Watching this GIF could reduce your anxiety (...seriously)

And it’s SO satisfying

From a busy morning commute to a demanding deadline, most of us experience some form of stress every day.

Eating a balanced diet, sleeping for eight hours a night and practicing yoga are all tried and tested ways to control this. Or you might choose to scream into a pillow and stroke your cat. Hey, whatever works!

But now a GIF has gone viral after people claimed that watching it for several minutes (along with some deep breaths) is helping them to achieve a zen-like state of mind.

It begins as a simple line expanding out into a triangle, then a square, then a pentagon, hexagon (and so on) before reversing back in on itself and returning to it’s original form. In other words, it’s really satisfying to watch.

Of course anxiety is a very real and debilitating condition, with 8.2 million reported cases in the UK in 2013 (and you're twice as likely to be diagnosed if you're a woman), so if you think you might be suffering, we'd encourage you to speak to an expert or seek professional support.

Meditation is one of the best ways to restore inner peace, and it's definitely true that breathing deeply can keep your stress levels down. Experts believe that the rhythm and repetition of the movement in this visual soothes the area of your brain that deals with stress build up.

Maybe this is one to download and take on the tube.