me and a regular old Joe as my husband Garth would describe himself. We're gonna talk about the nitty gritty of EMDR, some nervous system mapping, how couples can help each other heal. What's healthy parenting actually look like? Maybe a little bit of good old banter mixed in. All with the goal of making mental health a little bit simpler for you. Quick note, because my lawyer says that I have to, I'm a therapist, but not your therapist. Unless I am. Even if I am. This is still just a podcast. Okay, now have a good listen. If you've been feeling more anxious than usual lately, you're more wired, you're more on edge, it's harder to come down from things, you're not just imagining it. Anxiety and burnout have both risen by close to 10% in the last year. And what I hear from clients over and over again is, "I've always had some anxiety, but it has never felt like this." Today, we're going to talk about what is going on, not in a super clinical detached way, but in a way that actually helps you understand what is happening inside your own body. So Garth, we are taking a little bit of a step back from EMDR today. This isn't going to be an EMDR exclusive episode. Is this the first one- No, no, no we've ever done? No. We do other things other than EMDR. Okay. Uh-huh. Here's the deal. We're also going to try to keep this episode at 20 minutes or under. So sir, can you bant us away, please, with that time limit in mind? Oh, my gosh, I wish I'd known that. My bant question could take us, could take us 20 minutes to answer alone. Okay, great. Okay. Let's see. Bant question that will be shorter. Let's go with, All right, I'm ready. Cassandra? Yes. Yes, yes. You wake up in the morning and you can have anything you want for breakfast, what would it be? Well, first of all, we had some friends over this morning, and we didn't offer them a full breakfast. But we o- we offered some... Like, we texted we'd have some waffles- Yeah ... while the kids played. "You guys wanna come over at 9:45?" That's not an acceptable breakfast time. Yeah, I... I don't understand. I, I thought it was an acceptable time for them to, like, eat breakfast- Sure, yeah ... and then come over. Yeah. Which they did. Yeah. And then we snacked on waffles. Yeah. Said waffles were spectacular. They were. So if you were to pick tomorrow morning for me, I would pick homemade waffles with strawberries and homemade whipped cream. Out of anything in the world, that's what you would pick? I'm a simple person. Okay. You and Leslie Knope, waffles. Yeah. Mm-hmm. What would you pick? Yeah, obviously- Oh ... you're going with something, like, exotic and wonderful because- I don't know ... you dissed my- I couldn't pick ... waffle. There are too many options. Couldn't pick. But you know what is, like, my, my, I don't think I've ever even told you my secret favorite breakfast- Okay is, and it's not good for me, I don't eat this often, I haven't had one in years. White bread- Mm-hmm ... untoasted. Mm-hmm. Fried egg, bacon, American cheese sandwich. Mm. There's n- it's like- Does it mean camping to you? It, we ate them camping. It means, it means deer hunting for me. Oh, okay. It's what we used to eat before we would go deer hunt. Okay. We would have sandwiches, and they would, like, the bread would just smoosh together and yeah, that's- You've got some real emotional connection there. Yeah. Okay. All right. I hear you. I thought we weren't talking about EMDR. That's not EMDR specific. Goodness. You're gonna come at me today. Okay. So what anxiety actually is, I'm gonna transition us. All right. All right. I'm gonna keep us rolling. All right. That's gonna happen today. Here's what I want us to think about, and we've talked about this before on the pod. I want us to reframe anxiety from a character flaw or even a weakness into a nervous system response. Okay. Anxiety is designed to keep us safe. Mm-hmm. The, that's the whole purpose, right? Yeah. It is supposed to prompt us to an action that will keep us safe. Yep. Following me so- Mm-hmm ... so far? Mm-hmm. Okay. There's a bear chasing you. Your body should be afraid. Well, or even really, like, anticipation of the bear- Mm-hmm ... in a situation where said bear is likely. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Because anxiety is supposed to kinda put us right on the edge- Okay ... to prepare for that quick, immediate action- Mm-hmm ... that we need- Okay ... to keep ourselves safe. Perfect. You know, and it- This is bear territory. Yes. Yeah. And, like, and, like, really bear territory, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Not, like, we have some black bears moving into our area right now. Maybe we go on a hike and see one. Mm-hmm. Like, no, you go on this hike, you will see a grizzly. Mm-hmm. Right? Like, your system is supposed to be- Mm-hmm ... in that place of anxiety. So- Here's what we wanna talk about. When you feel safe and connected, you think clearly, you engage, you feel present. In fight or flight, your system has detected a threat, your heart rate goes up- Mm-hmm your breathing is shallow, your muscles are ready. You are in a spot for an emergency. Mm-hmm. And if there is an actual an emergency, you're right where you wanna be. Mm-hmm. But it is exhausting when it won't wear off. Sure. And then there's shut down and freeze, when the system has been activated for so long or the threat feels unsurvivable. Mm-hmm. You go numb, you check out, you're flat. It can be mistaken for depression or laziness. Most people with chronic anxiety are spending way too much time in fight or flight, and their nervous system has learned to default there. Okay. I also tell folks that when your anxiety gets really high consistently- Mm-hmm that anxiety, really high anxiety's cousin is depression, and this is why. Okay. I just explained why that- Mm-hmm ... that is, right? This isn't a character flaw. It is a learned pattern, and learned patterns can start to shift and change. And when I say it's a learned pattern, I mean this is a subconscious- Right learned pattern. Yeah. Are we tracking so far? Yeah, I think so. Okay So why do things feel worse right now? What's different? We, one, were never designed for the volume of information that we're consuming daily. I was gonna say, do you want me to go old man Garth on you? Oh, boy. Can you wait until I get through a few points first? Sure. Sure. Can, can you hold your old man Garth point for just a moment? This old man is not moving fast. Okay. So yeah, we were never designed for the volume of information we consume daily. One of our original episodes on the podcast was speaking to this. Hmm. And how we can contain the information that's coming at us all the time. Yeah. The pace of change itself can be destabilizing. AI, economic shifts. We are very politically polarized here in the United States right now. Mm-hmm. There is a rising cost of living. Our nervous system processes uncertainty as danger. Mm-hmm. So even economic growth, right? It doesn't have- Mm-hmm ... to be necessarily a negative thing. Even something like economic growth that changes culture quickly- Yeah Can be destabilizing because it's, a- again, uncertainty is found as dangerous- Mm-hmm ... by our systems. In 2026, we are living through a super cycle of change. Mm-hmm. And our nervous systems are being asked to process a lot of information at one time. Okay, what else is increasing anxiety symptoms? Mm-hmm. Yeah. This is something else we've talked about on the podcast before, loneliness and disconnection. More than half of US adults report feeling isolated, and connection is one of the most powerful nervous system regulators we have. Mm-hmm. How are we going to increase our chances of survival? We're going to have people that care about our survival. Hmm, yeah. Like, it, it's right there at the top. Support from real humans- Yes ... around you that have demonstrated care. And if you don't feel like there are other people who care about your survival- Mm-hmm ... then yeah, your anxiety's gonna really, really increase. Yeah. High-functioning burnout is its own specific trap that we've also talked about before. Mm-hmm. You're still showing up, you're still performing, you're still checking things off. Your boss thinks you're doing a beautiful job, but you are running- Mm-hmm ... under the surface, and your tank is emptying quickly, and the body is keeping the score. This is especially common for parents, professionals, caregivers. I work with a lot of very busy parents who have high-demand jobs. Mm-hmm. And they are running, running, running in every area of their life. Yeah. And on the surface, externally, it looks like they're doing everything really well- Mm-hmm ... because they are. Yeah. But there's a cost that they're paying for that. So- What are your thoughts as we just ran through let's see, four, I'm thinking back. Yeah, four reasons that I see that's really exacerbating- Mm-hmm ... anxiety in general right now. No, I mean, I agree with those, and I was gonna go old man Garth, but you went there- Yes ... for me. You went old man Garth. Okay. I- And- I covered the old man- Yeah ... I thought I would- Yeah ... and so that's why I wanted you to, to wait until the end- Yeah ... to see if I did. I just think that we have so much access to so much information that changes so quickly that it's, it's dangerous to our psyches to a degree because we, if we allow it, w- I could look up... I could pull out my phone and look up a tragedy that has happened somewhere in the world today. Yeah. And this isn't me being cold or saying that that tragedy doesn't matter. Yeah. It's just me saying that if we live in tragedy constantly or with the constant fear that what happened there could happen here, then it's, it's hard to relax. Mm-hmm. And the reality is those things don't happen here every day, just like they don't happen there every day, right? They're rare things, but if you look at them on the scale that we have the ability to look at them in today's world with the internet, it's, it's tough. Yeah. And I think a, again, a previous episode that we've done we went through, like, what to do with the news. Mm-hmm. Right? Yeah. And if I were to summarize that episode in maybe one or two sentences, it would be expose yourself to what you are capable- Mm-hmm ... of affecting change over. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And if you are, if you have habits of exposing yourself to things that you cannot affect change over- Mm-hmm ... or things you do not affect change over. Right. Because I think there are a lot of things that I could affect change over that I don't necessarily. Sure. Right? Mm-hmm. So don't expose yoursel- yourself to things that you can't affect change over. I don't think that solves- All of that overwhelm- No ... but I think it starts to- Mm-hmm ... it, it does something. It narrows the, the focus down of things that you're consuming. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So if a lot of us are seeing an increase in anxiety symptoms- Mm-hmm ... and these are at least the, you know, we named four reasons that we'll say are at least in the top 10- Mm-hmm ... that are contributing- Sure ... overall what do we do about it? So the first thing that I, the first piece I wanna talk about is I just wanna introduce the concept of a window of tolerance. So a window of tolerance is the zone where you can feel your feelings without being overwhelmed by them. Mm-hmm. So if you have a high window of tolerance, you can handle a difficult conversation without shutting down. Mm-hmm. You can feel sad without it consuming the whole day. You can be stressed, and you can still think clearly. When you are above your window of tolerance, you're too activated. You're feeling anxiety, panic, irritability, racing thoughts, difficulty sleeping, falling asleep, or staying asleep. When you're below the window, you're too shut down, you're numb, you're disconnected, you're exhausted, flat affect, difficulty engaging and caring. Chronic stress and trauma narrows your window. Things that wouldn't have bothered you before push you outside of your window. Now, here's the trick. There's a feedback loop that then is created. Hmm. Right? Because if chronic stress and trauma narrows my window, and then I continue to expose myself to things- Mm-hmm that are traumatic to me- Mm-hmm ... right? And not that we always have a choice- Right ... about that exposure, but my window's going to get smaller and smaller and smaller. Okay. That makes sense. The goal of therapy isn't to eliminate emotion. Right. Emotions are useful. Yeah. I always come back to our kiddo's book, Feelings, Feeling, Feelings. Hmm. Feelings are not- Classic ... good. Feelings are not bad. Mm-hmm. Feelings are just like ocean waves. They come and they go, right? Mm-hmm. So the goal of therapy isn't to eliminate emotion. It's to widen the window of tolerance so that you can stay present throughout more of your life, right? We just wanna make that window bigger so that you aren't in a place of an- anxiety and overwhelm that doesn't allow you to really engage in your life- Mm-hmm in the way that you would like to. Any window of tolerance questions, sir? No. Nope, I don't think so. So if you wanted to start regulating in some practical ways, I wanna wa- run through, let's see. I have five written down. I want us to at least shoot for four, and then we'll see where our time is. First thing that I want us to look at is connection, and in fact, maybe we just connection, connection, connection. I'm gonna talk about this, and if you can only do one thing, do this. Safe relationships are one of the most powerful regulators that we have. This is a huge part of why therapy works, because it's a safe relationship. It, it should be. Mm-hmm. Why isolation makes anxiety worse even when alone time feels like a relief. Yeah. Isolation still puts us in a state of fear Mm-hmm The relief is coming from not having an immediate pro- an immediate social problem- Yeah ... to solve Yeah But the isolation still leads to danger- Mm-hmm ... in our subconscious Yeah. I wanna elaborate on that, but I'm worried about talking too much- No, go ahead on our time. Go ahead. There's, there's a comedian, and I'm not gonna name the comedian, but one of the things that he does is he takes questions from the audience, and this, he, he got a question, I don't remember exactly what it was, but it was about toxic macula- masculinity and isolation among men in today's society Mm And they, you know, the, one of his... He's a comedian, so obviously a lot of the times his answers are quite humorous his solutions that he'll provide. But the solution that he provided was really rooted in connection, that people today, not just men, but everyone today is missing out on connection with other people. So he gave kinda some funny examples on ways that men could be more connected. But it, it just stuck with me because I think it, it's one of the things as a teacher I was worried about in students that were really isolated and were online all the time. And it, I, I know a lot of kids are friends with people online. They play games with their friends online, et cetera, et cetera, blah, blah, blah. There's nothing that replaces being in a room with someone and interacting with them. That, that's the best way to have connection with others. Mm And w- I'm worried that we're missing that- Mm ... in a way that we culturally haven't before But I think we're starting to push back on that too Oh, sure Like, I'm noticing- Mm-hmm even, like, an increase in people seeking out in-person therapy Yeah Whereas directly after COVID it was like, "Oh, we can do this online?" Mm-hmm. "Let's do it online" Yeah And I, I think we're seeing a cost to that Mm-hmm Uh, I don't know that generations younger than us are making that shift as quickly. I don't- Mm-hmm I may just, I, I'm not basing that off of research- Yeah ... it's just, like, my very biased observations- Mm-hmm ... right? But I don't know. I'm, I'm hopeful that we're starting to recognize, like I said, the cost of that Mm-hmm Okay, so connection first. The second thing, and I'm gonna go, I, I'm gonna include everything that I put in my notes, but I'm gonna move through it a little bit quicker. Mm-hmm. Movement, not as a punishment or even as a discipline, but as a signal to your nervous system that the threat has passed. Hmm. So this movement should not be running sprints. Right. Right? Yeah. This movement should not be something that really gets your heart rate very high very much higher above your resting heart rate- Mm-hmm if you have something like a smartwatch to monitor that. Okay. So controlled, moderate movement. Mm-hmm. A little stroll. A little stroll. Breathwork specifically the exhale. So a long exhale activates the parasympathetic nervous system. It is the brake pedal. We want that brake pedal on. Mm-hmm. The things like box breathing, extended exhale breathing, they used to almost annoy me because they felt like I'll be honest, silly little coping skills- Mm-hmm before I knew the science behind it. Mm-hmm. A long exhale is important. Yeah. If you don't wanna look up, like, scripts or directives for box breathing and extended exhale breathing- Just try making your exhale longer than your inhale- Mm-hmm ... for a full minute and notice what happens- Mm-hmm whenever you do that. Naming what you're feeling that's the fourth thing that I wanna go over. Labeling an emotion activates the prefrontal cortex and dampens the amygdala. What does that mean? 'Cause that's, like, some, m- you know, brain science- Mm-hmm ... jargon. All it means is b- by labeling the emotion, we're bringing it to the front of our mind. Yeah, and probably able to cognitively evaluate- We're- ... it a little bit better ... we're just making it more cognitive. Mm-hmm. Yep. We're giving ourselves the ability, exactly- Mm-hmm ... to cognitively evaluate it more effectively. So naming it is important. And then reducing information overload. Mm-hmm. We talked about this earlier. Yeah. This doesn't have to be forever. I'm really encouraging clients right now to do things like, okay, I'm not saying don't ever scroll Instagram again, but can you notice who you really enjoy following and they probably have a newsletter? Mm-hmm. Can you sign up for that, and can you consume their content that way for a while? Right. Just limit it. And say, "I'm not gonna scroll- Mm-hmm ... for the next 30 days, but I will, like, read through these newsletters- Mm-hmm ... instead of- Yeah ... scrolling on social media." Boy, scrolling is a trap. Scrolling is a trap- ... and it's supposed to be a trap. Yeah, it's designed that way. And people probably with I mean, certainly with a higher IQ than me, are sitting figuring out how to keep me- Mm-hmm in that trap. Yep. So, I'm just not gonna engage in it. Yeah. If somebody smarter than me is- Mm-hmm ... designing the game, Yeah ... and the game is going to cause significant harm to me- Mm-hmm ... I'm just not gonna play the game- Yeah ... if that's an option. And it is. Don't have to be too if I don't play. Don't have to be too if I don't play, exactly. What doesn't help? We're gonna real quick. Pushing through, numbing with alcohol and overwork. Yeah. Thinking your way through it. Surprise, surprise, right? Mm. I don't feel like I went too deep there, which is, is totally fine. Those are kind of, of givens, right? Yeah. That those things are n- going to create a feedback loop- Mm-hmm uh, that we talked about earlier that's gonna e- exacerbate symptoms even further. Yeah. Okay? All right. When do we go to therapy versus use some of the tools that I just mentioned? When the nervous system needs more than self-help. Mm-hmm. That's not really a helpful answer. That's pretty general. Yeah. So let's look at it a little bit more specifically. When the window of tolerance has been chronically narrow and you have thrown tools to try to widen it and it's not working. When anxiety has identifiable roots, specific memories, patterns, relationships that just breathing exercises alone are not going to tackle. Mm-hmm. EMDR can. When you've tried things and they work in the moment, but nothing shifts on a deeper level, it keeps coming back over and over and over again. Again, EMDR, getting to the root of the issue. When anxiety is starting to organize your life around avoidance. You aren't going to the grocery store ever anymore. You're doing grocery orders. You are shrinking what you do, what you see- Mm-hmm ... what you try. You maybe wanna spend time with friends, but only if you do one of the two things that you're now comfortable with. Mm-hmm. These are not, a- again, this is not you know, complete list, but it does give you an idea of when would be a good time for me to go pursue some care. Now, I, I sh- did really brief shout-outs for EMDR- Mm-hmm ... really quickly. Yeah. EMDR- Treats anxiety that results from trauma. Yeah. Right? And then, you know, if you have a specific anxiety disorder such as a phobia, you will likely need to go on to get other care. Mm-hmm. And actually I'm going to link a research article that just came out a couple of months ago in April of 2026 that talks about you know, how EMDR is not the most efficacious treatment for- Mm-hmm ... true phobias- Right ... and anxiety disorders like that. Mm-hmm. We've talked about this before on the podcast. That doesn't mean that it can't be helpful- Right ... in treating anxiety, and even treating really specific anxiety disorders like a phobia. Mm-hmm. It just means it can't be the only line of care. Right. So that's an important note as well. Mm-hmm. I think all of that, and if you're a potential client listening, I think all of that can start to feel really overwhelming. Yeah. And that's why I really wanna encourage people to find a therapist that you're comfortable with- Mm-hmm ... that you feel like you can develop a good relationship with, seems to know what they're talking about - Yeah ... and let them kind of guide you through- Mm-hmm ... this process. Yeah. It is not uncommon if you come and work with me for us to work together and then for me to refer you to one or two other people. Mm-hmm. That doesn't mean that you have to do all that work at one time. Right. But if the specific kind of anxiety that you're trying to manage is, I'm gonna keep going with the example of a phobia- Mm-hmm ... is a phobia, you're probably gonna work with me, and then you're gonna work with somebody else- Right to address that anxiety. Yeah. That's okay. Yeah. You don't have to have that all figured out right now. Mm-hmm. But- A good therapist is gonna know- Is gonna be able to walk you- ... how to help you and who to pass you to next- Yes ... that is going to be able to best serve you. Is gonna be able to walk you through that. So don't feel like you have to figure it all out on your own. Mm-hmm. I think that's the main message here at the end that I, I want to convey. If your anxiety is get, becoming overwhelming, don't fixate on what is the exact right treatment. Mm-hmm ... find somebody who can talk about what they know and what they're going to do with what they know- Mm-hmm that you feel like you can develop good rapport with- Yeah ... and go get started on getting some good care. Yeah. Okay? Sounds good. I think that's a good place to end. I think so. All right, guys. We hope to have you back for another listen. Hope you had a good listen. We'll talk to you soon. Bye-bye. Well, that's all folks. Please see our show notes for ways to connect with us or go give us a follow on Instagram. 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