Just Breathe
I have suffered with anxiety for as long as I can recall. Some of my earliest memories include experiencing a tight chest, difficulty breathing, and feeling dread in the pit of my stomach. Physiologically, anxiety is the body’s natural response to threat. However, sometimes we can experience anxiety without a perceived threat and it can be paralyzing. Anxiety has affected my work, relationships, and quality of life. But it doesn’t have to. I have developed a number of strategies to help me cope with it so that I am able to function in my everyday life.
Anxiety can be described as a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, about an impending event or something with an uncertain outcome. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, there are five major types of anxiety: Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Social Phobia, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Panic Disorder. There are millions of suffers in the US — approximately 18% of adults — and it is progressive, getting worse over time. Symptoms include: difficulty thinking, chest pains, sweating, hyperventilating, overwhelming self-consciousness, nightmares, panic, fear of leaving home, obsessive thoughts, dizziness, shortness of breath, abdominal stress.
Ironically, feelings of anxiety are normal. We experience them before stressful events such as an interview, a wedding, or before going on vacation. It is a physiological process designed to keep us safe. Known as the fight or flight response, in which the body responds to a perceived attack, danger or threat, by flooding the body with hormones and neurotransmitters — such as adrenalin and cortisol — which prepare your body to fight or run.
The problem is not anxiety in itself, rather an anxiety disorder; in which this response is triggered with no real danger present. The cause isn’t really known, but there are a number of contributory factors, such as stress, genetics, poor habits and coping skills.
The good news is that anxiety is treatable; treatment includes psychological therapy and/or medication. First and foremost, good mental health is key to keeping anxiety under control.
Here are a few ways to ease anxiety:
· Exercise: this not only serves to release neurotransmitters that improve mental state, it burns off the stress hormone adrenalin, and relaxes your body.
· Meditation: this calms your nervous system and relaxes the body. I always feel relaxed, calm and centered after a meditation.
· Self-care: getting at least eight hours sleep, drinking lots of water, stopping smoking, and limiting caffeine (or cutting it out altogether), help tremendously.
· Eating well: consuming foods high in B vitamins help the nervous system (think avocados, almonds, oats); foods high in vitamin C (such as kiwi, blueberries, citrus fruits) help to protect and repair cells, foods high in omega-3 (salmon, walnuts, eggs) have been shown to keep stress hormones under control, foods high in magnesium (spinach, dark chocolate, leafy greens) also help regulate stress hormones and have a calming effect on the body, and foods high in tryptophan (turkey, pumpkin, oats) produce serotonin which promotes tiredness and calmness.
· Mindfulness: try standing with bare feet on the ground, breathing slowly and deeply. Imagine all the anxious energy going into the earth. This sense of connectedness will bring you into the present moment and help you to feel more grounded.
Whatever you choose to help your anxiety, you can feel confident that there are tools available to ease your symptoms so that you can live a relatively happy life.
