About anxiety, it can be said that it is a body reaction to stressful situations through which it passes. Anxiety alerts us against the dangers and allows us to get up, we gather physical, emotional and mental resources to “fight” with the newly arising challenges/situations. Anxiety is an excessive mobilization of psychic energy and is a part of basic human emotional reactions, like depression, namely suffering. The basis of any generalized anxiety lies on inability of self-control, feeling of fear. Fear is a natural reaction against a real threat, but anxiety is fear of an imaginary danger. Anxiety is defined by experts as a diffuse fear, without a well-defined object.
Anxiety is an unpleasant emotional experience characterized by an acute sense of lack of control in relation with possible future threats or other negative events that can happen. An anxious person feels “helpless” because of the belief that he has no control and cannot predict situations which he is facing or may not achieve a purpose considered to be of great importance. Anxiety is accompanied by a lack of concentration of attention of the person and the possibilities of coping with stressful situations dominated by underestimating his own resources and capacities. This negatively affective state is accompanied by a strong arousal manifested by accelerated heart rate and breathing, muscle incoordination, sweating, dizziness and many other symptoms.
If fear teaches you to be prudent, anxiety teaches you to be hesitant. From here, there appears an essential idea concerning the nature of anxious behaviors, namely, that they are learned through and not innate. Because of this, anxious behaviors respond very well to short term cognitive behavioral therapy.
Anxiety represents a group rather than a single disease related conditions. It is not uncommon for a person to suffer from several types of anxiety or diseases to be accompanied by depression, eating disorders or substance abuse. Anxiety can be associated with physical disorders, in which case, treatment should be addressed to both types of disease.
There is evidence that both biological and the environment factors contribute to the development of types of anxiety. There were noticed some genetic predisposition, but they do not impose the imminent occurrence of disease. On the other hand, early traumatic experiences can reset the normal body systems to fear processing, so that the body will have an overreaction to stress.
SYMPTOMS AND MANIFESTATIONS
Symptoms of anxiety are both physical and mental and may vary depending on the type of anxiety disorder, by combination and severity; among the most common manifestations of anxiety include restlessness, impatience, feeling of lump in the throat, fatigue, difficulty in concentrating, muscular tension, exaggerated concern for daily things and routine or minor subjects, lack of relaxation, longer or short term episodes of depression, tension, etc.
Other physical symptoms associated with anxiety, which are not less important include muscle stiffness, inflammation of the scalp, excessive sweating, difficulty in breathing (shortness of breath, breathlessness), irregular heartbeat, constipation or diarrhea, poor appetite, feeling of “dry mouth”, difficulty in chewing, dizziness, headaches, etc. In an excessive manner, a person suffering from excessive anxiety, worries that he will suffer from a heart attack, that he may suffer from an illness that has not been discovered, that he will die prematurely or that he will become unconscious in public and that he will lose self-control, etc.
Among the most common causes of anxiety include stress from work, home, stress related with personal relationship, financial stress, stress resulting from emotional trauma (the death of a loved one for example), etc.
One of the most common causes of anxiety is taking certain medications, side effects of certain treatments or abrupt withdrawal of certain substances that cause addiction or abrupt discontinuation of drugs, alcohol, amphetamines, caffeine, cocaine, etc.
The genetic inheritance is also a factor in the occurrence of anxiety disorders. Emotions, tension, nervousness are characteristics that are passed from parent to child.
It was also found that people who suffer from anxiety, exhibit a pronounced feeling of lack of control over tasks or events they face. For these individuals, failures or their perceived deficiencies represent reliable indications of the persistent impossibilities to cope with the negative events. It appears that these convictions contribute to the evolution of anxiety.
Researches also indicate that parental style or the way parents interact with the child has influence on the child’s perception of own capacity to control and thus the subsequent risk of developing anxiety. Parents who show lack of reaction to the child’s needs, emotional neutrality and unpredictable reactions can cause the child having the feeling that he/she does not have the ability to exercise control over his/her environment.
A poor nutrition, a nutrition low in vitamin B12 may contribute to the manifestation of anxiety states, dominated by stress.
DIAGNOSIS OF ANXIETY
The diagnosis of anxiety is a complex process owing to many possible causes and due to the fact that symptoms of each person are triggered by personal experiences.
The evolution of the disease varies widely from person to person. For the cases in which the disorder was identified early and followed proper treatment, the prognosis is positive. People from this disorder became chronic and if remained untreated, they usually not able for a long term, to rise up to the level of expectations and real possibilities, they meet with many failures professionally and personally, have an increased risk of becoming alcoholic, with depression and suicidal tendency. As more time passes, the harder is struggle with this disorder and harder to maintain a normal life. However, if the proper treatment is followed, there are very good chances of partial or nearly full recovery and leading a normal life with full of satisfaction.
Without anxiety and without fear, human species could not survive. From regular professional assessments, interviews, losing a job, divorce, death of a parent, the late-night hours waiting for your adolescent child to return home, a child’s fears and phobias that you do not know how to handle the stress given by a disease – all these situations require us to generate concern, fear, sadness and anxiety. And when it occurs, the body must mobilize with all the resources to overcome the problem, otherwise the body may fall destroyed by its effects.
But this reaction turns on immediately against the difficulties in daily life and itself becomes a problem if the alert status specifies of having a permanent anxiety even if in the situation when one does not have reasons to get anxious. Body condition of “fight or flight” does not leave you even when you feel better and everything goes fine in your daily life and you get anxious and dramatize a situation that would not require your emotional, physical and mental reactions. In this case, we can specify this as an acute or chronic anxiety disorder.
If you feel intense anxiety condition spontaneously for no reason, then this is a matter of acute anxiety whereas if you are an anxious person almost all the time then it is a generalized anxiety disorder. In none of these cases even a healthy state is not helpful. Unfortunately, higher amounts of reasons of stress and worry throughout the day or week led to a disturbingly large number of people to deal with these disturbances according to normal till to the general well-being of everyone, so we can rightly talk that anxiety is the disease of the century speed and it stands at the origin of other diseases that are triggered after the steady state of health and thus human immunity falters due to frequent episodes of this type.
As you can overcome these symptoms of anxiety, treatment is required, but primarily your awareness that you are an anxious person and that those signals that your body transmits not come from organic disease of the head, stomach, heart, intestine but these are reactions of these organs to the nervous problems from inside your body when negative thoughts of fear and apprehension alert control you without any cause and lead to nervous system imbalance.
Most of the times, when a person is anxious, as there are many people today, he must see a doctor for consultation and doctors start prescribing medications (sedatives, tranquilizers) and psychotherapy sessions right from the first day. But there exist many other specific changes in lifestyle and effective alternative therapies to avoid doctor’s medications which in many cases can be addictive and do not solve the problem itself.
HOW TO OVERCOME FROM ANXIETY
In the treatment of anxiety, cognitive behavioral therapy is a highly effective form of psychotherapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy is the most effective way to fight anxiety. There are still enough number of people who avoid this treatment because they consider it as a dedicated treatment for the persons with a neurological problem. In this therapy, people learn to identify exactly when thoughts appear that generate anxiety disorders and learn some specific techniques on what to do and how to think to diminish these thoughts.
The basic idea of cognitive-behavioral therapy is that if it is true that we are, what we think, we must learn to control and dominate ourselves about our thoughts.
But, to cope with stress, there are some simple rules to follow, such as adopting a healthy diet and avoiding copious diets, foods abuse in general, following regular physical activity, enough rest to balance between pleasurable activities and daily responsibilities, work, etc.
Anxiety may be alleviated with plenty of physical activity. When the mind is invaded and suffocated by thoughts that produce agitation and panic, doing sports is the last thing in the world that anyone might be thinking to carry out. By effective exercise, the body will stimulate bio-chemicals responsible for the mental well-being followed by suppressing those factors and neurochemicals that produce anxiety. Physical exercise and movement is a very effective source of distraction from mental discomfort of daily life. It may lead to an improved self-image, a more active social life and a better overall health status. Most of the doctors recommend 30-40 minutes daily exercise or any type of sport that increases heart rhythm.
Diet is also important in alleviating anxiety. The food portions should be small and frequent. The diet should not exclude grains, beans, chickpeas, foods rich in omega-3 essential fatty acids, milk, nuts, bananas, chicken, etc. Also, hydration of the body is recommended (at least 2 liters of fluid per day) as well as it is suggested to avoid sugar and processed foods.
Medicinal herbs are also helpful in alleviating anxiety. Herbs used mainly, have tonic and regenerating benefits on the nervous system to ensure its proper functioning under the conditions of overstress. Examples of herbal medicine as Romanian herbal brain tonics are: mint, basil, St. John’s wort, Angelica, Lemon balm, etc. In the Ayurvedic tradition, there are also many well-known herbs which are used as brain tonic.
A useful natural ayurvedic dietary supplement to combat stress and anxiety is Ayurmed brand ASHWAGANDHA RASAYAN TAB. It contains Withania somnifera or Indian ginseng (as it is known) herb as the main ingredient. It has tonic, revitalizing, antioxidant and adaptogen benefits. ASHWAGANDHA RASAYAN TAB helps diminish psychic discomforts caused by fatigue, anxiety, depression, and those related to age.
Dietary supplement ASHWAGANDHA RASAYANA TAB can be used by both men and women, helping to combat anxiety, fatigue, stress, helps restore the body after infectious diseases, helps boost immunity and can be used as an adjuvant in case of anti-tumor therapy.
To support the normal functioning of the nervous system and to alleviate mental fatigue, Ayurmed brand natural dietary supplement MEMO ON can be successfully used. It has a composition of herbs and herb extracts that stimulates the nervous system, the mental functions, improving concentration and memory, thereby increasing intellectual and cognitive performances. The product provides a sense of optimism, confidence, freshness and mental clarity. Diminishes the unpleasant effects arising due to mental fatigue, nervous exhaustion and anxiety. It is beneficial especially for pupils, students and people who make a sustained intellectual effort. Being a brain tonic, it is also beneficial for geriatrics. It can also be used as adjunctive therapy in cases of nervous system disorders.