Anxiety guides
Longer reads for when you want to understand what is happening, not just get through the next two minutes. Every guide ends with a tool you can actually use.
Panic attacks
What is happening in your body, what to do in the moment, and what to say to yourself while it passes.
Calming down in the moment
The fast, body-first options — and when to reach for which.
Sleep and anxiety
Why anxiety gets louder at night, and how to give your body a way down into sleep.
Physical symptoms
Chest tightness, a racing heart, a clenched jaw — how anxiety produces them, and when a symptom deserves a doctor rather than a breathing exercise.
Specific situations
The moments people actually search for: the anxious morning, the open-plan office, the minutes before you speak.
Understanding anxiety
Where the line runs between ordinary stress and anxiety.
How these guides are meant to be used
None of these are meant to be read during a spike — when anxiety is high, reading is one of the first things to become difficult. Use the tools then, and come back to the guides afterwards, when you want to know why the exercise worked or what to do differently next time. Each guide names the specific exercises it refers to and links straight to them, so you can stop reading and start doing at any point.
What these guides will not do
They will not diagnose you, and they are not a substitute for therapy or medical care. Anxiety that is frequent, that interferes with sleep, work or relationships, or that you organise your day around avoiding, deserves a professional rather than an article — and cognitive behavioural therapy in particular has strong evidence behind it. There is more on where we draw that line on our safety page.
Common questions
Where should I start if I am new here?
If you are anxious right now, skip the guides and use a tool. If you are reading to understand, start with how to calm anxiety fast for the practical version, or stress vs anxiety if you are trying to work out what you are dealing with in the first place.
Are these guides written by doctors?
No. AnxietyTools is written by one person, not a clinical team, and there is no medical reviewer — we say so plainly. The exercises and explanations are drawn from published research rather than personal authority, and our evidence standards page explains how sources are chosen and where we hedge.