A generally healthful lifestyle should help you to reduce your anxiety level overall. Try to limit the stressful influences around you as best you can. Choose a kind of exercise you like at least well enough to do regularly. Eat a variety of nutritious foods, stay hydrated, and strive for a good night's sleep as often as possible. One more thing: Don't neglect to spend time at wholesome activities you enjoy, in the company of people you like.

Other Well-Being Strategies

In addition to those things, it is recommended that you learn one or two generally accepted anxiety-reducing techniques. These include yoga, progressive muscle relaxation, visualization, and breathing exercises. Yoga, an ancient spiritual and physical practice, involves using stretches, poses, and breathing to bring about a feeling of calm naturally. Many adult education programs offer yoga classes, and there are also many instructional books and some television programs that teach it.

Progressive muscle relaxation techniques teach you how to tense and then relax individual muscle groups. This can confer a feeling of comparative calm (and also help you to fall asleep). Deep breathing exercises are another avenue you might want to explore. There are many CDs and tapes you can order online that can guide you through progressive muscle relaxation, breathing exercises, or creative visualization.

Visualization uses the power of the imagination to create feelings of calm and well-being. You can use visualization to hasten healing or lower blood pressure, or to try to create a positive outcome, such as getting a raise at work. Reduced to a simple explanation, visualization techniques can be guided (you imagine what you would like to have happen) or receptive (take what comes). There are several good books on visualization (two of which are listed in the appendix) that can help you get started, if you wish.

Like yoga, meditation is a long-established Eastern practice that involves focused attention and quiet. There are also many excellent books, CDs, and tapes on this subject that can help you learn it.

Don't Give Up

Don't expect every technique to work every time. Generally, you can count on more success when there is less overall stress in your life. If you are going through a crisis, unfortunately, your OCD or other health problems will probably grow worse (although for some people, having something else to focus on may reduce OC symptoms somewhat). Other factors, such as your surroundings, the time of day, and so on, may also have a bearing on whether a specific strategy will work for you at a given time. If a technique works only passably, why not try it again next time? Different conditions might create a more positive outcome.