For a very long time, I believed that anxiety and depression are illnesses that "just happen", something that we do not have any control over. I am thankful now for the increased awareness that there is not an external reason for what happens to us physically, rather we are the creators of our life. This knowledge gives us greater control over our lives and allows us to challenge limiting beliefs that we hold.
Increased adrenalin prepares our body for the "flight or fight" response. This causes us to experience physical symptoms. When the perceived danger disappears, the physical symptoms also disappear. Think about when you are watching a scary film, your fear (flight or fight response) returns to normal once the film has ended. If however stress continues over a long period of time, the increased adrenalin can cause complications. For some people this results in anxiety, depression, insomnia and various other conditions.
When I suffered from post natal anxiety I experienced a few panic attacks but mostly it was generalised anxiety. The physical and mental symptoms were quite extreme, including breathlessness, shaking, tingling sensations, constipation, extreme insomnia to name but a few. These symptoms were all a result of the increased adrenalin in my system.
The biggest problem with prolonged anxiety is that your body starts to believe that this increased level of adrenalin is the norm and the body resets itself to produce this amount of adrenalin. As we go about our daily lives we have the fight or flight response when doing completely "normal" activities i.e. shopping, going out, in the house. What is our response to this? We start to adapt our lives in many ways to avoid the "perceived" danger. But it is danger that does not exist, well only in our mind. We can see why many people attempt to use behavioural approaches successfully to re-train the mind.
The irrational thinking can quickly escalate out of control. The thoughts can continue to a level that is disturbing to anyone. This can very easily lead to feeling depressed, depressed at the inability to control the anxiety. With very few options available it is no surprise that many people take anti-depressant medication.
The adrenal glands also produce steroids including corticosterone. People who are depressed tend to have high levels of these steroids. Basically as was described with the adrenalin, the feedback loop is out of control and the body continues to produce these excess levels. People can get stuck because the feelings get retained in the memory. To break the feedback loop you have to stop sending the message to produce more steroids and reduce the chemical levels in the body.
It is also understood that serotonin levels (neurochemical) are low within people who are feeling depressed. Anti-depressant drugs can be used to block the re-uptake mechanism, allowing excess serotonin to flood receptors, aiming to correct the imbalance.
My own experience is that antidepressants are a short-term fix when there does not appear to be an alternative option. They do not cure, they are like a plaster and the wound still needs to be healed when you remove the plaster.
Top tips
Look to eliminate or reduce all stress in your life.Avoid sugar in your diet, try to keep your blood sugar levels steady.
Take control of your mind rather than letting it control you!
The Law of Attraction teaches us the importance of what we think and speak about. We will attract more of this in to our lives. It is therefore very important to become aware of the way you think and speak so that you don't attract more of this in to your life. Start writing affirmations etc that will help to challenge the irrational thoughts. The quicker you can reduce your adrenalin levels you will start to feel better.
Make a list of all the things that you have adapted, avoided because of your irrational fears. The sooner that you return to everyday activities without adapting because of irrational fears the quicker life will return to normal for you.
Find activities that will help you to relax and divert your mind, watching TV does not work! Something that will help you to focus your mind will help.
Think carefully about taking antidepressants whilst they can be useful for a short-term fix, it is worth noting that no studies have been carried out as to the effect that these medications can have on other areas of our body.
Be aware that our body has a natural way of producing all the hormones that we need, we just need to know how!
Serotonin can be increased naturally through a healthy lifestyle including diet, exercise, laughter, sex and reducing stress levels.
Most of all never believe that there is an external factor causing your illness or believe that you need medication to manage your life longer-term. This will mean you live your life in fear, fear of it returning! Fear of not being able to control it again.
Kelly Menzies, Change and Personal Development Leader has been working in HR, Change Leadership and Learning and Development for ten years. She is currently working with fitness and nutrition professionals, using personal development techniques to help them attract and retain more clients and build their business. Get started today with her FREE 7 Day Training Series, "Build Your Client Base and Make More Money" http://www.life-is-now.co.uk/
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