Yahoo Lifestyle How to Ease Anxiety
Photo credit: Shutterstock
By Penny Caldicott
Keeping anxiety at bay involves identifying the stressors in your life and moving more towards what nourishes you.
The symptoms can be obvious and may include the sensation of having a knot in the pit of your stomach, a racing heart, a mind that feels overwhelmed, wet armpits or clammy hands. Unfortunately, anxiety can also make our bodies more physically vulnerable, contributing to symptoms such as reflux, constipation, diarrhoea, acne, rosacea, cold sores, mouth ulcers, and viral and bacterial infections.
If we want to find solutions, we need to understand why we become anxious in the first place. The bottom line is that stress often causes us to overthink: we get ‘stuck’ in our heads and can’t move forwards.
We have a remarkable mental capacity, which is wonderful for a variety of tasks. But the joy, calm and wisdom that we can experience as human beings doesn’t come solely from our heads—it comes from a synergy between the head and the heart. Without it, we have a tendency to mentally run around in (vicious) circles, which can paralyse us, making make us feel even more anxious.
I always ask my patients: what do you do or what have you done that helps you stay calm and experience joy? What helps you feel connected? Is there a community, such as a bushwalking, sports or social club, that nourishes you? If we reflect on these kinds of questions, most of us can either recall activities that have been helpful or think of something new to try.
The problem is that when the pressure is on, we often drop healthy habits, making excuses like “I have so much to do that I don’t have time to exercise/meditate/catch up with friends”. We all do this—usually when we most need the support that such pursuits provide.
We can also address the stressors in our lives; sometimes, we simply need to make practical changes. But more important, ‘getting connected’ can change the way we deal with stress in the long term. Most of us know this intrinsically, but I find that I need to be reminded to look after myself.
RELATED:
