Can you stop feeling anxious all the time?
Anxiety is a bit of a buzzword these days. As people have become increasingly willing to talk about their mental health, it seems more and more of us are confessing to struggling with high levels of anxiety.
So what is anxiety, how does it become a problem and what can be done to address the stress and discomfort it brings?
What is anxiety?
Simply put, anxiety is a type of alarm that the brain triggers in the body. Anxiety is a warning sign. It tells you that something is up and gives you the chance to address it for your own well-being – physical or psychological.
Hence, some anxiety is useful and we all need to experience it from time to time.
Feelings of anxiety may include a sense of restlessness or nervousness, or a suspicion that something is wrong.
Unfortunately, with anxiety, the brain is telling you something is up, but it doesn’t tell you what it is; and that’s where the problem lies.
Why does anxiety become a problem?
If a person can pay attention to their anxiety, track it back to the cause and address that cause, the anxiety will naturally lessen and go away.
However, if a person is unable to do that, for whatever reason, these feelings of anxiety continue to build. This creates an overall state of wordless discomfort that may lead to very unpleasant symptoms such as sleeplessness, distress, increase in heart rate, difficulty in concentration, shortness of breath, dizziness, panic attacks, fear of engaging in life and more.
Anxiety builds because the brain is always focused on survival and wants the threat to a person’s well-being to be resolved. If the cause of the anxiety remains unaddressed, instead of lessening the signs of anxiety, the brain ramps up the symptoms to try and force the person to pay attention.
Imagine the initial signs of anxiety as like the brain triggering the gentle chimes of an alarm clock. If the clock isn’t turned off, the brain switches things up to the sound of a blaring foghorn. If still not addressed, the brain adds flashing lights, then fireworks, and finally the boom of a cannon. Eventually, the signs and symptoms of anxiety become a problem in themselves, and so distracting that the underlying cause becomes more hidden and even harder to resolve. At this point, anxiety may become a diagnosable disorder, interfering with everyday life and seriously affecting health and well-being.
So how do you deal with high anxiety?
There are a range of approaches to managing anxiety and bringing it back to levels that don’t cause intolerable symptoms.
Talking to a trusted professional, friend or family member can help build the confidence to start finding your solution. Everyone needs a little support at times.
Medication can be useful to lower the intensity of the feelings, so seeing your GP is a good first step.
Releasing tension in the body is also very supportive. Doing activities based in nature, such as walking or running outdoors, or swimming in the sea, are all known to help, as do massage, acupuncture and meditation.
But ultimately, finding the root cause and resolving it is really important. This allows the brain to stop signalling to the nervous system that it must sound an alarm. For this, therapy can be invaluable.
If you need help with high anxiety, I can help you find a plan that works just for you. Please feel free to contact me and we can work together to relieve the symptoms of anxiety that are holding you back.