Learning to Breath: Lessons in Stress and Anxeity Management
Have you been watching the news lately? I know I have. It seems the world is coming apart at the seams! The economy is in trouble, the war is creating uncertainty, politics are getting more and more nasty and everywhere we turn, there is a crisis threatening the future.
Okay. So life is tough right now. In large terms and probably in smaller terms too. But if YOU fall apart at the seams then the responsibilities you have will fall to the wayside and nothing will be accomplished. So. Take a moment. And Breathe. Slowly.
Anxiety can be one of the most destructive of moods and emotions. It can make a strong man freeze in his shoes and an accomplished woman turn into a puddle of tears. But if you know how to manage your anxiety it will put you back in the driver’s seat and help you in those moments of crisis. Anxiety occurs when we are not certain what is happening around us, or are uncertain of the outcome of any particular situation. We can have anxiety about small things, like whether it will rain on the morning we have a golf game scheduled, or about big things, like whether our son will sign up for the military during this time of war.
The symptoms of anxiety are increased shallow breathing, racing pulse, feeling like your heart is pounding, sweaty palms, shaking/trembling, nausea, chills/hot flashes and even feeling like you might die. Of course, you don’t have to have all of these symptoms to know you are anxious! Sometimes, we can have a generalized anxiety, which is a feeling of discomfort or uneasiness that encompasses pretty much everything. Or we can have a specific anxiety, which is about a particular event. A panic attack can feel like having a heart attack and we might even feel like we are dying, when in fact we are just having a severe anxiety episode. Any experience of anxiety can be uncomfortable and disruptive.
So how do we deal with anxiety? Well, the answer is that it depends on the anxiety. How often are you experiencing anxiety? Is it severe or is it mild? Is it about specific things, or is it an overall feeling?
If the anxiety is about relatively small things, then we learn how to stop, take a moment, breathe or take a break, and then refocus on what is important and needs to be dealt with immediately. Or we learn to disconnect from whatever is provoking the anxiety and distract ourselves with something else, until we are ready to return and take care of business.
If the anxiety is an all-encompassing feeling or as severe as a panic attack, then it’s time to go to your primary care doctor and talk to them about what you are feeling. There are medications to alleviate anxiety that are very effective, but like most medications for emotional/mood issues, they are most effective when used in combination with psychotherapy or counseling. Simply taking a pill is not going to completely get rid of your feelings of anxiety. What the medication will do, however, is help get the symptoms enough under control for you to be able to function and work with a therapist to determine what is provoking your feelings of anxiety. Once you know what is provoking the anxiety, then you can begin to work on better coping skills.
Anxiety is a feeling everyone experiences. Stress is a part of the modern world and with stress comes anxiety. Like all feelings, it is neither good or bad, it’s simply a feeling. By recognizing and acknowledging what makes us anxious, we can better deal with our lives and help those around us.
Marigold Merenda
Tips On Overcoming Chronic Fatigue Symptoms
Fatigue is a condition wherein a person experiences exhaustion and lack of energy possibly due to sleep deficiency, infection or overexertion. Since this is a fairly normal and common condition, most adults have experienced fatigue at least once in their lifetime. However, a person who continues to suffer from severe fatigue for an extended period of time of at least six months maybe affected by a more serious condition known as chronic fatigue.
Most people who are afflicted with chronic fatigue usually suffer from a more serious condition, which includes fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue immunodeficiency syndrome, lupus or rheumatoid arthritis.
In order for us to know how to beat chronic fatigue, we first need to look into what causes this condition. Here are the most common reasons why people suffer from chronic fatigue:
Infections
Some viral and bacterial infection could cause chronic fatigue. Most athletes are more susceptible to such a condition when suffering from an infection as a result of heavy training and exertion. However, chronic fatigue usually disappears once the infection is fully cured or treated.
Over-training
People who put their minds and bodies to the extreme usually suffer from chronic fatigue. Since athletes endure rigorous training and practice, they are the ones who usually experience chronic fatigue due to over training and exertion.
Depression and anxiety
Some experts link chronic fatigue to psychological disorders. Thus, people who suffer from severe anxiety and depression are the ones who are also stricken by chronic fatigue.
Dehydration
Many people do not pay attention to their daily water intake because they are not aware that dehydration could have long-term side effects, such as chronic fatigue, on their bodies and even their performance.
Eating disorders
The likelihood for people who have eating disorders, such as bulimia and anorexia, of suffering from chronic fatigue in the future is very high. Lack of proper nutrition is one of the causes of chronic fatigue, and people with anorexia and bulimia surely have inadequate supply of vitamins and minerals in their bodies.
Now that you know the common causes of fatigue, we should now start discussing the ways in which we could beat chronic fatigue. Follow the tips enumerated below and you will surely be able to manage such debilitating and long-lasting fatigue symptoms:
Eat a balanced and healthy diet
Food that is high in sugar and fat usually makes us feel sluggish and lethargic. Hence, prolonged intake of food that is high in sugar and fat could eventually result in the development of chronic fatigue and other serious diseases.
If you want to stay healthy and energetic, you need to increase your intake of fruits and vegetables. To ensure that you have a steady supply of energy through the day, do not skip breakfast. Instead of eating three full meals, go for small but frequent eating.
Live a stress-free life
Figures from a research group in Sweden found that there is a close connection between stress and development of chronic fatigue later in life. Thus, if you don’t want to suffer from chronic fatigue in the future, you need to bring your stress levels down.
One of the ways to beat stress is to look for what is causing it. Marital or family problems could stress you out, so you need to find a way to remedy your problem with your mother, wife, husband or children.
For many people, work is their major stressor. Proper time management, ability to delegate tasks properly, and learning to deal with difficult colleagues are surefire ways to manage your stress from work. If you feel that you can no longer manage stress alone, you can solicit the help of your family, friends, or even a counselor.
Exercise regularly
Couch potatoes and people with sedentary lifestyles often develop chronic fatigue. Your body, particularly your heart, needs regular physical activities to make them perform at their peak. Moreover, exercise could help increase your energy levels naturally, because it aids in proper circulation.
Exercise does not only help in relieving tension, it also aids in releasing endorphins, a feel-good chemical, which generally reduces stress, increase pleasure and lessen pain.
Try alternative and natural remedies
You should not be afraid to try new things that could help you relax and make your body more energetic and stronger. Treat yourself to reflexology massage to help you relax and improve blood circulation.
If you are a little adventurous, you can try acupuncture. This is an ancient medical science practiced in China and the orient. Acupuncture helps in improving the flow of your chi and increase mental and physical strength.
Meditation and aromatherapy are good ways to bring your stress levels down. These methods could also give you inner peace and help you relax after a demanding day.
Lee Dobbins
http://www.articlesbase.com/medicine-articles/tips-on-overcoming-chronic-fatigue-symptoms-93440.html
Overcoming Panic Attacks
Panic attacks are usually progressive in nature if they are not treated properly. Many people who suffer from panic attacks go for months and years before getting the correct diagnosis. They suffer needlessly either because of a lack of education about panic attacks or due to embarrassment of having a problem they cannot seem to will themselves out of.
The symptoms of a panic attack include but are not limited to:
Difficulty breathing.
Feeling as though you are not able to get enough
Racing heartbeat.
A sense of terror or dread.
Severe anxiety level; feeling like you are on the verge of losing your mind.
Dizziness, trembling, choking.
Chest pain.
Sweating, hot flashes.
Tingling sensation.
People who have panic attacks tend to make connections between their anxiety and certain activities. This leads them to the conclusion that if they avoid the activity then they will not have the panic attack. Unfortunately this tends to gradually make their world shrink. They become comfortable with fewer and fewer experiences. They become embarrassed by their lack of control over the panic attacks and they start to avoid friends and family. They stop going to places that were once familiar. This may include the grocery store, the mall and their church. Eventually this can impede their education and/or their career. They may do the opposite and become quite needy on friends and family. Their friends and family often do not know what is going on and thus they do not give the support that is needed. These same people may also feel their own sense of helplessness as to what they should be doing to provide relief. The person with panic attacks becomes embarrassed and frustrated. They withdraw from the help that could be available. This avoidance behavior sets the stage for depression and eventual hopelessness. But please do not ever forget that Help Is Available!
I have treated thousands of cases of anxiety/panic disorder.
If you have been having panic attacks, here are some recommendations to decrease and hopefully eliminate them:
1. Immediately seek a psychiatric evaluation. You could seek a therapist first but the therapist will most likely send you to a psychiatrist anyway. Medication is the fastest way to control the panic attacks. This will decrease the anxiety so that the therapist can get to the root of the problem and teach you a variety of anxiety reducing techniques.
2. Find a therapist who is familiar with treating anxiety disorders. Not all therapists are good at helping these kinds of cases.
3. If your psychiatrist prescribes an anti-anxiety medication, please take them as recommended. Short term usage is usually required. Keep this medicine with you at all times because panic attacks can be very unpredictable.
Mark Webb
http://www.articlesbase.com/stress-management-articles/overcoming-panic-attacks-55698.html
Anxiety: What is Panic Disorder?
Fear and anxiety are part of life. You may feel anxious before you take a test or walk down a dark street. This kind of anxiety is useful – it can make you more alert or careful. It usually ends soon after you are out of the situation that caused it. But for millions of people in the United States, the anxiety does not go away, and gets worse over time. They may have chest pains or nightmares. They may even be afraid to leave home. These people have anxiety disorders.
Panic disorder is an anxiety disorder. It causes panic attacks, which are sudden feelings of terror for no reason. You may also feel physical symptoms, such as:
* Fast heartbeat
* Chest pain
* Breathing difficulty
* Dizziness
Panic attacks can happen anytime, anywhere and without warning. You may live in fear of another attack and may avoid places where you have had an attack. For some people, fear takes over their lives and they cannot leave their homes.
Panic disorder is more common in women than men. It usually starts when people are young adults. Sometimes it starts when a person is under a lot of stress. Most people get better with treatment. Therapy can show you how to recognize and change your thinking patterns before they lead to panic. Medicines can also help.
Anxiety can be quite detrimental to your appearance, your social life and sometimes your overall health. When it lasts for long periods of time, it becomes a serious issue that should be addressed by a medical professional. Like any other health problem, there are many causes that can lead to severe anxiety.
A major cause of anxiety can be genetics. Biology determines a great deal of how we are, from eye color to nose shape, and right down to the main core of our personality. If one or both of your parents tend to worry about things frequently, then chances are you will have the same reactions to situations. It is possible for this type of trait to skip generations, but more than likely whatever does not trickle down from heredity will catch with you from the nervous environment in which you live.
As alluded to before, your environment can heavily impact the amount of anxiety you may feel. But, even more than that, social pressures in your life can influence your personality, and cause you to be distressed about things you never thought you would worry about. Between work, children, pets, running a household and other such responsibilities, life can sometimes feel overwhelming.
When things are thrown at us all at once, many of us tend to go into survival mode. Feeling intense nervousness and experiencing worrisome behavior can actually be quite normal when we feel trapped under pressure.
Everyone experiences anxiety at one time or another ‘butterflies in the stomach’ before giving a speech or sweaty palms during a job interview are common symptoms. Other symptoms include irritability, uneasiness, jumpiness, feelings of apprehension, rapid or irregular heartbeat, stomachache, nausea, faintness, and breathing problems. Anxiety is often manageable and mild, but sometimes it can present serious problems. A high level or prolonged state of anxiety can make the activities of daily life difficult or impossible.
Since we often can trace the direct cause of our anxious behavior, the next step is to find ways to work through it. There is no point to going through life constantly feeling tense and worried. Over time, it will take its toll on you and you will find yourself feeling worn out and restless. Remember to take a step back, breathe, relax, and get plenty of rest. Everything falls into place. There is no need to worry about every little thing, because every little thing is going to be all right.
Sherry Harris
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/anxiety-what-is-panic-disorder-484143.html
Treat your Anxiety Disorder by Using Herbal Remedy
Anxiety is a problem that you should treat and not just neglect about especially when it is severe already. Some people just neglect it and some thought that it is not treatable.
Most of us may feel anxious. If you are faced with a stressful and traumatic experience that leads to anxiety. Like for instance, your heart may pound before an interview or exam.
But, if anxiety is preventing you from living a life that you use to have and do, then you are suffering from anxiety disorder.
Severe anxiety or having anxiety disorder can affect your daily routine and even your relationship with family and friends. So you have to do something about it and do not just let your activities and routine and relationship with others be affected.
There are heaps of ways that you can do in order to treat this problem. Do not just let yourself fall into pieces and just lock yourself to your room and never want to face the world positively.
Anxiety disorder can be cause by too much fear and worry. Anxiety disorder can lead to other problems or illnesses such as low self-esteem, depression, and alcoholism. It can also negatively affect your work and your personal relationships.
But the good news is that anxiety disorder is treatable. There are some ways to get a relief from your worries and can lead you back to the life you want and use to have.
One of the ways that you should do is have physical activities or do proper exercise. In choosing an activities that you will do, you have to make sure that you will be doing the things that you will be happy about. Exercising will increase the good feeling in your body. And because of this, it will increase your self-esteem, so it will reduce the symptoms of anxiety. Give half an hour in exercising, you can walk, jog, swim, dance and so on, as long as it lets you sweat and can increase your heart beat can be helpful. Do this regularly.
If you worry too much about a problem or anything, you can talk things out. You can go to your family or friends and share it with them. This would help you be relieved with the anxiety that you are having at the moment.
Being alone is not the right thing to do, you have to go out and face the world that would be even better. It would be advisable to join groups. You can join a group at your church and volunteer in serving your church and other people. Being lonely and worried are causes of anxiety but if you go out and mingle with others can lessen your loneliness and worry.
Using herbal remedy for your anxiety is helpful in treating your problem. Just make sure to choose the right one for your anxiety problem. You can go to an herbalist, so he or she can help you out in giving the right herbal remedy for your anxiety.
Indeed, there are plenty of ways to treat your anxiety in a natural way, by using herbal remedy, exercising and joining social groups. All these can help you with your anxiety disorder.
Eliza Maledevic
http://www.primeherbal.com/Relagen/
Eliza Maledevic Ayson
http://www.articlesbase.com/stress-management-articles/treat-your-anxiety-disorder-by-using-herbal-remedy-138288.html
Symptoms of Anxiety – Physical and Mental
Anxiety is a complicated thing. Anxiety can easily make an otherwise very happy and healthy person become quite the opposite. Depression and physical sickness can quickly set in as a result of anxiety. Let’s take a much more detailed look at anxiety and its physical and mental signs and symptoms.
Physical symptoms of anxiety:
Have you ever looked at a person and just knew immediately that they were suffering from some sort of anxiety? Perhaps he or she looked haggard, stressed, unhappy, or mentally exhausted. If you didn’t already know it — physically, anxiety can make you very ill. Anxiety over events in your life can cause ever illness from Irritable Bowel Syndrome to heat problems to the common cold. You can become physically ill from anxiety because it actually lowers your immune system’s ability to fight off infections or bacteria. Anxiety strains the heart, and can cause rapid or irregular heartbeat. Severe, recurring and untreated anxiety can ultimately lead to heart attack and stroke.
If you look at a person with severe anxiety, you may be able to see the wrinkles in his or her forehead, the seemingly permanent grimace on the face, and black circles under the eyes. Severe anxiety can also cause him or her to be over or under their normal weight. This is because anxiety often does one of the two things: causes binge eating (which is when a person frequently overeats to deal with stress) or under eating (which is when stress completely wipes out a person’s appetite and they are unable to gain any appetite).
There are other physical symptoms of anxiety that can be found in the manifestation of other mental illnesses. For example, in people with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), severe anxiety can cause a flareup of highly obsessive behaviors. A person who is worried about something may obsessively repeat routines in order to alleviate the stress that they are under. Repetition is often a stress reducer for some with OCD. A chronically depressed person, on the other hand, may have a different reaction to anxiety. They may find it impossible to get out of bed in the morning, and therefore miss a great deal of time at work or school. You may notice that these people are physically absent from their usual activities.
Mental symptoms of anxiety:
Mental symptoms of anxiety are stressful to those who struggle with it. Those who suffer from extreme anxiety may find it nearly impossible to focus on anything except the thing that they are anxious or stressed over. It may seem that no matter what they try to focus on, their thoughts always come back to the same negative things. This can cause a highly depressed state in a person suffering from anxiety. It can also cause a person to have a mental breakdown and be unable to preform the day-to-day tasks that they usually do.
Mentally, anxiety can cause a person to become totally changed. Someone who once used to go out and be social with friends may now be a homebody, unwilling to talk much to others. Severe anxiety can cause mood swings, One minute a person an be content, and the next minute they can be completely unreasonable. Anxiety can cause a person to be unusually quite, distracted, and disorganized. The anxiety can be so overwhelming, that the person suffering from it may not want to explain it to others. In fact, it may seem almost impossible for the person suffering from it to even put it into words. Overall, anxiety is an extremely difficult thing for a person to deal with mentally and physically. If you are suffering from any of the above symptoms or have reason to believe that you are chronically stressed, it is in your best interest to seek the help of a mental health professional right away.
Matthew Hick
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/symptoms-of-anxiety-physical-and-mental-92199.html
Anxiety Attack Symptoms and Solutions
The symptoms of anxiety attacks can be defined as those feelings we experience when we feel we are in sudden danger. An Anxiety attack can often be a traumatic and scary experience. It is a period of sudden and intense fear or discomfort, typically with an abrupt onset and usually lasting for no more than 10 minutes. Sometimes someone can experience a panic attack all of a sudden without an obvious reason. Most people that experience one attack will usually experience another attack, and those who have recurring attacks, or feel severe anxiety about having another are said to have panic disorder.
Symptoms of a panic or anxiety attack are intense heartbeat, difficulty with breathing, palpitation, feeling sick, excessive sweating and trembling, chest pains, fearful of going crazy or about to die, sudden chills, and the like. Some people may experience different or more anxiety attack symptoms but this does not mean that their condition is far worse or that you are suffering from a different undiagnosed condition. Because we are all different, the symptoms during anxiety attacks can vastly vary. You might not find among the listed anxiety attack symptoms what you are experiencing and it may be tempting to think something is very wrong with you. The above list is just a guide only, as everyone reacts differently.
Anxiety attack may affect your quality of life if not given treatment immediately. As a human being, it is normal that we feel anxiety, worry and fear from time to time due to the things that our complicated lives bring. Anxiety is just a part of life. can help us cope with the stresses we may encounter. If you are in a state of anxiety on a regular basis, it is likely that you are experiencing anxiety attacks.
Anxiety attacks involve a sudden surge of overwhelming fear that comes without warning and without any obvious reason, and importantly it is far more intense than having normal anxiety or the feeling of being stressed. It is said that up to one in every 75 people will experience an anxiety attack at one point in their life.
A common feeling among sufferers of Anxiety is one of impending death, going crazy or losing control of emotions as well as behavior. Anxiety incidents create an overwhelming urge in many people to escape or run away from the place where the attack begins, and they are associated with chest pain or shortness of breath.
A person with a phobia will often experience an anxiety attack as a direct result to the phobia trigger. These anxiety attacks are brief and quickly relieved once the trigger is escaped. In the conditions of chronic anxiety, one anxiety attack can usually turn into another one, leading to a prolonged feeling of fatigue lasting many days.
Anxiety attack usually last for several minutes and is considered one of the most disturbing conditions that anyone can live through in everyday life. The step-by-step onset of anxiety generally follows the same pattern: first, comes the sudden jolt of fear with less or no triggering motivation, and then this will lead to a release of adrenaline (epinephrine), which causes the supposed fight-or-flight response, where the persons body prepares for major physical activity. This results in an increased heart rate, labored breathing or hyperventilation, and sweating. The diaphragm, involved in the action of the lungs, is also a muscle and it can become overly tight. If someone suffers from normal anxiety they often work too hard when breathing. However, if there is hyperanxiety or an anxiety attack, there is overwhelming excitement, and a person may hyperventilate.
Because strenuous activity hardly ever arises, this hyperventilation leads to carbon dioxide levels lowering in the lungs and then the blood, resulting to the shift in the pH of the blood, which will then lead to many of the other symptoms, such as tingling or numbness, dizziness, and lightheadedness.
It is certainly true that an anxiety attack is a serious problem, but before you start believing you have this condition and run to your doctor in panic, stop and take a deep breath! Relax before you actually cause an anxiety attack. Dont start worrying unduly that it may lead to something serious and may affect your daily routine. Take things slowly. In any case, if you think you have this condition, the first thing you should do is see a doctor. If you are diagnosed with anxiety attack condition, appropriate medication and good counseling can bring your life to normal again. If you do not have anxiety disorder you should accept occasionally you will feel anxiety, but this is natural and healthy.
By: Anne Girder (Free Treatment for Anxiety eBook)
About the Author:
For more Anxiety and Panic articles by Anne Girder, visit http://Anxiety.health-alternative-life.com. For additional information about Anne and Anxiety Disorder visit http://www.squidoo.com/anxiety-attack-symptoms-explained/
Overcoming Anxiety: Helen Kennerley’s Self-Help Course
It is usually recommended to seek professional help from a licensed expert in looking for ways of overcoming anxiety. Helen Kennerley is a licensed psychologist as well as a cognitive therapist. She provides consultation services with regard to cognitive therapy. She is the originator of the self-help course that is an easy systematic guide for alleviating anxiety. This self-help treatment involves the use of a book, which contains valuable guides and pointers for relaxation in the face of anxiety.
Anxiety is a feeling of overall combination of emotional, mental and physical distress manifested by failure to concentrate on one particular thought. People who are experiencing severe levels of anxiety are unable to perform purposeful productive movements and have difficulty receiving and retaining information. Severe anxiety can significantly disrupt a person’s life as well as his social relationships.
People suffering from frequent anxiety attacks also suffer from self-esteem disturbance, impairment in social functioning and risk for social isolation. This calls for a pressing need to treat anxiety at its very core. The battle over anxiety may prove to be a difficult task for people especially if done alone. Therefore, if you experience symptoms of anxiety, you may want to participate on a self-help course to avoid further problems on your condition.
An Introduction to the Self-Help Course
An informative and comprehensive introduction to anxiety is included in the self-help course for overcoming anxiety. Helen Kennerley has brought the readers face to face with the facts encompassing anxiety in order for people to understand it fully. The course enables the patient to become familiarized with the body’s fight and flight response and the significant role it plays in generating feelings of anxiety. Apart from providing a concrete definition of anxiety, the different forms of anxiety are also listed and discussed in detail.
What to Expect from the Self-help Course
The self-help course also provides patients with methods of how to prevent the occurrence and exacerbation of feelings of anxiety. Lessons about effective time management and improvement in sleeping habits are also provided. Patients are also taught about methods on how to come face to face with the source of stress or anxiety. This enables the person to eliminate the source of anxiety successfully.
The contents of the self-help course include a list of methods of overcoming anxiety. Helen Kennerley has provided patients with pointers on coping with the physical symptoms of anxiety. Good examples of these procedures include structured breathing exercises.
Learn how to get your Free holistic anxiety treatment guide here: http://www.treatment-for-anxiety.org/the-holistic-treatment/index.html#freeholisticguide
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