Anxiety

When people first hear the word Anxiety, they usually think of someone who gets really nervous or hyper in different situations. In some ways, this is sort of true. But what people fail to know is that anxiety effects people in more ways then just being nervous. Now you are probably thinking, well how does this girl know. What a great question. Well, I myself suffer from anxiety that effects me nearly every day. Now I am not saying that I am an expert or anything, because I am completely not. I am not a doctor or anything, but I do know what it is like to have it and can relate to others that have anxiety.

With that being said, I wanted to talk about anxiety and how it can effect someone. Before we start, we should probably talk about what anxiety is. Anxiety is a general term for several disorders that cause nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worrying. These symptoms can change how you feel and behave and can even cause physical symptoms in sever cases. There is no real source known that causes these symptoms. Of course, you should ALWAYS consult your doctor to be officially diagnosed with anxiety and any disorders that may stem from it.  Some common symptoms of anxiety may include:

- A sense of worry or impending doom

- Feelings of irritability, uneasiness and an inability to relax

- Body sensations including breathlessness, palpitations, dizziness, sweating

- An overwhelming feeling of panic

-Sleep disturbances

- Difficulty concentrating

- Changed perceptions whereby, (in a panic attack), the world may seem unreal

Only a doctor can truly diagnose and help treat you with your an anxiety. But there are ways that you can help yourself. That is what we are going to be talking about next.  This are of course not solutions or treatments to your anxiety but might help you deal and cope with your anxiety a little better.

Learn to Relax

Now this seems like a pretty general and obvious solution but for someone with anxiety. But this is a pretty daunting and challenging thing to do with someone with anxiety. So lets try to dissect what this means, together. One thing someone can do is "breathing retraining." This is when stop what ever you are doing and physically breath in and out, even meditate. This helps in the way that when someone gets anxious, they tend to hold their breath. By you breathing in and out, you are bringing oxygen back into your blood stream that goes to your brain where it is desperately needed. Since your brain controls just about everything in your body, having proper oxygen to it helps to control emotions a little more than without.

Eliminate anxiety-inducing foods and drinks from your diet

Whether you want to believe it or not, you are what you eat. This speaks true with how different foods and or drinks can help to make anxiety worse. Coffee and caffeine is one of the leading causes of anxiety in people who drink it.  Sugar and starch are probably one of the first kinds of food people go to for some comfort when they are feeling down, I know I do. But unfortunately, these comfort foods cause low and high blood sugar levels that send your emotions all over the place. But there are some good foods and drinks to help enhance your mood. Try to consume foods that are high in antioxidants such as blueberries and acai berries. These lower hormone levels that can contribute to stress. Foods high in minerals like magnesium and potassium that people usually don't get enough of. Foods like dark chocolate, pumpkin seeds, fish, and almonds are all great examples. Food and drinks with GAMA, a type of neurotransmitter, help to increase relaxation and increase sleep. Some examples include kefir (a cultured dairy product), kimchee, and oolong tea.

Do something you love

As simple as it sounds, this small but huge thing can help you in many ways. It first helps you get away from your day and anything that you might be feeling. You can focus your energy and feelings onto to something other than your anxiety. It also helps you to feel a sense of accomplishment and purpose while and after you have done the activity you love. The main thing to remember while performing this activity is to try and not think about your stressors that cause you anxiety.

Confront sources of anxiety you can control

A good way to find and pin point sources of your stress by keeping a journal. Writing about your day and feelings over a period of time. This can leave you with a sort of report of triggers that might effect you. Now there are some sources that you cant control like certain people or settings in your life but there some sources that you can. Read the journal that you have kept to help identify the sources that you can control and change? For example, social gatherings/situations or doing certain tasks. By approaching these sources from a different angle or approach, you might help to relieve anxiety or stress that these sources cause.

There are so many resources for people to go to that can help you to understand and cope with anxiety and the disorders that are like it. Here are some:
- http://www.anxietybc.com/resources/introduction.php
- http://www2.massgeneral.org/madiresourcecenter/moodandanxiety_finding-support_familysupportservices.asp
- http://www.adaa.org/
- But of course, the best resource is to talk to a doctor who can help diagnose and treat you symptoms.

I hope that this information can help you out and help you to deal with the effects of anxiety. My whole goal with todays post was to help some of you out with understanding what anxiety is and how to hopefully coop better with your anxiety. Please feel free to leave a comment below telling your story and your life with anxiety. You never know if it might help someone else out there who is going through the same problem. As always my friends, stay beautiful. Until next time,
<3