Anxiety in the Concrete Jungle: Tips for Living With Anxiety in NYC
Are you feeling overwhelmed amidst the skyscrapers and bustling streets of New York City? You're not alone. The concrete jungle may offer endless opportunities, but it also comes with its fair share of stressors, especially for those living with anxiety.
In this blog, we'll delve into the unique challenges of managing anxiety in NYC’s fast-paced environment. From navigating social situations to finding the right therapist, we'll explore practical tips and strategies to help you thrive despite the sense of chaos in an urban landscape.
Whether you're a long-time resident or a newcomer to the city, learning how to cope with anxiety in NYC is essential for your mental well-being. By implementing the advice shared here, you can reclaim control over your anxiety and find peace amidst the hustle and bustle.
Keep reading for valuable insights and actionable steps to take charge of your mental health in the concrete jungle.
Understanding Anxiety in Big Cities
We love New York City. Living in the Big Apple feels like a privilege most days due to the incredible access we New Yorkers have to the arts, business, diversity, food, and more. However, city life also comes with its challenges, particularly concerning our mental health.
The Unique Stressors of City Life
There are unique stressors inherent to living in an urban environment. For example, traveling a short distance can take a long time due to heavy traffic and population density. Public transportation can be overcrowded and requires flexibility with sudden route changes or subway incidents. There is noise pollution almost everywhere you turn, and as the famous saying goes, “The rent is too damn high.” New York is expensive, and the cost isn’t just financial.
Many New Yorkers grow accustomed to these daily frustrations and inconveniences, dismissing stress as part and parcel of life in the city. To love New York is to accept her quirks and hardships alongside her beauty. In Life Starts Now, Healthy Minds NYC Co-Founder Chanel Dokun writes, “[New York is] a phenomenal place to live. But it’s also hard to focus and hear yourself think. And as a New Yorker, you find yourself trying to drown out not just the literal noise of urban life, but also the figurative din that accompanies living at the nexus of social innovation.[...] Around every corner, someone is rushing somewhere to make something of the world in tech, the arts, business, and more. It’s fast-paced, high-pressure, and loud.”
The Impact of Urban Environments on Mental Health
Unfortunately, that kind of pressure and routine annoyances take a toll on our mental health. “Researchers have found that urbanites are 21 percent more likely to have anxiety disorders,” says Healthline. People living in cities are also “39 percent more likely to have mood disorders.” That means New Yorkers are more vulnerable than those living in suburban or rural environments to living with anxiety, depression, PTSD, or even conditions like substance abuse. The constant stimulation can lead to anxiety in big cities like New York, where there are few opportunities to wind down or disconnect.
Imagine a typical day in the life of a New Yorker: waking up to sirens blaring outside a bedroom window, almost getting clipped by an Uber while crossing the street to grab a coffee, and jockeying with a colleague to get better positioned for a promotion. A New Yorker’s body is perpetually entering a state of diffuse physiological arousal–a term you’ve probably heard as a “fight-or-flight response.” The environmental triggers of daily life in New York can cause your body to react as if you’re under attack or at risk of imminent danger. Without proper care for oneself, developing a mental health condition like anxiety in cities can happen quickly.
Other challenges New Yorkers may face from living in the city are insomnia due to the stimulation and bright lights, burnout from the stress of high-pressure jobs, and depression resulting from social isolation.
Recognizing Common Triggers for Anxiety in Cities
It’s essential to remain aware of the common triggers for anxiety you may encounter living in the city. Medical News Today lists the following potential risk factors that may affect mental health that are unique to cities:
Genetic susceptibility
Noise and air pollution
Social isolation
A lack of green spaces
A high population density and cost of living
Social inequities
Long commutes
Traffic congestion
Low-quality housing and urban design
Anxiety Therapy in New York City
If you believe you may be living with anxiety, you must seek support. You may benefit from anxiety therapy in New York City if feelings of sadness, persistent stress, or a constant sense of being overwhelmed are impairing your life. Often, New Yorkers assume these feelings are unavoidable and just part of life in the city. However, this is not the case. Life can feel better.
Anxiety is highly treatable, and the good news is you can experience relief quickly. Our team at Healthy Minds NYC offers a variety of treatments for anxiety to help you. Starting individual therapy sessions can be very effective in addressing your symptoms. Our team can help you regain control of your emotional experience in the city by helping you explore some of the thought patterns that keep you stuck in negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Some clients also prefer to add medication to help manage their anxiety. Our psychiatrists can help you assess your options for treatment in a medication evaluation session.
If you want to remember these key questions and track your future therapist’s responses, click the image to download our free Prospective Therapist Checklist.
Finding the right therapist in a bustling city like New York can be challenging; however, your search does not have to be complicated. Our care coordinator will help guide you through the process of finding a therapist so you can streamline your search. When deciding who to work with for anxiety therapy in New York City, here are some of the considerations you might make:
Goals: ask if the therapist is qualified to help you reach your goals for therapy
Style: ask what kind of treatment style your prospective therapist uses and its efficacy in treating anxiety
Cost: ask what you can expect to pay for each session and how insurance is handled
Schedule: ask about the frequency and length of sessions so it works with your lifestyle
Logistics: ask about any specific steps needed to begin care in terms of paperwork, technology, payment, etcetera
Benefits of Seeking Professional Help for Anxiety Management
Anxiety does not have to impair your life. Professionals are available to help you get back to living the dynamic life in New York City you desire. When you begin anxiety therapy, you’ll immediately have peace of mind, knowing you’re not alone in your experience and you have a partner in your growth who can steer you toward a healthier mindset and lifestyle to thrive in the city.
While you’re waiting to begin therapy for anxiety, there are steps you can take now to improve your mental health. Below, we’ve outlined ways you can cope with anxiety if you are new to the city and if you are an established New Yorker.
Coping with Anxiety After Moving to NYC
If you recently transitioned to New York, you might be experiencing anxiety after moving to a new city for the first time. Often, transplants report feeling particularly drained and burned out as they adjust to new sights and daily rhythms while trying to build new relationships.
Strategies for Managing Anxiety During the Relocation Process
If you have developed anxiety after moving to a new city, here are some suggestions for how to manage your anxiety during the relocation process.
First, prioritize rest. Recognize that your brain is processing information at a high rate as you adjust to your new environment. Focus on getting enough sleep each night to feel restored and allow your brain time to organize this new information and your body a chance to recuperate.
Next, adopt a healthy diet. With all the delicious restaurants littered around New York City, it’s tempting to indulge. Try out new foods, but make the bulk of your diet healthy with vegetables, whole grains, fruits, and lean protein, like fish. Healthy foods can impact not only your physical but also your mental health.
Lastly, stay physically active. “Exercise is a powerful stress reducer,” says the Mayo Clinic Health System. “It can improve your mood and help you stay healthy.” Block out time to work out at least three days a week, or get your steps in by exploring your new city.
Building a Support Network in the City
Making new relationships in the city can take time. Be patient as you build a new social circle in New York. Your effort to create new connections is a valuable investment of time and energy for your mental health. One of the most substantial ways to relieve stress and anxiety is to decrease loneliness. Your therapist can be part of your new social network. However, you might also pursue relationships by joining local community groups, volunteering in an area of your passion, or attending a church where you can know and be known by others.
Practical Tips for Living With Anxiety in NYC
If you’ve been in New York City for some time and you are living with anxiety, here are some anxiety management strategies you might consider to live better in the city.
Prioritizing Self-Care in a Fast-Paced Environment
Cities are excellent environments to develop rhythms of self-care. New York is full of outlets to invest in your well-being, and in the city that never sleeps, many opportunities are available at all hours of the day. If you’re living with anxiety in New York, establish your self-care routine with go-to activities you can do on a daily and weekly basis. For example, you might decide to intentionally cut back on smoking or drinking caffeinated beverages that can exacerbate your anxiety. People who experience anxiety in cities also do well to avoid substances like alcohol and recreational drugs that worsen their anxiety.
Another idea is to make a habit of journaling each day. Healthline notes, “Studies show that regular emotion-led journaling can help reduce anxiety, depression, and feelings of distress.” Journaling is a low-cost activity you can do every day to care for your mental health.
Mindfulness and Relaxation Techniques for Urban Dwellers
In addition to writing down your thoughts and feelings, you might practice self-care by meditating or intentional relaxation techniques. In New York City, yoga studios are plentiful, providing an excellent place to calm your nervous system through slow, purposeful movement.
One technique we often teach our clients living with anxiety is progressive muscle relaxation. You can practice being more mindful by systematically tensing and releasing muscles throughout your body.
Incorporating Exercise and Outdoor Activities into City Living
Lastly, anxiety in cities is best managed through physical activity and getting outdoors. Often, New Yorkers bustle from one building to the next, spending little time outdoors in nature. Though it’s not always readily available or accessible with a busy schedule, fresh air does wonders for your mental health.
Layla McCay, co-author of Restorative Cities: Urban Design for Mental Health and Wellbeing, emphasizes the importance of exposing city dwellers to natural environments or green space. She says, “Research tells us that doing so can reduce depression and stress, improve brain function, and help people manage symptoms of anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, ADHD, and dementia.” While we encourage you to pick up a fitness routine to stay physically active, also make sure you’re spending some time getting active outdoors. Wander your neighborhood to see if you might have a hidden garden on one of the blocks near your home. Or, visit Prospect Park or Central Park once a week to spend the afternoon in nature. Finding green space in the city can be a valuable lifeline for those living with anxiety in New York.
Navigating Social and Work Environments
If you’re living with anxiety, here are a few ways to reduce social anxiety, according to VeryWell Mind:
Get out
Keep a journal
Live a healthy lifestyle
Set goals
Reward yourself
Make one change
Take a supplement
Embrace “alone time”
Practice social skills
Whether you’re new to New York City or you’ve lived in the city for some time, you may struggle with social anxiety. Social anxiety disorder affects around 12% of the population at some point in their lifetimes, according to VeryWell Mind. When you’re in the grips of social anxiety, it can feel debilitating, triggering you to retreat and avoid situations. Rakshitha Arni Ravishankar described her social anxiety at work in Harvard Business Review as “a feeling like drowning, like being swallowed up by something bigger than myself.”
Have you ever felt an intense fear of being judged or rejected, so much that you overthink your actions or become hyper-aware of your behaviors? You might be experiencing social anxiety.
The good news is the anxiety therapy techniques we’ve already shared with you can help you manage social anxiety. However, we make note of this particular anxiety disorder because of how it disproportionately affects New Yorkers. Living in the city with social anxiety often occurs because it’s a high-pressure and performance-driven environment, particularly in the workplace. And city living requires being surrounded by other people, making social anxiety challenging to contend with.
Embracing Resilience and Growth
Living with anxiety in the city can be tough, but you have what it takes to cope with the challenges the city presents. If you don’t feel like you can manage the stress of your current lifestyle in New York, get help. There is no glory in suffering alone. Part of being healthy and resilient is reaching out for support when life becomes too difficult.
The Mayo Clinic recommends tending to your own needs and feelings as one way to improve your resilience. Do this by prioritizing self-care and getting connected to a therapist who can be your mental health partner. If you don’t know where to begin, review some of our favorite tips for finding an anxiety therapist in New York City. In anxiety therapy, you can learn how to enjoy life and better handle the stress you face, one victory at a time.
Check out our anxiety therapy services here and then connect with a Care Coordinator to explore how we can help you manage your anxiety in New York City.
