'World's most connected person' reveals how he manages anxiety with an app
The app comes pre-downloaded on iPhones
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Your support makes all the difference.The “most connected man on Earth” has revealed how he uses a basic iPhone app to manage his anxiety - and how technology can be used to ease the effects of a panic attack.
Chris Dancy relies on technology to track his every function, using upwards of 400 systems from fitness trackers to Google Calendar at any given time to manage his life and adjust accordingly.
But despite the 2m apps available in the Apple app store, there is one that Dancy says is most important for helping with his anxiety - and you don’t need to download it.
In his new book, Don’t Unplug, Dancy reveals that, out of all the technology at his fingertips, it is the pre-downloaded Notes app that has been the most beneficial - as he uses it to log his symptoms of anxiety in what he calls a “Wikipedia of fear.”
“I’ve had anxiety attacks since I was 16,” he said. “Anxiety has a way of masking every other time it happens.
“I would write down my symptoms as they were happening, like my heart rate increasing and starting to perspire.”
According to Dancy, jotting down the symptoms in the Notes app allowed him to look back the next time he was suffering an anxiety attack - and help him overcome it.
“What that allowed me to do was the next time I had an anxiety attack, I would look at my log entries and it would show me, ‘Yep, I know what this is.’ It really helped me get through it,” he explained.
By comparing his symptoms, Dancy was able to recognise certain consistencies in his anxiety, which allowed him to make a “big move forward.”
The tech supporter and keynote speaker then incorporated the voice recorder app into his anxiety management - which was also successful in helping him identify similarities between attacks.
According to Dancy, who is adamant that people should use technology to their benefit rather than shying away from it, technology can be life-changing - if you let it.
“We can’t live in a world where we’ve made it so crucial to be connected and weaponise those tools for connection at the same time,” he said.
In addition to improving his mental health, Dancy has used technology to “track, analyse and optimise his life,” according to his website.
You can purchase Don’t Unplug here.
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