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
Understanding Anxiety and Panic Attacks
Being anxious over something is a natural human reaction. At a normal level, anxiety and panic are common responses to dangers and these feelings are not harmful unless it becomes a disorder. Understanding anxiety and panic attacks is important in dealing with anxiety disorder.
Anxiety or nervousness is not alarming if you have control over it but if you have intense fear over illogical things and you become obsessed by your fears then you are having anxiety and panic disorder. The intense fear that something dreadful is about to happen may last for few seconds or few minutes. This obsessive fear hinders you from doing your daily activities that is why understanding anxiety and panic attacks is very important to learn how to manage your fears.
In understanding anxiety and panic attacks, you have to know that these attacks are accompanied by physical and psychological symptoms. Both symptoms are very debilitating and you need to learn how to deal with these symptoms and conquer your anxiety attacks.
Physical symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks includes sweating, trembling, dizziness, chest pain, choking sensation, difficulty breathing, palpitations, hot flashes and chills. The psychological symptoms are as debilitating as the physical symptoms which include derealization or the feeling of unreality. It is like you are disconnected from reality and the world around you is unreal. Understanding anxiety and panic attacks will help you know what you are dealing with.
The symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks maybe scary but these symptoms are not life threatening but it could affect and reduce the quality of your life in so many ways. It could rob you of your freedom to live normally without fear.
Understanding anxiety and panic attacks is not enough; it is just the first step in seeking the proper treatment to break free from anxiety disorder. Anxiety and panic disorder can be cured naturally in easy to follow steps. To find out how visit Easy Calm Real Anxiety Relief
To know more health remedies visit Great Discovery-Health and Beauty
Gerry Restrivera
Do You Suffer From Anxiety? Check Out This Anxiety Self Help Guide!
Someone suffering from anxiety can be described as bad nerves, stressed out, tense, a worrier, or unable to relax. Someone suffering from anxiety will always see the negative instead of the positive. Often anxiety is the result of being over stressed for long periods of time. People who suffer from anxiety also feel that they are not in control of their lives.
Recognizing the symptoms of anxiety can help you deal with your symptoms and take charge of your feelings. Developing an anxiety self help guide can help you work through stressful situations and get the relief you need.
To get started on your anxiety self help guide you should get a pen and paper and write down what you are feeling when you are anxious. You need to realize that some anxiety is normal and can even be helpful to you in dealing with certain situations. When anxiety takes over your thoughts and your life it then becomes a problem.
Anxiety is something we all experience from time to time. It is a normal response to situations that we see as threatening to us. For example, if we had to go into hospital for an operation, or had to sit a driving test, or take an exam, it would be natural to feel anxious. Anxiety at certain levels can even be helpful in some situations such as when we need to perform well, or cope with an emergency.
To start your anxiety self help guide take a minute and write down the situations that cause you stress. You might be surprised at some of the things you are getting anxious over. Once you recognize the cause of the stress and anxiety you can then work on ways to get through it. It will be best if you keep a “stress diary” for about two weeks to help you realize your pattern.
Take a long look at the things you worry about. This might be paying bills when there is not enough money or it might be stress at work when trying to get everything done in a day. Whatever the situation, you can then look at the situation and start searching for solutions. When you think you have a solution you should write it down in your anxiety self help guide.
Be mindful of what you eat. If your body is not getting the right amounts of nutrients it might not have the energy needed to deal with stress and anxiety. Eating a balanced diet that is low in fats, sugars, and carbs will not only make you feel better physically, it can also help you deal with everyday stress better.
Take time out of your day to relax and enjoy something you like to do. Nobody can function normally if they don’t take time to enjoy something for themselves. Write down some things you enjoy in you anxiety self help guide. Then when you feel that anxiety is starting you can take a few minutes to redirect your activity.
Get some exercise every day. This does not mean that you have to run a marathon but taking a brief walk can help clear your head. Instead of the elevator you can take the stairs. Walk down the hall at work and look out a window for a few minutes. This will help you get your mind off of your stress.
With just a few simple steps you can turn your anxiety into something positive instead of something negative. The first step is taking the time to stop and recognize the causes of your stress or anxiety thereby creating your own anxiety self help guide.
Drofwyt Iamal
Panic Attacks In Anxiety Disorders -Traumatic Experiences Of Patients
Panic attacks are synonymous with anxiety attacks. Panic attack or anxiety attack is a great deterrent of normal life since it makes a person undergoing it to behave abnormally. If one experiences panic or anxiety attacks frequently which make him miss out important scheduled activities, living a normal life is totally impossible. These attacks do not allow one to do the things he enjoys and loves.
A typical panic or anxiety attack starts when the body quickly responds to the stimulus which provokes anxiety. It could be anything in one’s environment, sparking off worry, fear and anxiety for the patient. For most people, these attacks come suddenly out of the blue, without any warning – as seemingly there could be no stimulus to start that attack. One may wake up in the morning feeling tense with worry or afraid for no reason at all. Once these symptoms start, it is very difficult for the person to control them. The symptoms keep on building up to a scale when the body feels threatened by some sort of an external situation. These pent-up feelings of extreme fear then manifest as the body’s physiological reactions.
These anxiety symptoms cause the body to change from its calm state to an agitated or nervous panic state. Patient feels physically ill with headaches, nausea, chills or hot flashes, etc. He feels as if he is undergoing a heart attack due to the increased palpitations of the heart, leading to a tightening feeling in the chest. One suspects a seizure because with the growing tension in the body, involuntary movements like twitching or shakes or jittering start manifesting. These physiological reactions render bringing the anxiety level down virtually impossible. One begins to dread that a more complicated medical problem is going to follow which only adds to the anxiety he is feeling.
The body thinks that it is threatened by a dangerous situation. The physiological response is a reaction of the body when confronted with symptoms of anxiety. The body either tries to put up a brave fight or tries to take a flight away from the symptoms. Either way, the body gets tense, worked up and confused as a result of the stimuli provoking anxiety. It readies itself for a seeming battle. But once this feeling of worry or fear subsides, the body takes the cue and then returns to a more calm and stable state.
While the patient is undergoing the panic or anxiety attacks, his physical and psychological symptoms render it impossible for him to leave his house, drive or undertake any physical or mental activity. The terror he feels is so consuming that it momentarily paralyzes him so that he is unable to move. He feels sick physically and loses all desire to be active. This is very distressing especially if the person is required to work on something or go somewhere. He fears all the time that his panic attack or anxiety attack will be sparked off by something. This inhibits his life severely and puts grave limitations on such a person at school or at work.
But for such people, help is always on hand if they experience panic or anxiety attacks. They need to confide in their healthcare professionals who will evaluate these persons and determine what help they need. Most physicians may also take the help of a therapist who needs to coach the patients to control their anxiety levels and thus reduce the occurrence and severity of the panic or anxiety attacks they undergo.
Abhishek Agarwal
http://www.articlesbase.com/mental-health-articles/panic-attacks-in-anxiety-disorders-traumatic-experiences-of-patients-709332.html
Side Effects Of Anti Anxiety Drugs
For anyone suffering from anxiety, panic attacks, social anxiety attacks and other similar mental disorders, the desire to find some relief is very important. However there are many different drugs that are available in the market today and finding one that works for you can be a bit daunting. The best way to find the right anti anxiety drugs for you is to talk with your doctor and find a treatment that will alleviate your problems.
If you’re interested, the medical reasoning behind anti anxiety drugs shows they have certain chemicals within them that produce a calming and relaxing effect on the patient. There are however some side effects from these drugs and it’s therefore best to consult with your medical practitioner before you begin a course of treatment with any anti anxiety meds.
The traditional way to treat anxiety used to be with anxiolytics, which were anti anxiety agents. Today while these anxiety drugs are still used there are other methods that are also used. For many people however, treating their excessive anxiety with anti anxiety drugs is the most proven way of reducing their symptoms and allowing them to lead normal lives.
The most popular anxiolytics today is Benzodiazepines. Others like Alprazolam (Xanax) and Lorazepam (Ativan) are also used. Valium (Diazepam) is still widely used to treat the symptoms of anxiety; however its active agent desmethyldiazepam, makes the choice of Valium a dubious relief format.
Other types of anxiety medications are serotonin specific reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs. The brand names that are given include Citalopram, Fluoxetine, Fluvoxamine and others. These SSRIs have milder forms of side effects than that of the usual anti anxiety drugs, and there is also less chance of becoming dependent upon these drugs. The main drawback to SSRIs is that you must take them continuously for up to three to five weeks before any sign of improvement begins to show.
While there are known and reported side effects from the continued use of Benzodiazepines and Buspirones, people suffering from milder complaints can use these anti anxiety drugs without becoming overly addicted to them. Benzodiazepines can be given at least 30 to 60 minutes before a person suffering from anxiety is exposed to any stressful situations. Buspirones take at least 2 to 3 weeks before an improvement can be seen.
You should also be aware of the side effects that some of these anti anxiety drugs can have on you, especially if you suffer from certain medical conditions or suffer from allergic reactions to certain drugs, or are pregnant or trying to get pregnant or you’re a breast feeding mother. As with all drugs and treatments you should always consult with your doctor prior to taking any medication. It is hopeful that talking with your doctor will provide you with the information necessary to help reduce and cure your anxiety successfully.
Peter Nagy
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/side-effects-of-anti-anxiety-drugs-68168.html
Anxiety Panic Attacks – Natural Treatment
Treating panic attacks has never been easy, for years experts have been looking for treatment options that can actually cure the symptoms of anxiety panic attack. Many results have derived from these analysis and tests.
However, people have started having an affinity for natural methods of treatment off late. There are several reasons behind this. Some are mentioned below:
a) Natural treatments are safe
b) These treatments do not produce any side effects
c) These treatments are 100% effective
d) These treatments are widely available
e) Natural methods are gentle
For anyone who has actually experienced anxiety panic attacks, these attacks are terrible and cause a lot of discomfort. These attacks can be really debilitating on an individual’s emotional as well as physical health. One who has already experienced this state is ready to do and face almost anything to get away from it.
If you start looking for different ways to cure anxiety panic attacks, you will find that there are several different natural methods available for dealing with anxiety attack.
There are also people who want to use certain medications such as benzodiazepines or SSRIs. These medicines work towards reducing the frequency of anxiety panic attacks. However, there is a dark side to these drugs.
These drugs work towards solving the problem only on a temporary basis. Once the patient stops taking it, the attacks tend to get worse. With time, your body also tends to develop a kind of tolerance to these medicines. Last but not the least, these medicines do not get to the root cause of the problem.
Experts feel that when it comes to treating anxiety panic attacks, one needs to get to the root problem.
These days, several natural techniques and methods are available for dealing with this problem and most of these have been really effective. Here are some of the natural options to get you back on the track.
a) Deep breathing exercises
These are very effective when it comes to carrying you down during a panic attack. You can get a control over things in life. The best part is that you would be relieved from the problems such as finger tingling and tightness in the chest. The exercise is extremely useful in relieving you from hyperventilation.
b) Meditation techniques
These can help you a lot during on attack. You can also use it as a preventative tool. You can meditate in various ways. Recitation technique is one of the most popular and effective way for people who seek instant relief from anxiety panic attacks.
c) Vitamin and herb therapy
The therapy is really effective in providing maintenance for different symptoms via minimizing the frequency as well as the intensity of panic anxiety attacks. You may trust certain B complex vitamins and foods that contain inositol like beans, cantaloupe, oranges and nuts.
These fruits are extremely helpful in improve your overall mood. Intake of these fruits will also enhance the nerve cell communication inside the brain. Herbal preparations including Vaterian root, passion flower, St. John’s Wort and Kava Kava can effectively treat these attacks via facilitating your body and mind to relax, allowing you to sleep sound, reducing the strength of attack and reducing stress.
Bertil Hjert
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/anxiety-panic-attacks-natural-treatment-415064.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 Drugs: Do They Really Treat Anxiety Attacks
Anxiety and panic attacks are problems that affect many people on a daily basis and
are more common than many people believe. if you do not suffer from one of them, then you probably know someone who suffers from these disorders, even if you do not realize it. A lot of us experience anxiety some time in our lives, but for about five per cent of people it’s so severe and persistent and contols most of their daily life.
Anxiety and panic attacks, are some of the most common psychological disorders and affect women more often than men, they are more common than you think.
If you have this disorder, you may think that drugs are the only option to treat anxiety attacks. Medication can relieve some of the symptoms of anxiety, but it doesn’t cure the underlying problem and it’s usually not a long-term solution. Anxiety drugs also come with side effects and safety concerns, such as the risk of
addiction. Many anti-anxiety drugs like benzodiazepines work by reducing brain activity, this leads to side effects beyond anxiety relief. All benzodiazepines relieve anxiety (anxiolytic) but some act as sleeping agents too.
Drug companies spend billions promoting the view that depression and anxiety are biological illnesses and can only effectively be treated with drugs. All independent research indicates that the right psychotherapeutic intervention relieves symptoms more quickly and is more likely to prevent relapse.
The truth is anxiety and panic attacks are the most highly treatable of all mental health conditions. And you don’t have to rely on controversial antidepressant drugs to treat anxiety and panic attacks.
Learn more: http://panicaway=now.blogspot.com/
By: Faith (Download Natural Treatment for Anxiety Now!)
About the Author:
Faith is an expert writer on a variety of topics. She
writes about and reviews many quality products. Visit her blog
at, http://panicaway-now.blogspot.com/
Panic Attack Medication – 5 Effective Treatments Commonly Followed
You can easily seek and find help when panic attacks make life intolerable. Medication for panic attacks can sometimes instantly reduce the most distressing symptoms of a panic attack. Some people are afraid of using them and see no sense in taking medication that can lead to addiction even when taken for a short term.
1. Reasons to Take Medication for Panic Attacks
Medication for panic attacks is used to obtain relief from symptoms and also to enable patients to derive the benefits of other types of therapy. Most anxiety disorders are incurable; so, drugs serve only as a means to reduce the suffering caused by them. They can also help avoid any future complications that might require long-term medication.
Doctors commonly precribe drugs such as Valium and Zoloft for instant relief from symptoms of anxiety disorder. These drugs can considerably reduce the stress experienced by a person due to these symptoms.
Sometimes, anti-depressants can also be used along with anti-anxiety medication because both work hand in hand in controlling and reducing symptoms of anxiety disorder. The drugs, however, are used sparingly because they can be addictive.
2. Other Ways to Treat Panic Attacks
While medication for panic attacks helps give instant relief from the symptoms of the condition, it is not the only method available for a person suffering from panic attacks. Often, a lasting solution that does not require the taking of medication is preferable.
Fortunately, a person suffering from panic attacks has a number of options to choose from. Your treatment plan depends on your medical history and the exact nature of the problem you are suffering from.
You can choose from the following types of treatment.
3. Individual Psychotherapy
This therapy can be of great help to a person suffering from anxiety disorders. Even if the problem is triggered by chemical imbalances in the brain, it can help people cope with their condition without taking any drugs.
4. Group therapy
Group treatment is not always recommended, but it is very helpful. Patients suffering from phobias, especially, gain a lot of relief when they find out that they are not the lone sufferers. Even in case of panic disorders, the support of a group can be of great help.
5. Relaxation Techniques
Techniques such as self-hypnosis and deep breathing can be of great help in eliminating anxiety disorders including panic attacks, irrespective of whether they are done during group therapy or as an individual effort. These methods are the precise tools that people require in order to get back to a normal, productive life.
Most people are afraid to consider the use of medication for panic attacks. But, they can at least provide short-term relief by reducing stress and anxiety. This, in turn, helps you successfully pursue other treatments that might provide long-term relief from panic attacks.
By: Abhishek Agarwal (Get FREE Anxiety Treatment)
About the Author:
Abhishek has got some great Anger Management Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 97 Pages Ebook, “How To Effectively Control Your Anger” from his website http://www.Positive-You.com/553/index.htm . Only limited Free Copies available.
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