5-4-3-2-1 Anxiety Strategy: What it is and How to Use it

Have you ever felt a bout of anxiety about to come on and wished you had a quick strategy to employ? Read on to learn how to implement the 5-4-3-2-1 mindfulness strategy to curb your anxiety symptoms.

This is a great strategy to use at the onset of a

• Stomach ache related to stress or worry

• Headaches associated with overwork and racing thoughts

• An anxiety or panic attack

• Muscle tenstion related to stress or worry

• An anxious thought spiral that may impact poor sleep

• A feeling of a loss of control that feels like it is only going to get bigger

It’sa tool that is great when you feel like everything is slipping away and you need to regain control. It can be the reset you need to turn your day around. It can also be used in the midst of panic attack as a quick lifeline.

What is it and where does it come from?

The 5-4-3-2-1 strategy to cope with anxiety is rooted in mindfulness practices, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and grounding techniques. Essentially, the practice is to redirect folks to connect with the surrounding around them and to calm their minds. When we ground to the space around us, we can calm our minds and remind them that they are safe.

This is a strategy that can be used by the person in distress, or as a suggestion by an individual intervening on a person who may be experienceing a panick attack. For example “Hey, I see you are really struggleing - this may sound silling but would like to walk trhough a mindfullness expercise with me?”

This is a quick and simple tool to pull out of your back pocket when you are worried and spiralling, or want to help a friend or family member. Feel free to bookmark this page to save for later!

Why Should I use this?

When we experience anxiety, our minds spiral, and worry mounts. This technique provides a break in this process.

In order to call a worry anxiety, we have to also experience it physically, such as having increased pulse rates, labored breathing, and often have somatic symptoms such as an upset stomach. Using a grounding exercise can redirect the body by calming the sympathetic nervous system to then calm the mind.

The technique is listed below along with advice for each step.

Step One: Look for five things around you.

Begn by employing your sight sense. Let go whatever you are doing, and oreint yourself to completing this mindfulness activity.

Look around you and identify five things. This can look like the following:

• Look at floor an notice what material is made out of. Notice if it’s clean, or new, or old.

• Identify if there is a window and look at what’s outside. Notice the season, notice what the weather like. If there isn’t a window, notice something on the wall.

• Identify an article of clothing you are wearing. Notice the color, the texture, the print, the stitching.

• Identify a peice of furniture. Notice what it’s being used for. Notice what may be on top of it.

• Look at the thing you touched last. Notice what it looks like from top to bottom.

Step Two: Touch four things.

Now that you have oriented yourself to the activity, you can move onto the second sense of touching.

Look around to identify four things you may be able to touch,. This can look like the following:

• Touch your pants and notice the fabric - is it denim, cotton, lycra?

• Touch your arms by crossing at the elbows and give yourself a hug. Notice how cold or hot you are. Notice if your skin feel dry or sweaty.

• Touch the ground beneath you. Draw your hand up and down and notice how stable it feels.

• Touch the surface in front of you. Notice how stable it is and material it was made out of.

Step Three: Find three things you can hear. 

Close your eyes and identify the first sound you hear. Continue to utilize your sense of sound to identify two other noises.

In case your having a difficult time, consider these guiding questions:

• What sounds can you hear outside such as cars passing, airplanes, birds, dogs, bugs - or simply the absolute silence.

• What sounds can you hear inside such as an appliance, a television, a fan, the steps of another person or your own breath.

• What sounds are in your head - what narraitve keeps emerging, what thought keeps arising?

Step Four: Notice two things you can smell.

With your eyes still closed, or open if preffered, take a deep breath in and try to activate your sense of smell.

If you can’t seem to smell anything on your first breath - repeat the process of deep breathing. Recall what you were looking, feeling and hearing and consider what scents each of those things might bring.

Was there a scent of cleaner?

Was there a scent of fresh air?

Was there a scent of paper in an office?

Was there a scent of the food that was made last?

Some helpful things to smell might be:

• The scent of shirt - noticing the smell of a familair laundry detergent or body odor.

• The scent of a candle, essential oil or perfume you like.

• The scent of a beverage that you enjoy, such as coffee, tea or whatever happens to be in front of you.

Step Five: Notice one thing you can taste.

End this practice by utilizing your sense of taste.

Close your eyes one last time and close your mouth. Move your toung around your mouth to identify what you can taste. This may look like:

• The last thing you drank.

• The last thing your ate.

• The last thing you smelled.

• The taste of your toothpaste.

After you complete this step, assess how much more calm you feel. Assess your sense of feeling grounded and present - notice how much oriented you are to the task at hand.

If you notice that you still feel elevated, plan on returning to this exercise later that same day.

Repeat as needed!

This activity is great because it can be done almost anywhere at any time. While this post details things that may take this to practice to the next level, such as closing your eyes and smelling something you like, it can also be done anywhere at anytime.

Next time you feel a bout of anxiety coming on, remember 5-4-3-2-1, and your senses. If you forget the exact order - it’s totally fine - you can make that part up!

Just try to settle into the space your in and notice whats around you.

Let me know how it goes for you in the comments!

The information and resources contained on this website are for informational purposes only and are not intended to assess, diagnose, or treat any medical and/or mental health disease or condition. The use of this website does not imply nor establish any type of therapist-client relationship. Furthermore, the information obtained from this site should not be considered a substitute for a thorough medical and/or mental health evaluation by an appropriately credentialed and licensed professional.