How Your Anxiety Affects Your Mind And Your Physical Body

Our response to anxiety is the normal reaction to anything that happens that we recognize to be a threat to us or those close to us. Some of the stimulating effects of this response can be good for us but if our anxious awakening is excessive and unrealistic pertaining to the situation we are faced with, then our heightened levels of anxious arousal will take its toll on our health. In fact over time giving our minds constant fight or flight messages can and will do life-threatening damage to our physical bodies.

Here is a list of some of the things that happen to our physical bodies during increased anxiety or a panic attack, remember these things happen every time our anxiety exceeds normal healthy levels.
Skin: Our sweat glands immediately start working to lower our core temperature in case we need to run or stand and fight.Breathing: Our lungs start working harder and faster, forcing the oxygen in which will be needed by the muscles to perform well.Heart: Our heart starts to beat faster and harder, raising our blood pressure and pulse beyond normal levels.Immune System: With all our major organs on high alert, fighting germs takes a back seat and our immune cell system slows right down leaving us open to attack.Cognition: Our brain anticipates the worst possible outcome, going into override and we start to feel impending doom.Digestion: Our digestive system becomes very low on the bodies priority scale and slows right down leading to stomach problems like bloating, indigestion, diarrhoea, vomiting etc.Metabolism: Hormonal changes affect both our appetites and the way we burn calories, upset metabolisms lead to other problems such as obesity.Nerves: Our nerve system becomes oversensitive and this leads to increased awareness of pain.

As you can see we are putting our bodies under tremendous stress every time we have an anxiety or panic attack, with a severe attack doing untold damage over the long term.

Imagine you have particularly nasty infection which you need your immune system to get to work on immediately to fight off the foreign invaders which have entered your body but because you are in a constant anxious state then your immune system is almost closed down and will definitely lose the battle and leave you with a possibly life threatening infection needing immediate medical intervention.

Perhaps like me you would like your heart to continue working well into old age, are we helping it achieve that outcome by continually stressing it unnaturally?

So now we have a strong case for overcoming our anxiety or panic disorder, not only will we feel much better mentally but we will also be giving our physical bodies the best possible chance of operating at optimal rate for a long time to come.

© Andrew Tudor Jones.

Andrew Tudor Jones is the owner of http://www.anxietydepressionselfhelp.com/, a websit dedicated to anyone who suffers from anxiety and depression.The website offers valuable information on these conditions as well as 2 e-books which can be downloaded for free and a Blog,updated on a regular basis with relevant information. You can connect with Andrew on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/selfhelpforanxietyanddepression.

Original article

When Battling Against Anxiety

Anxiety is a universal human phenomenon. It is defined as a strong feeling of fear or dread with an unknown cause. Everyone has experienced being anxious at some point of their life. Everyone may feel anxious, especially when facing an unfamiliar situation. Once anxious, you want to run away from the feeling and want to go back to normal but you just don't have control over it. You only wish that things go back to normal again.

There are people who regularly experience anxiety. They feel that they are facing an unfamiliar situation more often than a normal person does. Almost everything feels strange to them. This type of anxiety is already an alteration of mental ability. It has been believed and studied that frequent anxiety attacks are related to regular exposure to stressors. According to studies, anxiety is part of the human reaction to stress.

There are four levels of anxiety. People who experience increased pulse and blood pressure experience mild anxiety. These people are still alert and can solve a problem. People with elevated vital signs, tense muscles, and diaphoresis, a state when there is excessive sweating, are in the moderate level of anxiety. They are usually tense and fearful. Their attention is focused on one concern. The third level of anxiety is severe. They are in a state of fight-or-flight response, dry mouth, and numb extremities. They are the ones who could barely move due to extreme anxiety. Their sensory perception is decreased. They can only focus on details and are unable to learn new information. The fourth and last level of anxiety is panic. Panic's physical manifestation is more severe than the third level. They are totally overwhelmed by the anxiety. They tend to ignore external cues, focused only on internal stimuli, and are unable to learn.

People who experience anxiety more often need proper attention and intervention. This problem should not be taken lightly. Dealing with these people requires a lot of patience. To help lessen anxiety, careful listening is needed. Looking at the person with unbroken eye contact is necessary. Always maintain a calm and unhurried approach. When it is your turn to speak, talk in a slow and clear manner. Use a firm voice, not loud. Offering of a hand or giving a back rub helps the anxious person control his or her emotions. And if possible, decrease noise and bright lights to elicit calm behavior. Apart from these interventions, it is suggested to seek for a medical help. Medical doctors may prescribe anxiolytic drugs to decrease anxiety levels. What is really important here is that this condition should not be ignored. Proper and prompt care should be given.

The fact is, panic attacks and panic disorder are real conditions that have definite diagnostic criteria. We don't know all the reasons why these conditions might develop, but we do know its not a failure of personality. To know more about it, check out http://www.panicattackrelease.com/

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5 Important Symptoms of General Anxiety Disorder

A General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a state in which the patient worries excessively. This feeling is unrelenting and the worry becomes exceedingly strong, that even a casual comment by someone about them becomes a matter of great worry to the patient. A person suffering from GAD finds it almost impossible to carry-on with his daily activities as worry takes over his thoughts completely. He is always in a state of worry, fear, tension and dreads unfortunate events. GAD affects people of all ages and from all walks of life.

People suffering from GAD exhibit both physical and psychological symptoms. Given below is a list of 5 such signs of anxiety to help you identify and understand this disorder.

* Tensed Muscles, Body Aches, Soreness, Trembling, Twitching, Headaches:
A person suffering from GAD displays all the signs of being extremely tensed and jumpy. The muscles remain tensed most of the time, which cause tiredness and pain in the muscles. He will complain of pain in various parts of his body. He will also tremble and shudder from some kind of fear. A little playful scare can easily send the person into a panic.

* Nausea, Upset Stomach, Diarrhea, Difficultly Swallowing:
The person suffering from GAD will inevitably suffer from several stomach problems. An upset stomach will bother the person most of the time. He will also have difficulty swallowing food. The stomach problems will further complicate the situation.

* Sweating, Hot Flashes, Frequent Visits To The Bathroom, Sleeplessness:
Since the person is in a state of anxiety, he may sweat abnormally. His body temperature will also be unusually high, most of the time. Due to GAD, he may also feel the need to empty his bladder frequently. The person will find it difficult to sleep properly as his mind will be troubled by disturbing thoughts.

* Irritability, Anxiousness, Easily Frightened, Inability to Concentrate:
A person suffering from GAD has an irritable nature, which will be evident from the way he interacts with others around. He shows heightened signs of anxiety which will also cause him to jump with fright at every scary thought or occurrence. The heightened anxiety will also prevent the person from concentrating on anything.

* An Unrealistic View Or Opinion About Simple Or Daily Problems:
Due to the state of anxiety prevailing in the mind of the person suffering from GAD, in his view the normal day-to-day problems will seem gigantic problems that are almost impossible to solve. While others may react mildly to these problems or take those casually, the anxious person will almost be frightened into inaction by the same problems.

One of the signs of anxiety noticed in people suffering from General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is that they expect a disaster at every step. For this reason they may be called neurotic or eccentric but in reality they are just suffering from GAD. Reassurance is the first thing that they need to overcome their state of anxiety.

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Original article