Tossing and turning in the wee hours. A low but constant buzzing in the brain that thwarts concentration. A feeling of tense restlessness.

Most have experienced this sort of anxiety &mdash not clinical anxiety, which might result in a full-on panic attack, but the run-of-the-mill kind that leaves you feeling uncomfortable.

&ldquoAnxiety is this simple definition: that feeling of fear or worry that comes in situations of uncertainty,&rdquo neuroscientist Dr. Wendy Suzuki recently told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta on his podcast Chasing Life. &ldquoThat&rsquos my simplistic definition of everyday anxiety.&rdquo

That experience is not pleasant. &ldquoThe general feeling is, &lsquoI just want to get rid of it,&rsquo&rdquo said Suzuki, a professor of neural science and psychology at New York University as well as dean of the school&rsquos College of Arts and Science. She is also the author of &ldquoGood Anxiety: Harnessing the Power of the Most Misunderstood Emotion.&rdquo

&ldquoThe misunderstanding is that it is valuable,&rdquo Suzuki said. &ldquoIt&rsquos a warning system that we all need. It is a tool that helps us figure out what we hold dear. If we don&rsquot have that, I think something important will be taken away from our lives.&rdquo

You can listen more on how anxiety can be good here. 

Suzuki explained how anxiety evolved to protect us. &ldquoIt&rsquos hard to imagine that in this day and age,&rdquo she said. But 2.5 million years ago, &ldquoan ancestor with a little baby (was) walking around trying to find food, and there&rsquos a crack of a twig and that could either be &hellip a big animal coming to eat her or it could be the crack of a twig. She better be ready, or we&rsquore not going to have any ancestors after her.&rdquo

The crack of the twig left her anxious but alert to danger. &ldquoAnd then her body is (in) the fight-or-flight response,&rdquo she said.

&ldquoThat same response, including all of the fight-or-flight (reaction), gets activated when we look at the news, when we look at social media, at what&rsquos going on today,&rdquo she said. &ldquoOur heart rates are going up, our respiration rates are going off &mdash that is not good physiologically for us. And so &hellip that is your No. 1 reason to learn how to modulate that stress response.&rdquo 

The first step toward getting to &ldquogood&rdquo anxiety, Suzuki said, is learning how to lower your level of everyday anxiety.

So, what can you do to ratchet it down? Here are Suzuki&rsquos top five tips: 

Take a deep breath

Practice breath meditation.

&ldquoBreath meditation is the oldest form of meditation and can be so effective in really calming ourselves down &mdash and immediately,&rdquo Suzuki said. &ldquoThat&rsquos my No. 1 go-to for people who say, &lsquoI just need something right now.&rsquo&rdquo

One calming pattern is box breathing. To do it, inhale deeply for four counts, hold for four counts, exhale for four counts and hold again for four counts. &ldquoRepeat to calm your mind and body,&rdquo she said.

Get moving

Go for a short walk, Suzuki recommended.

&ldquoDid you know that just 10 minutes of walking can significantly reduce anxiety and depression levels in people? You don&rsquot even have to change your clothes to get that,&rdquo she said.

&ldquoWhat that&rsquos doing is stimulating the release of neurotransmitters that don&rsquot necessarily decrease your anxiety, but they increase your feelings of reward and happiness,&rdquo she said. &ldquoThose neurotransmitters that go up include dopamine and serotonin and noradrenaline and endorphins. Every single time you move your body, it&rsquos like giving your brain a wonderful bubble bath of neurochemicals, and it works immediately.&rdquo

Refr&ldquoDid you know that just 10 minutes of walking can significantly reduce anxiety and depression levels in people? You don&rsquot even have to change your clothes to get that,&rdquo she said./Bella.tw儂儂ame your anxiety

Turn anxiety-inducing situations into personal challenges to foster growth and resilience &mdash and enjoy the newness of uncertain circumstances.

Paraphrasing Deepak Chopra, Suzuki recommended embracing uncertainty because it can make life interesting to live.

&ldquoIn my life, the uncertainty can be something that brings excitement, can bring joy. Not all the time, but maybe you can take part of that and embrace it as something useful,&rdquo she said.

For example, she said, &ldquoIf the same thing happened every single time I went on vacation, that would not be a fun vacation. I like the newness I like learning new things and being exposed to new things. And I can&rsquot control that by definition.&rdquo

Spin straw into gold

Turn your worry into action.

To enhance productivity and reduce worry, transform your anxious what-if list into a productive to-do list, Suzuki advised.

&ldquoI like to say that there are gifts that come with your anxiety,&rdquo she said, citing what often happens to her right before she goes to sleep.

&ldquoI have this worry list that hits me right before I&rsquom going to go to sleep. And so what do I do? I turn that what-if list into a to-do list,&rdquo she said.

&ldquoI just say, &lsquoOK, I&rsquom going to remember these things, so Wendy, you can go to sleep now.&rsquo But the next morning I go and take all those things that made me not sleep the night before, and I go do something about them. &hellip In that way, I make myself more productive. And I use my anxiety as the tool that it&rsquos supposed to (be).&rdquo 

Practice compassion

Support others, Suzuki said, letting them know they are not alone.

&ldquoReach out with a kind word to someone experiencing similar anxiety,&rdquo she said, noting that some people feel shame about being anxious over a certain situation. &ldquoThis simple act can release dopamine and improve your own mood.&rdquo

&ldquoReach out with a kind word to someone experiencing similar anxiety,&rdquo she said, noting that some people feel shame about being anxious over a certain situation. &ldquoThis simple act can release dopamine and improve your own mood.&rdquo/康健

We hope these five tips help you turn your anxiety into something more productive. Listen to the full episode here. And join us next week on the Chasing Life podcast when we delve into therapy and learn what it can and can&rsquot do to increase your happiness.