How to Overcome Anxiety

 

Stress and anxiety we often used these two words interchangeably but they're not the same thing. Stress is a response to a threat in a situation your body's reaction to the challenge can vary in length and severity anxiety, on the other hand, stems from fear.

According to David Spiegel, Stanford University's associate chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences we usually know what's worrying us when we feel stressed but with anxiety, you're less aware of what you're anxious about and the reaction becomes the problem of being anxious. Every once in a while, is okay it's a normal response that often motivates us to meet deadlines or avoid dark alleys at night but if you experience anxiety so frequently that it affects your work relationships and the health you may have an anxiety disorder common. Symptoms of excessive anxiety include rapid heartbeat an upset stomach irritability inability to concentrate fear of being crazy and feeling unreal or not in control of your actions.

Anxiety is the most common mental illness in the US, about 40 million adults deal with an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives and anxiety disorders affect 18 percent of the US population. There are different kinds of anxiety disorders social anxiety panic disorders and specific phobias for example generalized anxiety disorder or GAD is the most common anxiety disorders typically have more than one cause. Most researchers agree that there is a genetic component to anxiety along with factors like upbringing emotional trauma and even a physical illness.

One of the most common causes of anxiety is stress in a 2015 study from Duke University researchers found that experiencing major life stressors like a death in the family or personal injury increases the likelihood of developing anxiety for people whose brains showed increased reactivity to fearful stimuli major life stressors increased people's chances of developing anxiety for a period of up to four years to the event. A 2006 Harvard Medical School study showed that chronic stress was linked with anxiety in mice

So how do you deal with anxiety? first, make sure to visit a mental health professional if you think you're suffering from a disorder. Talk therapy can normalize brain function to reduce anxiety plus many anxiety disorders are the result of a chemical imbalance that can be treated with medication. The second talk it out with friend research shows that face-to-face interactions work better than phone calls or chatting online in terms of reducing both depression and anxiety. The third hit-up part of research from The University of Queensland in Australia suggests that spending just 30 minutes a week in nature can reduce your risk of anxiety. Fourth try talking to yourself in the third person, this might sound weird but a study from the University of Buffalo suggests that this kind of self-distancing can help calm anxiety. Finally, don't beat yourself up if you're feeling anxious research from UC Berkeley shows that judging yourself for experiencing negative emotions will actually, make you feel worse.