Overcoming Anxiety is Indeed Possible

You have a family and a career that, albeit financially rewarding, also takes up a lot of time. Your busy schedule is taking its toll on you, and you are starting to experience sleepless nights, and chronic nervousness. Thus, you need some advice on overcoming anxiety.

Overcoming Anxiety Means Reassessing Your Situation

Anxiety that comes on gradually is generally not a chronic disorder, but rather it is caused by various factors in your life. It is normal to have anxiety when it comes to caring for a family, but if you notice that your job is causing more stress than is usual and taking a toll on your health, then consider finding another job to overcome your anxiety.

There are other less drastic methods of overcoming anxiety, and the first of these is getting therapy. A good therapist will diagnose your situation, listen to your problems, and suggest methods you can try to overcome anxiety.

One of these methods is something you do all the time, yet probably do not pay attention to it: breathing. The key in overcoming anxiety often lies in deep breathing. Go to an area that is relatively quite in your home. Get into a comfortable reclining position and inhale and exhale deeply several times. Deep breathing calms you down and improves blood flow to the brain.

Another thing that you can do to lessen your anxiety is to take a nice warm bath. The warm of the water will instantly relax you. If you want, you can even take a good book with you to read! A hot shower is just as good as a hot bath as well.

Something else that you can do is take a walk or exercise. Being outside and keeping fit often does wonders for anxiety. There is something about the fresh air that definitely clears the mind both literally and figuratively.

No doubt you have seen many people on their iPods. They are probably listening to music so that they can relax. Indeed, soothing music can be very helpful in getting rid of anxiety, because it takes your mind off of the situation.

Many people tend to get more anxious when they have not rested properly. A good rule to follow is that you should get at least eight hours of sleep each night. A well-rested person not only enjoys better health, but better focus. Anxiety is a common problem, but when managed properly, it does not have to be a problem.

Anxiety is a serious problem.  According to studies, one-third of the total mental health-bill of the United States is spent on anxiety and panic disorders.  Not primarily on the treatment but on the consequences of missing work or from alcohol abuse.

Some say it would be much more beneficial on a personal level to understand and recognize the signs of more serious anxiety disorders in time, when the interference of the anxiety with the normal course of life has not been going on for months already. If the signs of anxiety are discovered soon enough, recovery can also be much faster.

Knowing When to Get Help

Every person definitely goes through more stressful times in his or her life, after some traumatic event, or just as a result of increased tension.  On the other hand, if worries have been going through your mind for a longer time, especially if seemingly without a concrete reason or focusing on insignificant things, then you might have an anxiety disorder.

Think whether you have any excessively obsessive thoughts, concerning cleaning or securing things, or if you have any unreasonably intense fears of seemingly insignificant objects or strangers for example. If you notice any of these psychological signs of anxiety, it is advised that you go to your doctor with these problems, as they are often signs of anxiety disorders.

If you feel intense heartbeat, sweating, dizziness, nausea, especially in conjunction with unreasonably fearful thoughts, you may be experiencing the physical signs of anxiety and panic. You can of course have these physical signs as a result of some kind of a medication, temporary excitement, or illnesses, but mostly as a consequence of an anxiety and panic disorder.

In some cases people may think that they are having a heart attack, when in fact they are having just a panic attack. Especially if these physical signs are recurrent, for a longer stretch of time, they may well be signs of anxiety.

Another quite general sign of anxiety is hyperventilation. As opposed to the succession of sudden short breaths you may sometimes experience, hyperventilation is characterized by quick deep breaths, and the feeling that one still cannot properly breathe. Hyperventilation, if not occurring directly after some highly traumatic experience, like a life-threatening situation or the sudden death of a loved one, is usually a sign of anxiety and panic … a rather frightening symptom in fact.

Recognizing and understanding the signs of anxiety are important steps in a proper treatment, and you should always keep in mind that these signs are not just to be treated superficially. Though they can also be disconcerting in themselves, the most important thing about them is that they are usually pointing to some more serious problems.

Picture this, it’s a Saturday afternoon and you are waiting in line at the movie theater.  Suddenly your heart starts racing, you are having difficulty breathing, that feeling of impending doom has crept up.  You feel as though you are going to pass out.  It may appear to everyone around that nothing is going on.  But you want to escape the situation, run away.   In a matter of minutes everything returns to normal, but in the back of your head, the memory of that feeling remains.

Have you ever felt like this before?  Perhaps just reading it has brought on feelings of panic.  If so, it is possible that you could suffer from panic attacks.

What is a Panic Attack

Panic is simply a physical response to stress.  It is often referred to the ‘fight or flight’ response.   Panic is actually nature’s way of providing us with an alarm system, it is your normal response to danger.

When panic occurs and there is no actual source of danger, then it is typically one of two causes.  Stress or panic disorder, which will produce panic attacks.

You may experience some or all of the following during a panic attack:

• rapid heartbeat
• sweating, shaking or trembling
• shortness of breath or inability to breath
• nausea and dizziness
• tingling sensation or numbness in the fingers or toes
• a sense of fear or dread
• chest pain
• hot flashes or chills
• feeling that you are going to go crazy or die

What Causes Panic Attacks

In today’s world, stress is not typically caused by physical danger.  Most stress is caused by normal daily activity and is not harmful to us.  However, too much stress is dangerous to our body and in some cases it can cause panic attacks.  This is particularly true if we have experienced an additional trauma or burden such as the loss of a loved one or big change such as a new job or move.  While normal stress can cause anxiety, when panic attacks become regular a panic disorder may be the cause.

Stress is not the only cause of panic attacks.  Some researchers are linking the panic attacks to physical causes.

Most individuals suffering from panic disorder never get properly diagnosed.  Many will suffer the physical and psychological effects of changing their lives, their jobs and their recreational activities to accommodate their panic attacks before taking action to relieve themselves of panic.  The symptoms of panic attacks may also lead a person to believe they have a dangerous physical condition and seek treatment for various unrelated diseases and conditions.

How Do You Treat Panic Disorder

There are various methods of treating panic disorder.  Some believe that you must treat the spiritual, physical, and mental aspects to rid yourself of panic attacks.

If you think you have been experiencing panic attacks you should visit your physician for diagnosis or to be referred to a psychiatrist. While the physical symptoms may not be connected to a mental condition, often the fear of having panic attacks in public leads to phobias that may need to be treated as well.

A physician or therapist may use a combination of medication and therapy to treat the panic attacks and help a person to overcome related phobias.

There are alternative therapies that may be considered as well.  Panic Away is one such treatment has proven effective in eliminating panic attacks in over 27,000 people.

Meditation and Reiki are effective in lowering stress levels and therefore reducing panic attacks.

EFT, or Emotional Freedom Techniques, is an energy therapy system that works amazingly well at helping to reduce the frequency and level of panic.  EFT is not limited to panic or mental disorders and users worldwide have found it effective in treating many physical and mental issues as well as for achieving life goals.

Whichever method you choose, the good news is that panic attacks respond very well to treatment and those who receive treatment can lead healthy, normal lives.