The topic of overcoming anxiety reminds me of the time I caught a cold when I was 19.

This was no regular cold!

Over the course of the first week, each day it was getting worse and worse. 

My father, a doctor, took me to see one of his old friends (an experienced doctor).

He also couldn’t figure it out. 

My throat was all swollen, damaged.

And it was getting worse! 

The doctor prescribed some strong antibiotics.

I started taking them, and over the next couple of days…

Nothing happened. 

I was still feeling worse. 

I was in CONSTANT pain.

Simply breathing was painful.

The sensation of air passing through my nose and throat was hurting like hell.

Swallowing was even more painful, as if I was swallowing nails. 

Eating and drinking were almost like torture. 

The nights were the worst!

Due to all this pain I couldn’t sleep well. 

I would frequently wake up to drink something hot and to use the throat sprays I was prescribed. 

And then… 

One such night, I woke up around midnight.

I turned on the kitchen TV and found the music channel.

As I was waiting for the water to boil I was listening to music. 

It was my then-favorite band playing a new song I had never heard.

And suddenly I realized…

It was the turning point for my illness.

I would get better.

And I did!

Slowly, over the course of the next several days, my condition improved. 

In about two weeks I recovered. 

When I went back to the university, my classmates could barely recognize me. 

I had lost weight.

I looked weak and frail. 

I couldn’t walk fast.

I couldn’t run.

My heart felt like it would fail. 

I was constantly out of breath. 

But, deep inside I knew: I was getting better.

And that was what mattered. 

This is how you overcome anxiety as well.

You heal it.

If you’ve been following the SMART process to overcome your anxiety, by now you’ve accepted your anxiety, you’ve committed to helping yourself, you’ve learned some problem solving and self-management skills, and you’ve learned about anxiety in general, and your anxiety in particular.

You already know a lot of techniques that can “unscrew” your life and make you stronger and more resilient. 

Hopefully, by now you’re approaching that “midnight song” time in your anxiety recovery.

Hopefully, it’s not getting worse now.

Next, let’s talk about techniques that specifically target anxiety so that you can start outsmarting and overcoming your anxiety.

You won’t feel great immediately. 

I can’t promise you that. 

But I can promise that you will start feeling a little better every time you follow the tips below.

You will see that with these techniques you will be able to lower your anxiety and break the anxiety’s vicious circle.

• You’ll feel more at ease.
• You’ll start looking forward to living your life. 
• You will allow yourself to be yourself. 

I call this step Rebuilding your resilience because this is exactly what you will do. 

Everyone has anxiety in their lives. 

Everyone has stress. 

But different people deal with theirs in a different way. 

The difference usually lies in how we perceive stress and anxiety.

When faced with adversity, you can either make your anxiety stronger, or weaken it. 

You can either make your anxiety vicious circle stronger, or turn it into a virtuous circle. 

This virtuous circle will slowly but surely act as an elevator of sorts, slowly lifting you from the hell of anxiety and into the light of living a normal, fulfilling and peaceful (yet fun!) life. 

Virtuous Circle of overcoming anxiety 

As we’ve talked earlier, the first step to breaking the vicious circle is to stop making things worse. 

You do it by accepting your situation, being honest with yourself about your struggles, and by loving yourself.

Once you stop beating yourself up for feeling the way you do, you open a door for yourself to enter another dimension.

This dimension is called “healing”. 

It’s similar to driving a car or riding a bike etc. 

Once you stop accelerating, you will see that you will start slowing down. 

When you stop beating yourself up for your anxiety, your anxiety will start “slowing down”.

But you will be coasting at the previous speed. 

You may feel like it’s not working. 

After all, you’re still anxious. 

So, now let’s talk about how to apply brakes, how to slow down your anxiety to a manageable level. 

In my opinion, you need to start with your body. 

You experience anxiety on a physical level. 

In my opinion, just like you can’t meditate away a broken leg, you may not be able to “think away” your anxiety, at least not initially.

As we talked above, your body has learned to use anxiety states to help you.

It uses the two types of anxiety: the cortex- and amygdala-based anxieties. 

So, if we know where each of these originates, why not “hit it where it hurts”?

I had spent years using mental techniques to battle my anxiety. 

And they worked. 

But my biggest breakthroughs came from addressing my anxiety on a physical level. 

As I mentioned in the story about my anxiety at work, sometimes physical changes can overcome your anxiety permanently.

At the very least, you can lower your anxiety to the level where it’s manageable.

Then, your anxiety stops being a problem in and of itself.

Then, you can start untangling the web of reasons that cause your anxiety in the first place. 

In my case, the symptoms of autism and ADHD caused my anxiety.

Many people with ADHD have anxiety too.

I also have symptoms of GAD.

I’ve also had traumatic life experiences.

But I only understood myself when I first lowered my anxiety. 

I stopped chasing my own tail (the anxiety) and stopped trying to “manage anxiety”. 

I started figuring out what caused my anxiety in the first place. 

I also learned that those things (GAD, ADHD, autism) don’t define me. 

I can fix my problems, manage my issues, or accept things that cannot be fixed. 

If something can’t be fixed, I need to learn to live with it. 

After all, we have no other way. 

If you’ve decided to save yourself, that’s what you gotta do.

Just like my son now has one real eye, he needs to learn to live with this condition. 

And that’s OK. 

I need to learn to live with my autism and make sure I still live a good life. 

And that’s OK. 

So, some things can be fixed while others can’t. 

But the process is the same: overcome your anxiety first. 

Solve or accept your underlying issues later. 

Overcome anxiety with SEX, Drugs and Rock ’n’ Roll

In this section we’ll talk about physical exercise (s*x is a form of exercise!), supplements and your lifestyle that help you overcome anxiety.

World’s best (easiest) exercise

Physical exercise has been shown to:

• Lower stress hormone cortisol’s levels (https://www.apa.org/topics/exercise-fitness/stress)
• Lowers overall anxiety levels (https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.714014/full)
• Lower anxiety and depression (https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/57/18/1203)

What’s more, exercise is more effective than medication!

I wrote about it in the article here: Why scientists like tragic accidents.

“But it’s hard!” – I hear you say. 

I know, I know. 

So let’s reframe it. 

What is exercise? 

It’s simply body movement. 

You don’t need to go to a gym 5 days a week and lift weights to feel better. 

In fact, I’m against going to gyms (unless you enjoy it)!

A better approach is to:

• Build exercise habits (so that you don’t rely on motivation or willpower)
• Do calisthenics – body weight exercises. 

I describe both approaches in the article Why scientists like tragic accidents..

Next, let’s talk about….

Anxiety-fighting drugs (be careful!)

When I say “drugs” I mean supplements. 

Personally, I’ve never taken anti-anxiety medication and I don’t intend to. 

Being tethered to a therapist’s office is the exact opposite of how I want to live my life. 

Besides, exercise is already more efficient than anti-anxiety medication. 

But it’s still not enough.

In my Outsmart Anxiety course I mention many supplements for overcoming anxiety, but here are the top two:

• Melatonin
• Magnesium Glycinate

A word of warning, though…

When taking supplements you need to approach it the right way or you may hurt yourself.

You need to calculate the appropriate dose for you. 

On the label, you will see a recommended dose. 

But who is it recommended for? 

A big bulky guy?

A tiny 18-year old girl?

A 30-something stay at home mom?

You need to find out your dose.

This too is described in detail in my course. 

In short, you start small and then increase the dose.

Disclaimer: consult your doctor before taking supplements. The above advice is for informational purposes only. It doesn’t substitute professional health advice.

The next component of your future rockstar life is…

Rock ’n’ roll lifestyle will beat anxiety

Your lifestyle and how you live your life impact how you feel.

Sometimes changing your lifestyle (or at least a part of it) is how you overcome anxiety. 

There are three components of your “rock ’n’ roll” lifestyle. 

Your diet, sleep, and relaxation techniques. 

Diet that overcomes stress

When it comes to diet, there are two rules. 

1. Your diet is what you eat. 

You can’t “go on” a diet. You are already on a diet. Maybe your current diet is sweets and pastry. 

Maybe not. 

But when you change your mindset from “going on a diet” to “changing your diet”, you will start improving your life. 

You will realize that…

2. It must be fun and forever.

If you don’t “go on a diet”, then there’s no end to your diet. So, you need to design your diet for long-term success. 

Plan to keep your diet for the rest of your life. 

This will force you to create a diet that will be good and satisfying. 

Nobody wants a life of misery.

You won’t keep a diet that makes you hate your life.

Nobody will.

Food is your #4 life’s need (after air, water and sleep), so you must respect this need.

So, how to make your diet fun and forever?

Broadly speaking, there are two factors in play when it comes to an anti-anxiety diet:

What you eat. 

I highly recommend the slow carb diet. It keeps you satiated while lowering hunger AND your calorie intake.

It’s like magic. 

You don’t feel hungry, you don’t feel sugar cravings or energy lows, but you also don’t eat as much!

When you eat. 

There’s still a lot of debate as to what eating schedule is best,

My take is…

“It depends”. 

Each person’s body is different.

Each person’s life environment is different. 

If you decide to lower your body weight, I recommend intermittent fasting.

People can tolerate intermittent fasting better than caloric restriction, and it has a lot of other positive effects (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9946909/).

This topic goes well beyond the scope of this article, so I recommend doing your own research on the topic.

If you’re interested in intermittent fasting, I recommend doing it only after you’ve gotten used to the slow carb diet first. I also recommend being careful and timing your transition well.

As I mention in my course, the right approach will make the transition easier and safer. 

Sleep away your anxiety

Sleep is your body’s #3 need. 

Sleep is more important than food!

The longest a human has gone without sleep is 11 days. 

Without food? 382 days.

So, if you care about what you eat… Care about your sleep even more!

Sleep disturbances are one of anxiety’s symptoms.

At the same time, not sleeping well can cause anxiety. 

This is a vicious circle.

And what do we do with vicious circles? 

We break them and turn them into virtuous ones!

The better you sleep, the less anxiety you’ll have. 

So, let’s take a look at some ways to use sleep for overcoming anxiety.

Melatonin is a supplement that helps you sleep through the night. 

Technically, it’s a “quick fix” and not a long-term solution, but if you’re exhausted from anxiety, a quick fix is something you might need. 

Blue-Blocking Glasses – another easy fix. Blue light has been shown to lower your sleep quality and quantity. (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9424753/)

To simplify: after looking at a screen in the evening you sleep worse and less. You also struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep.

Personally, when I have to use a screen in the evening, I use not just blue-blocking glasses, but blue-blocking sunglasses!

It looks weird, but it works!

Getting tired. Getting physically tired is a great way to sleep better.

Probably, the best way to sleep better.

Personally, I prefer low-intensity aerobic exercise. It can be a walk before bed, cycling (a real bike or an exercise bike). As we mentioned earlier, exercise has many other positive effects as well.

Conversely, if your body isn’t tired, you’ll find it hard to sleep.

Cold. Cold has been shown to have a correlation with sleep (https://jphysiolanthropol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1880-6805-31-14).

Some people (like myself!) say they can sleep better in winter than in summer.

This is probably why. 

You can use the cold to help you sleep. Make sure that your sleeping environment is cool enough for your body to sleep well. 

Use less blankets if you have to. 

Sleep alone (at least temporarily) if you need to. 

Writing about your worries/plans before bed can also help you “unload” the things you worry about onto the paper. 

Verbalizing (putting thoughts into words) helps you identify your worries, formulate them as problems and find solutions to them. 

You can use the journaling techniques we talked about in this article.

Earplugs are another quick fix. 

If you’re a sensitive sleeper, they can help you lower the amount of sensory input.

On the other hand, some people may find that it worries them and keeps them up when they can’t hear what’s happening around them. In this case, you can try using only one earplug.

Give earplugs a try and see how it goes for you. Make sure they’re the right size and shape. If they’re too big, you can cut the outer part a little. 

Cover your eyes. 

If you’re sensitive to light, using light-blocking curtains works well. But we all know that no curtain will block the light perfectly. 

I recommend using a handkerchief, a light scarf or a thin neck-warmer to cover your eyes (while keeping your nose unblocked).

Timing your sleep. 

Consistency in your sleep times is one of the most difficult to achieve states, but it’s also one of the most powerful. 

Whenever I can keep my sleep schedule consistent for over several days I find that my body naturally wants to sleep and it’s almost effortless to fall asleep and stay asleep. 

Our bodies were designed to follow the day-night cycles. Naturally, they don’t change quickly. 

Days are longer in summer and shorter in winter, but the change is gradual. 

So we too should try to keep our sleeping times as stable as possible. 

Next, let’s talk about some techniques that can help you relax. 

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