Healthy food

Food is an important part of our lifestyle. A healthy diet involves not eating too much or too little and consists mainly of vegetables and a few animal products. A healthy menu is rich in vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts, fish, whole grains, contains enough low-fat dairy products, and is low in red and processed meat, alcohol and sugary drinks, salt and saturated fatty acids.

Plenty of fruit and vegetables

Eating a minimum of 250 grams of vegetables and 200 grams of fruit (2 pieces per day) every day is very healthy. Fruit and vegetables contain important vitamins, minerals and fibres. Eating enough fruit and vegetables reduces the risk of certain types of cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Tips to eat more vegetables:

• Alternate between different fruits and vegetables. Each fruit and vegetable contains different types of nutrients in different amounts. By alternating, you will consume different types of nutrients.
• Add fruit and vegetables to your lunch. For example, make a lunch salad, make a vegetable omelette or put some slices of tomato on your cheese sandwich.
• Eat more fruit and vegetables as a snack.

Mainly eat whole grain products

Opt for whole grain products, such as whole grain bread, whole grain pasta, whole grain couscous and brown rice. Whole grain products are rich in slow carbohydrates, dietary fibre (which stimulates healthy intestinal function) and various minerals and vitamins. Whole grain products also make you feel full. Fibre in whole grain products swells up in your stomach and intestines, making you feel satiated faster and longer than the non-whole grain variations.

In addition, whole grain products can lower the risk of type 2 diabetes and certain cardiovascular diseases.

Try not to eat too many products made from white wheat flour, such as white bread, cookies, biscuits and pretzels. These are carbohydrate-rich products that provide you with few nutrients.

Eat legumes every week

The Nutrition Centre advises eating legumes – such as kidney beans, soybeans, lentils or chickpeas – once a week. Legumes are rich in protein, dietary fibre, iron and other important nutrients. On the day you include legumes in your diet, you do not have to eat meat.

Pay attention to the type of fat

Your body needs fats. They are a source of energy, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E and important fatty acids. Do not solely pay attention to the amount of fat in your diet, but especially consider the type of fat.

You have two types of fat: unsaturated and saturated fat. Unsaturated fatty acids lower the (bad) LDL cholesterol. Saturated fatty acids (and trans-fats) increase LDL cholesterol in the blood. Too much LDL cholesterol in your blood is bad for your blood vessels and can lead to cardiovascular disease

Therefore, it is important to choose products that contain unsaturated fat, such as soft margarine, vegetable oils and liquid cooking products. Fish and unsalted nuts also contain a lot of unsaturated fatty acids. Think of walnuts, almonds and peanuts.

Choose products with as little saturated fat and trans-fat as possible. For example, products such as processed meats (e.g., sausage and bacon), snacks such as cakes and biscuits, and ready-to-eat products (such as sauces and ready-to-eat meals). Instead, opt for lean and unprocessed meats (such as chicken and lean ground beef).

Milk

It’s okay to eat dairy products (milk, yogurt, cheese). They keep you healthy. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre advises not to buy full-fat dairy products, but to go for semi-skimmed or low-fat dairy products instead.

Watch your salt intake

 All food naturally contains a little bit of salt. Therefore, adding salt is often unnecessary. Flavour your food with other seasonings, such as (fresh) herbs and spices. The advice is not to eat more than 6 grams of salt per day. Eating too much salt increases your blood pressure and risk of cardiovascular disease.

Look for hidden salt (and fat and sugar) in ready-to-eat meals, sauces, and snacks. Do you want to know how much salt there is in a product? Then look at the label on the packaging.

Choose drinks without sugar

You need about 1.5 litres of water daily. Drinking enough water is important for your intestines to function properly, among other things. Your intestines need moisture to swell, which helps your bowel movements. It is best to drink water, tea and coffee without sugar, because these drinks do not contain extra calories.

Be aware of the maximum recommended daily coffee intake. Drinking more than 4 cups of coffee a day can have a bad effect on your body. It can lead to an excessive amount of caffeine. When you drink coffee, try to drink filtered coffee (filter coffee, coffee pods, instant coffee). The more the coffee is filtered, the less cafestol it contains. Cafestol increases LDL cholesterol.

If you drink tea in addition to enough water, go for green, black or herbal tea. Herbal tea is the healthiest option, as it does not contain caffeine.

It is important not to consume any or only a few sugary drinks. Think of fruit juice, soft drinks or sports drinks. which are often loaded with added sugars.

Alcohol

Alcohol is not the healthiest option. Do you drink alcohol? Do not drink more than one glass of alcohol a day and ensure that you do not drink alcohol every day. Drinking one glass of alcohol every day can already be harmful to your health. Try refraining from drinking alcohol at least two days a week. This will prevent drinking alcohol from becoming a habit.

Eat more vegetables

Scientific research has shown that eating red meat – especially processed meat – can increase the risk of cancer, type 2 diabetes and strokes. Therefore, eat meat in moderation and opt for plant-based food more often.

Eat a handful of nuts every day

The Nutrition Centre advises to eat unsalted nuts every day. Unsalted nuts and peanuts have a positive effect on your health and contain a lot of saturated fat and important vitamins and minerals such as vitamin B1, vitamin E and iron.

All unsalted nuts and peanuts are good for you, both unroasted and roasted. Nut butters and peanut butter a 100% made of nuts are healthy, too.

Eat fish once a week

The fatty acids in fish are good for your heart and blood vessels. Therefore, eat fish once a week. Preferably choose oily fish; mackerel, herring, sardines or salmon.

Do not eat throughout the whole day

Three healthy and varied meals a day are a good foundation for providing your body with all the nutrients it needs. Eat a maximum of 4 snacks in between.

How does eating too little affect your daily functioning and well-being?

Skipping a meal can cause your blood levels to fluctuate drastically and your sugar levels to peak and fall, which has an influence on your mood.

Healthy and a sufficient amount of food is also important for your mental well-being. Eating less than you need is not only dangerous and harmful to the body, it can also have psychological consequences. Eating too little has negative consequences on how your brain functions. Your cognitive functions can decline, making decisions becomes more difficult and your concentration can deteriorate. It can decrease your interest in things and reduce your spontaneity. Furthermore, eating too little can lead to a negative mood and cause you to be more easily irritated (Keijsers, Minnen & Hoogduin, 2011).

The Wheel of Five

The Wheel of Five is an information model based on science. It shows you how to eat healthy and which foods will benefit you the most. If you use the Wheel of Five as a guideline, you will have sufficient energy and are provided with all the necessary nutrients.

Do you want to know more about certain nutrients? Then read this article about nutrients.

Sources

 Keijsers, G. P. J., Minnen, A. V., & Hoogduin, C. A. L. (2011). Protocollaire behandelingen voor volwassenen met psychische klachten, deel 2. Amsterdam: Boom.

Voedingscentrum, Voedingscentrum, Thuisarts

A healthy and varied diet is essential in order to function optimally, to keep your body healthy and to feel good about yourself. What and how much you are eating has a direct influence on your state of mind and your immune system.

A healthy diet consists of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, water, vitamins and minerals. What are these nutrients and how much of these do you need? This is explained in the article below.

Macronutrients

Carbohydrates, proteins and fats are also known as macronutrients. The body needs these in large quantities because these nutrients are the body’s energy source. Without these nutrients, the body would not be able to function.

Carbohydrates

Sugars, starches and fibre are carbohydrates and are our body’s primary fuel, especially for the brain and red blood cells. Your intestines convert the carbohydrates into glucose, which allows your body to function.

The Health Council recommends getting 40 to 70% of your energy from carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates affect your blood sugar. Some carbohydrates make your blood sugar rise quickly (fast carbohydrates) and other carbohydrates make your blood sugar rise more slowly (slow carbohydrates).

It is better for your body if your blood sugar level rises slowly. This way, spikes in your blood sugar are prevented. The risk of type 2 diabetes is higher when your blood sugar spikes more often.

Slow carbohydrates

Slow carbohydrates are digested more slowly. As a result, your body absorbs energy from the food more slowly and, thus, releases it more gradually. This results in fewer spikes in your blood sugar.

Examples of slow carbohydrates are brown rice, whole grain bread, whole grain couscous, quinoa and vegetables.

Fast carbohydrates

Fast carbohydrates are absorbed into the blood more quickly, causing spikes in your blood sugar. After eating fast carbohydrates, you will feel very energetic for a period of time (a peak), but after this, your blood sugar will drop, which will result in fatigue.

Examples of fast carbohydrates are biscuits, crisps, sweets and white flour products such as pasta, bread and white rice.

Healthy examples: brown bread, whole grain pasta, brown rice, (sweet) potatoes, beans, quinoa, legumes, vegetables and fruit.

Unhealthy examples: white bread, cookies, alcohol, soft drinks, sweets, cake, white rice, pizza, sauces, crisps, cocktail nuts and processed breakfast cereals.

Protein

Almost every type of food contains some protein. Proteins can be found in both vegetable and animal sources. Proteins are necessary for the construction and maintenance of the muscles, organs and the blood, amongst other things. They are the building blocks of every cell in our body and muscles. In addition, proteins repair, protect and improve all types of body tissue. Proteins are involved in processes such as digestion, metabolism and the functioning of our brain. This is partly why proteins are so important to us!

Healthy examples: eggs, fish, quark, cottage cheese, nuts and seeds.

Unhealthy Examples: –

Fats

Fat provides energy to the body. It is a source of energy, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E and essential fatty acids. Fats can be divided into two types, namely saturated and unsaturated fat. Fat in foods always consists of a combination of both of these types. The risk of cardiovascular disease can be reduced when you eat products with unsaturated fats.

Healthy fats (unsaturated fats): vegetable oils, avocado, fatty fish such as herring, salmon, mackerel, sardine and trout.

Unhealthy fats (saturated fats): Beware of meats with a lot of saturated fat, such as bacon, lamb chops, and minced beef. It is also important to eat processed meat, such as sausage, ham and pâté, in moderation. The clue is in the name; the meat is processed to influence the taste or shelf life. This is not very healthy, as manufacturers often add salt, flavour enhancers and preservatives to processed meat.

Vitamins and minerals

Vitamins and minerals are also called micronutrients. These nutrients do not provide energy, but they are necessary for the release of energy from macronutrients and for many other important bodily functions.

Vitamins

Vitamins are substances that you get through food and drink in small amounts. You need vitamins in order for your body to function. They are used in the production of bones or for your immune system, for example. There are 13 types of vitamins: vitamins A, C, D, E, K and 8 types of vitamin B.

Examples: carrots and eggs (vitamin A), bread, milk, fish (vitamin B), potatoes (vitamin C), mushrooms and fatty fish (vitamin D), grains and eggs (vitamin E), cabbage and tomatoes (vitamin K)

Tips:

• About 50% of the vitamins are lost during cooking. Therefore, do not cook, bake or fry your food longer than necessary. The loss of vitamins is smaller in meat and potatoes than in spinach and broccoli, for example. This is due to the structure of the food. Compact products retain vitamins better. Furthermore, it is important to cook with as little water as possible. When cooking with a lot of water, the vitamin C content can drop enormously.
• Vitamins can be lost when food is stored. It is important to place the food in a cool place or in the freezer. Furthermore, vegetables cannot be stored for too long after they’re cut because the vitamins have been broken down.

Minerals

Minerals, like vitamins, are substances that can be found in food and drink in small amounts. They are also indispensable and essential for your body to function properly. Examples of minerals are calcium, chromium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and magnesium. In addition, there are ‘trace elements’; minerals that the body needs very little of, such as chromium, iron, fluoride, copper, manganese, molybdenum, selenium and zinc.

Examples: spinach, steak and apple syrup (iron), potatoes (phosphorus), cheese and milk (calcium), spinach, chickpeas and banana (magnesium), oysters and oranges (zinc), Brazil nuts and boiled egg (selenium), grain products (chromium), chicken legs and herring (phosphorus) and rice (manganese).

Note: too much sodium (salt) increases the risk of blood and cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, sprinkle salt on your food in moderation. Or try eating ‘salt-free’ for a period of time and use herbs to flavour your food instead.

Sources

Diabetesfonds, Gezondheidsraad, Voedingscentrum, Voedingscentrum, Voedingscentrum

Your interpretation of events influences how you feel, and, in turn, these feelings can play a role in how you behave. By challenging your thoughts, you will investigate how your thoughts affect your feelings and behaviour. You can also assess whether your perspective is rational and appropriate for the event.
In the NiceDay app, you can fill in a thought record to challenge your thoughts.

You can find an example and explanation below:

Of all the thoughts you have written down in your Thought Record, choose the thought that most strongly evokes negative feelings; this is the most important automatic negative thought.
And this is the thought you can challenge.

How credible is this thought to you on a scale of 0-100?

To challenge your thoughts, you can ask yourself a number of standard questions. Write down the answers.

The questions you can ask yourself are:

• What proof do I have for this thought?
• What proof do I have against this thought?
• What is the worst that can happen? Would I be able to get over that?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of this thought?
• Is there a different view/approach that I haven’t considered yet?
• What would I say to a friend/colleague, if he/she was having a similar thought?
• If my best friend, family member or colleague would know I am having this thought, what would he/she say to me?
• How would I think about this in a week/month/year?

Some extra questions you can ask yourself outside the app are:

• What is the best possible outcome?
• What is the most realistic outcome?
• How does my way of thinking affect me?
• What effect would a different perspective have?
• What can I do to change this thought? What actions are needed?

Formulate a realistic alternative thought on the situation. What is the credibility of this thought on a scale of 0-100?

If you challenge the thought with an alternative and helpful thought during an unpleasant situation, you will notice that the subsequent behaviour and corresponding consequences change. What you ultimately feel is also different, namely “I don’t feel bad about it anymore”.

Example:

If you challenge the thought with an alternative and helpful thought during an unpleasant situation, you will notice that the subsequent behaviour and corresponding consequences change. What you ultimately feel is also different, namely “I don’t feel bad about it anymore”.

 Sources: Keijsers, G. P. J., Van Minnen, A., Verbraak, M., Hoogduin, C. A. L. & Emmelkamp, P., (2017). Protocollaire behandelingen voor volwassenen met psychische klachten.

The negative circle

Your feelings have an effect on your behaviour. When you are feeling down, you have less motivation to do things. In turn, you often also do less (and the things you still do are often chores, tasks or less fun activities). If you do less it can make you feel guilty or you can experience less satisfaction with what you have done, increasing the negative feelings. This is how you can get stuck in a vicious cycle. The negative circle looks like this: 

To improve your mood, we want to break this negative circle together.

The positive circle

You can break this negative circle by gradually increasing the amount of fun or relaxing activities you do. So that you can experience more satisfaction throughout the day and increase your mood. Because your mood is more positive, you feel more motivated to do activities which, in turn, will make you do more. You’ll enter a positive circle which will make you feel better. The positive circle of behaviour looks like this: 

Source

Keijsers, G. P. J., Van Minnen, A., Verbraak, M., Hoogduin, C. A. L. & Emmelkamp, P., (2017). Protocollaire behandelingen voor volwassenen met psychische klachten.

When you suffer from a specific phobia, you will have a persistent and intense fear of a certain animal, object or situation. Fear of spiders, for example.

When confronted with your fear, it will lead to escape behaviour and avoidance. If it is impossible to flee or avoid what you fear, an intense fear will arise. The avoidance behaviour or fear itself can be so intense that it hinders, affects or endangers your daily life.

Afterwards, you will often realise that the fear was not in proportion to the actual threat, but, in the moment, that can be very difficult.

Types of specific phobias

There are various different types of phobias:

• animals (such as a dog phobia)
• nature (such as a storm phobia)
• situational (such as a fear of flying)
• blood-injection-injury type (a phobia for needles or injections)
• other (such as vomiting anxiety, also called emetophobia)

Almost all specific phobias occur at a young age. A fear of certain things is common amongst young children and is also normal. For most children, those fears disappear over time. However, in a minority, these fears intensify and become chronic.

Therapy

Surprisingly, only a small group of people with a specific phobia seek professional help, even though the anxiety complaints often do not disappear by themselves. This is because the anxiety is often easy to avoid. Usually, people only seek help when it is no longer possible to avoid the anxiety-inducing situation and the anxiety begins to hinder everyday life.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is usually used to treat anxiety complaints. An important part of this is exposure; confronting that which evokes fear. This can be done both in thought and in reality. Research has shown that cognitive behavioural therapy is an effective treatment for this phobia. Of course, every step of the treatment will be in consultation between you and your practitioner.

Source:

Keijsers, G. P. J., Van Minnen, A., Verbraak, M., Hoogduin, C. A. L. & Emmelkamp, P., (2011). Protocollaire behandelingen voor volwassenen met psychische klachten.

You can challenge automatic thoughts you have during a panic attack.
You can do this by filling in Thought Record (you can use the NiceDay app).

Step 1 of the Thought Record

To challenge the thoughts that arise during your panic attack, you start with gaining insight in your thoughts by writing down what happened. Use the questions from the though record.

What happened?

Describe the event that triggered the panic attack or unpleasant feeling.

How anxious did you feel?

Write down how anxious you felt on a scale of 0-100.

What were your thoughts?

Describe the automatic thoughts that preceded the feeling. How credible are these thoughts on a scale of 0-100?

How did you react?

What did you do when you felt anxious? How did you react to your feelings?

What consequence did this have?

What was the result of your behaviour? Describe the consequence of your reaction. Was it positive or negative?

Step 2 of the Thought Record – Challenging the thought

Ask yourself three of the seven questions in the app about your automatic thoughts. For example:

• What’s the worst that could happen? Would I be able to get over that?
• Is there another perspective that I haven’t thought of yet? Is this thought actually true?
• What would I say to a friend or colleague who has a similar thought?

Step 3 of the Thought Record – Formulate a rational thought

Is it possible to formulate a more rational thought to replace the automatic negative thought, one that is neutral or positive and evokes less fear? How credible is this rational thought on a scale of 0-100?

What did you learn from this exercise?

Doing this exercise can give you some insight in your anxiety. Consider what you have learnt about your anxiety.
Do you recognise certain patterns? Could this help you feel less anxious?

Source

Keijsers, G. P. J., Van Minnen, A., Verbraak, M., Hoogduin, C. A. L. & Emmelkamp, P., (2017). Protocollaire behandelingen voor volwassenen met psychische klachten.

What is anxiety? Anxiety is an emotion that helps you respond to impending danger. This response is important as it helps to protect you from potential danger. During an anxious reaction, the substance adrenaline is released in your brain, which prepares your body for ‘fight or flight’. In some people, anxiety may play a predominant role: you become afraid of things that are not dangerous and your body responds to them with anxiety anyway. Your thoughts label these situations as ‘dangerous’, and, therefore, you begin to avoid them. By avoiding these situations, the anxiety you associate with these situations will not reduce.

Characteristics of anxiety can be (not all characteristics apply to everyone):

• A lot of worrying for no immediate reason.
• Feeling anxious and tense for long periods of time.
• The occurrence of physical symptoms such as sweating, trembling and dizziness.
• Avoiding situations or places in which you do not feel comfortable.
• Fear of losing control and compulsive behaviour.
• Constantly being afraid of getting sick.
• A tendency to ruminate about unpleasant events/situations.

Avoidance

If you avoid these situations, you will not confront your feelings of anxiety. It can feel comfortable in the short term, because you do not experience anxiety if you avoid the situation, but unfortunately this will have the opposite effect in the long term. You will learn that you will not experience anxiety by avoiding these situations, which is pleasant. However, you will not learn to cope with your anxiety in this way. When you investigate and learn to cope with anxious situations, you will notice that the feelings of anxiety will start to reduce and that they are no longer realistic. Combating avoidance and experiencing tense situations play a central role in the treatment of anxiety disorders.

Safety behaviour

Safety behaviour is behaviour used to reduce the anxiety you are experiencing at the time. They make you feel safe, but they also reinforce the idea that, without this behaviour, you cannot reduce anxiety. In the long term, the use of safety behaviour therefore has a counterproductive effect. You will reduce the use of safety behaviour in the treatment of your anxiety disorder.

Examples of safety behaviour:

• Holding your phone in your hand when you go out
• Bringing a bottle of water with you
• Only going to the supermarket with your partner
• Only going to the gym during quiet times
• Looking at the ground
• Taking medication before a situation which makes you feel nervous
• Wearing your hair in front of your face
• Checking your heart rate on your wrist or neck
• Staying in the ‘background’
• Wearing a lot of makeup
• Taking anti-anxiety pills with you
• Always having your doctor’s phone number with you

Together with your practitioner, you will investigate which forms of safety behaviour you are portraying. Do you already recognize a few?

Source: Keijsers, G. P. J., Van Minnen, A., Verbraak, M., Hoogduin, C. A. L. & Emmelkamp, P., (2017). Protocollaire behandelingen voor volwassenen met psychische klachten.

What is worrying?

Worrying is a state of mind in which negative thoughts arise for a long period of time. You often have the feeling that you are stuck in negative thoughts, e.g. about your family, health, finances or work.

Excessive worrying

Worrying without direct cause is very common. Many people lie awake at night and worry about what could go wrong.

Sometimes the worrying can get a little out of hand. You are continuously thinking about problems and, no matter how hard you try, you can’t stop worrying. This can result in difficulties concentrating or falling asleep. Then you end up worrying about that. There seems to be no end…

Excessive worrying that is difficult to control is one of the main features of a generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). We also call this the ‘worrying disorder’. The worrying is then accompanied by a lot of anxiety and tension.

Diagnosis and symptoms

GAD is defined as:

• Having anxiety that is present for at least 6 months and has an effect on various events or activities in your daily life
• Finding it difficult to control your concerns
• You experience three or more of the following symptoms:

– Restlessness
– Quickly fatigued
– Concentration problems
– Irritability
– Muscle tension
– Sleeping problems

Meta-worrying

Sometimes, in addition to the worrying, you catch yourself worrying about all that worrying. You have thoughts like “that can’t be good for me” and “all this worrying could make me crazy”. However, you may also have thoughts like “because of my worrying, at least I am prepared for the worst”. These beliefs about your ruminating thoughts are called ‘metacognitions’. We therefore consider worrying about worrying ‘meta-worrying’.

Therapy

For the treatment of GAD, methods stemming from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) are used, such as challenging thoughts and metacognitive therapy (MCT).

MCT focuses on the beliefs about the worrying thoughts, rather than on the content of those thoughts themselves. By investigating and challenging these beliefs, you will be able to reduce the meta-worry. Behavioural experiments allow you to test and change certain beliefs about worrying, in order for them to evoke less anxiety. You will also practice turning worrying into a more functional process again. Using the worrying-program, you will learn to manage your thoughts step by step, so that you eventually learn to think in a problem-solving manner.

Together with your therapist, you will challenge your worries. This can be done by means of a diary registration, thought record or during the sessions with your professional. You will learn to come up with alternative thoughts for the negative thoughts that arise during your worrying. By doing this, you will experience fewer negative feelings. A mindfulness exercise can also be used to reduce anxiety. It is also important to learn to relax, through progressive relaxation exercises, for example. These techniques make it easier to relax over time.

Source:

Keijsers, G. P. J., Van Minnen, A., Verbraak, M., Hoogduin, C. A. L. & Emmelkamp, P., (2017). Protocollaire behandelingen voor volwassenen met psychische klachten.

Everyone has to deal with tension in their life. Tension does not always have to be negative. There is also healthy tension, namely tension that ensures that you can perform well under pressure. If you experience tension very often, suffer from it and/or if you can no longer properly focus on a task due to it, then the tension becomes negative.

Fight, flight or freeze

When there is tension, the body prepares to get into action: fight, flight or freeze. This is useful when there is real danger but distressing when there is no immediate danger. The tension, and the reaction to it, is therefore dysfunctional in the situation. It is important to recognize when tension is not useful and to be aware of when it is important to relax properly. Sometimes we have been under stress for so long that we can no longer relax properly. There are exercises that can help you relax. Learning to relax takes time and practice, you cannot suddenly learn to relax. By practising it a lot, you can become better at it. Several ways to relax are described below.

Relax by tensing

It is possible to learn to relax by tensing your muscles first and then releasing the tension, by making a fist with your hands, for example. By contracting a muscle and then ‘letting go’, it can induce feelings of relaxation. Here you can find a guided exercise.

Relax without tensing

The next step is to relax without tightening your muscles. Focus on each and every part of your body and try to relax every one of them. Release the tension from your muscles. If you still feel tension, you can tighten your muscles a little and then let go. You will begin to learn how to relax muscles that you do not use.

Linking relaxation to self-instruction

Once you can relax without tensing your muscles first, it can also be useful to teach yourself to respond to instructions. An instruction could be “relax”. When you are feeling anxious and you say this to yourself, you probably will not experience any relaxation. You have to teach yourself to respond to these words; you can do this by relaxing, and then inhaling and exhaling and at the same time saying “relax” to yourself. Because you are already relaxed while saying “relax”, the brain remembers this nice feeling. After practicing a few times, the word “relax” takes on more meaning, and you relax more quickly when you say this to yourself. Try to practice this a few times a day. You can practice this while walking, showering, doing the dishes, studying or while eating. There are many situations during which you can pause to relax for a moment. Are you afraid you might forget? You can create an event in NiceDay that reminds you – for example in the morning, afternoon and evening – to practise relaxing.

Using the techniques

It is important to be aware that these relaxation exercises will probably not have the desired result the first few times. Do not be discouraged by this and try again.

Source: Keijsers, G. P. J., Van Minnen, A., Verbraak, M., Hoogduin, C. A. L. & Emmelkamp, P., (2017). Protocollaire behandelingen voor volwassenen met psychische klachten.

It is very common to worry about dangers and risks. This ensures that you look for solutions and try to reduce risks. For example, worrying helps you prepare for exams. There is nothing wrong with that!

Worrying means being extremely concerned about something

Some people worry more quickly. When you feel tense without any apparent danger or risk and worry endlessly about what could possibly go wrong, worrying loses its function. It then becomes dysfunctional worrying. For example, if you worry about a flu epidemic, whether you can handle the tasks you still have to do for work tomorrow and whether the gifts for a friend are nice enough. There is always something to worry about every day!

Worrying can make it difficult to concentrate or can negatively affect your sleep. As a result, you will not function as well in the long run. This can lead to even more concerns, causing you to become entangled in a vicious circle.

Exercise against worrying

To restore the function of worrying and reduce its negative impact, you can practice with the worrying thoughts you have. The goal is to worry effectively and make it solution-oriented, instead of worrying dysfunctionally.

Try to reserve one fixed hour every day to work out your worries. Do not do this before bedtime, because there is a chance that you will feel restless when getting into bed. If you notice worrying thoughts popping up outside of this fixed hour, write them down so you can work them out completely later on. During the fixed hour, you can further elaborate on your worries with the following four steps. Of course, you don’t have to go through them all in one hour, you can also spread them out over several moments.

1. Write down and select the topics

Write down all the topics you worry about and prioritize each topic. For example, the severity of the subject on a scale of 1-10. Then you choose one topic that is of great importance and one which offers you the possibility to actively work on a solution. You will elaborate on this below.

2. Make it specific: outline the problem and the possible consequences

Now you are going to make the topic more specific. What exactly is the problem and what are the possible consequences? Describe the disaster scenarios and write down how likely you think it is that they could actually play out. You can ask yourself the questions ‘What is the worst thing that can happen?’ and ‘How likely is it that this will indeed happen?’.

3. Come up with solutions and intervention options

Now is the time to set up an action plan. You will formulate goals to which you can also link actions. Describe how and when you will tackle the problem. If the problem cannot be solved immediately, put it on the agenda to solve it in the future. Is it a problem that can never be solved? Then ask yourself how useful it is to worry about it. You can always ask yourself “Will worrying about it change anything?”

4. Planning and implementing the interventions.

Now that you have carefully thought out all solutions and actions, it is time to implement them. Plan them in your agenda and stick to your schedule. If you have performed the actions, you can also evaluate and adjust them during the next ‘worry hour’.