So, what are the tricks of the trade with unwinding anxiety? Unwinding anxiety is a term that refers to the process of understanding and addressing the underlying causes of anxiety. Therefore, it is a holistic approach that involves becoming more aware of the thoughts, emotions, and behavior patterns. These contribute to anxiety and using evidence-based techniques to manage them. In clinical studies, Unwinding Anxiety® was proven to reduce anxiety by 67% and reduce worry-related sleep disturbances by 27%. The Unwinding Anxiety program provides lessons, mindfulness exercises, journaling, and tools to help you work with anxiety, not against it.

Altogether, we think of anxiety as everything from mild unease to full-blown panic. But it’s also what drives the addictive behaviors and bad habits we use to cope (e.g. stress eating, procrastination, doom scrolling and social media). Plus, anxiety lives in a part of the brain that resists rational thought. So we get stuck in anxiety habit loops that we can’t think our way out of or use willpower to overcome. As a result, Dr. Brewer teaches us to map our brains to discover our triggers. So we can then defuse them with the simple but powerful practice of curiosity, and to train our brains using mindfulness.

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Unwinding Anxiety Book

The process of unwinding anxiety in the book form involves several steps, including:

1. Identifying triggers: Understanding the situations or thoughts that lead to feelings of anxiety. This can help you take steps to manage or avoid them.
2. Challenging negative thoughts: It’s common for people with anxiety to experience negative thoughts or self-talk that contribute to their anxiety. Therefore, practicing cognitive-behavioral techniques can help you challenge these thoughts and reframe them in a more positive light.
3. Developing coping strategies: Identifying and practicing coping strategies, such as mindfulness, exercise, or deep breathing. This can help you manage anxiety symptoms in the moment.
4. Seeking professional help: For some people, anxiety may require treatment beyond self-help techniques. Accordingly, seeking help from a mental health professional, such as a therapist, can provide additional support and treatment options.

Basically, by working to unwind anxiety, individuals can develop a greater sense of control over their anxiety symptoms.  They can improve their overall emotional wellbeing.

“You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” — A.A. Mine

Unwinding Anxiety App

Unwinding Anxiety is an app that aims to reduce stress and anxiety through a step-by-step mindfulness-based program. At length, there are 30 daily modules that are about 10 minutes in length. These include self-paced video lessons and mindfulness exercises. Equally, other features of the app include journaling to help identify anxiety triggers. You can track progress and weekly calls with experts. Also, an online support community that covers different discussion topics and tips. They also do daily check-ins that ask about the user’s feelings and anxiety which provides a brief mindfulness practice.

Neuroscientist Jud Brewer, MD, PhD, created the program after he noticed that the standard methods he had learned in school (most of which relied on willpower) weren’t actually helping his patients with unhealthy habits, addictions, and anxiety. “So, I began to wonder… Could anxiety be treated like a habit?” At length, Dr. Brewer says. “When we experience anxiety, it triggers a habit loop in our brain, leading us to automatically turn to certain behaviors or thoughts to try to alleviate the discomfort.”

“When I’m not feeling my best I ask myself, “What are you gonna do about it?” I use the negativity to fuel the transformation into a better me.” — Beyoncé Knowles

Unwinding Anxiety Reviews

“Unwinding Anxiety is rapidly becoming my #1 go to on my phone whenever I’m presented with a stressful situation. At any rate, I always used to go to a game which would sometimes make me feel even more stressed but the exercises available on this app have calmed me down and some make me feel much better!” – Teri T.

“This approach is helping me and made a huge difference in my life. It is not an over night cure, however, a journey to better.”- York County

“This program is excellent!!! It has provided highly effective practical tools for both myself and my teenage son. The price seemed high when I purchased our subscriptions. But now I see the gains we are making…so worth it!”- Coleen F.

I definitely would love to go back through the audiobook and kindle book (bought both) again in the future for a deeper round of learning. There are a lot of good practices and ideas in there which I skimmed on my first round through. That said, I don’t feel like a humongous need to go deeper, at least not right now…I have a lot more energy and attention to spend on other life endeavors…

At this point, in a 2020 clinical study of physicians, Unwinding Anxiety showed a 48% reduction in anxiety after just 28 modules. And in a 2021 randomized trial of individuals with generalized anxiety disorder, these individuals experienced a 67% reduction in anxiety after 2 months of using the app.

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” — Anne Lamott

Conclusion

Dr. Judson Brewer’s book “Unwinding Anxiety, Train Your Brain To Heal Your Mind” is so well worth it! We think of anxiety as everything from mild unease to full-blown panic. But it’s also what drives the addictive behaviors and bad habits we use to cope (e.g. stress eating, procrastination, doom scrolling and social media). Plus, anxiety lives in a part of the brain that resists rational thought.

So we get stuck in anxiety habit loops that we can’t think our way out of or use willpower to overcome. As shown above, Dr. Brewer teaches us how to map our brains to discover our triggers, defuse them with the simple but powerful practice of curiosity. Also, to train our brains using mindfulness and other practices that his lab has proven can work.

Distilling more than 20 years of research and hands-on work with thousands of patients, including Olympic athletes and coaches, and leaders in government and business, Dr. Brewer has created a clear, solution-oriented program that anyone can use to feel better – no matter how anxious they feel.

Articles

-Unwinding Anxiety App

https://unwindinganxiety.com/

-Unwinding Anxiety Review

https://www.wellandgood.com/unwinding-anxiety-relief-app/

-Unwinding Anxiety Summary

https://briefer.com/books/unwinding-anxiety

Have a Good One,

Cindee Murphy, One Voice – Unstoppable

“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” — Oscar Wilde