what can we aspies do to reduce our anxiety

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what can we aspies do or eat to reduce our anxiety and make us think better?

At times I've found that cleaning house can be a way to channel that energy into something constructive and distract me but it doesn't always work.

I've heard that exercise helps (going for a walk or something rythmic might be great) for everyone.

Also routines that you are in complete control of.. If you set your times of your days up so that they work for you then things go smoother. By going smoother there isn't anything to trigger anxious feelings inside.

I have done a little bit of research on anxiety because of my past diagnosis of anxiety and agoraphobia and one of the things I learned was that there is a theory that anxiety is sort of like a muscle in the brain... the more often you are anxious the better your brain is at making you anxious without your control. So one of the things you can do to reduce that is to find areas of your anxiety that you can solve.

For example, let's say you get irritated when you run out of toilet paper (couldn't think of a better example) then you could always buy more when you are half way through your current amount that you have. This way there is never a time that you are out of toilet paper. Keep in mind that only you know if you stock up on toilet paper so you don't have to worry about what others might think if you keep more toilet paper than other people so dont then get anxious about that concept cause it would defeat the whole purpose

You could write down all of the things that reoccurringly make you anxious and pick out the easiest to solve and work on those... as you remove some anxious parts from your life you'll find the other anxious parts are easier to take on...

This wont make the anxiety go away, but it will help you to reduce it.

If your doing something you find challenging (stress wise) and your feeling a little sick, dont think about it and stay positive. Just keep going and keep thinking that it will go soon. Thats what I did during my break down, I know its easier said then done. But thats what helped me. I also used to play games to calm me down, engaging ones. Half Life is a good one, if you dont mind shooters.

Infinitenull,

Thank you. It does seem like the things that throw me into meltdown are few but reacuring. I am not neotic or even anal about a lot of things, but somethings, can really send me over the edge. It is usually, someone in my home doing something, that they know sets me off, but they do it anyway. I feel like they just don't care, and it devalidates my feelings and I want to just expode.

Maybe I need to write a list of all the things that are liable to set me off and why, and tell him to tread lightly in these areas. That these are things that might seem minor and silly to him, but for me, it sends me into a rage.

I try writing, reading books or comics, exercize seems to help.

Me hugging my Raccoon doll seems to help me a lot with anxiety...

I take paxil it's not for everyone but it makes me function
I play with my dog
I hug my plushies and flap my hands and tiptoe to releive residual anxiety

I second housework and exercise. I try to get out of the house every day, even if it's just to go to the local shop.

Find out what you can and can't handle and then avoid the things you can't handle.Or if you have to do a thing that you know you can't handle, don't do anything else stressful that day. It takes time to learn to know yourself and sometimes you have to skip something that you'd really want to do, because it would exhaust you too much, but that's the only way I can reduce my anxiety.

I do a lot of things. I've always found I'm bettter when I exercise, and now I try to have a "workout schedule" posted on a calendar so I don't forget. Reading helps me as well, but that's also a way I avoid people (even at home), so I have to balance that with being social since I'm a mom. I take a bit over the reccomended dosage of St. John's Wort and find that it helps me with sleeping (I don't wake up as much), as well as my anxiety levels. I always go with the natural remedies first...but if nothing else works, there is the stronger stuff (meds). On a really bad day I'll go for a drink (1 or 2, alcoholic)...with the understanding that I can't do that every day.

find something complicated and tinker with it. What I've always done. By tinker, I mean take it apart, put it back together and see how it works.

I take high doses of anti-depressants. I have found this is greatly helpful in reducing my anxiety and allows me to better handle the usual stresses of day to day life. It does not make me more sociable or reduce the 'eccentricity' that makes employment difficult, but it makes life a good deal less miserable, whatever may come. I don't fly apart or have a meltdown immediately after anything goes wrong during my day. I don't cry at the drop of a hat. I am not so irritable and I don't snap at people for minor offenses.

It's fairly easy to get anti-depressants these days, and the side effects are quite mild. The risk, as with any drug, is long term dependence. My doctors warned me almost from the beginning (when I was diagnosed with depression, OCD, and SAD, having never heard or thought about AS) that I would likely be on these the rest of my life, and so I have been. I don't particularly enjoy being dependent on drugs to function, but it's better than not being able to function.

Exercise, writing, and drawing always lower my anxiety. Without these three thing in my life, I doubt that I'd even be somewhat sane.

I have a lot of anxiety issues. And for the past couple of days my anxiety has been elevated. I even had to leave a restaurant without finishing my dinner this evening due to noise levels (probably more amplified due to my anxiety). I boxed it up and finished it at home. What do I do?

Well...during these anxiety episodes (which can often last a week for me), I carry around house plan magazines for me to study whenever I can. Imagining myself going through those houses can be very relaxing. I like to think about parts of the houses that would be very cozy during a storm.

Doing something related to an interest is my recommendation for calming anxieties. One can also read books---especially ones related to an interest. Playing an online game like Solitaire can also be calming. Last night I played several founds of FlipWords online. I got really relaxed and fell asleep---and slept through a noisy storm that woke my wife.

Realize you are far from alone in your anxiety---as many of us with autism experience anxiety. We just have to find our relaxation outlet and remember to always practice it in our anxiety-ridden times.

I like to stim. I use to read about ASD's and answer no to questions about stimming with this attitude like 'hell no, I aint no Rain Man'. But then I would catch myself rocking on chairs. Then I remembered how often I would get in trouble for doing it at school. I am a constant nervous foot tapper and I have a few other repetitive hand to face motions that seem to calm me down. Now I am a proud stimmer! But only in private.
A great general destresser for me is going to the beach and body surfing. Afterwards I feel like a freed spirit drifting through the mundane human world with no master or ambition. I actually smile more and usually go home and play some guitar. Exercise in general is a great natural high releasing endorphins or dopamine or whatever, all that good brain chemistry.
Diet, excercise, working on your sleep routine. All these things are interconnected as preventative measures against stress and anxiety.

Avoid the types of people who make you the most anxious.