Archive for the ‘anxiety’ Category

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Alternative Medicine: A Natural Remedy for Anxiety

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

Faced with anti-anxiety drugs and worrying about the dangerous side effects they present? Do yourself a favor and explore a natural remedy for anxiety and panic attacks. Here’s a primer on the alternative medicine approach.

For the vast majority of us there is no opportunity to escape from the daily pressures of life and the resulting stress. Consequently, the nervous system is taxed more and more every day and the resulting build up of pressure can lead to the inability of the nervous system to recover its natural balance. Long term stress can result in nervousness, palpitations, general malaise, anxiety and panic attacks and anxiety and panic disorder.

Alternative Medicine has a lot to offer. Not only does it have a history and success rate that far surpasses anything modern medicine has to offer, it has an excellent safety record and can be used with the need for a multiple medications to treat side effects, which is one of the many downsides to the usual anti-anxiety pharmaceutical drugs.

Herbal Remedies
Herbal medicines can be extremely and wonderfully effective treatments for anxiety. They nourish the nervous system by calming the mind, relaxing the body’s reaction to the stress and strain of daily challenges, and gently stimulating and also relaxing the body. While there is no instant cure, herbs have a remarkable ability to reduce symptoms of anxiety by supporting the nervous system and gradually restore your mental and even physical health.

Lifestyle, Nutrition and Exercise
One of the foundations of alternative medicine is to examine and correct faults and deficiencies in a person’s lifestyle. Though it would not be possible, or even desirable, to eliminate the effects of stress in our lives completely, you can harness and control the harmful aspects of modern day life that add unnecessarily to your stress and anxiety. This will serve to enrich your mental, physical and emotional well being which can relieve current problems and symptoms and go a long way toward preventing them from occurring again.

Natural Therapies
There are many different types of natural therapies that can be employed to help you achieve more balance and equilibrium in your mental and physical well being. There are also specific skills and techniques that you can learn and apply yourself so that you are not reliant on a practitioner or counselor to treat yourself. One or a combination of several therapies can help you address symptoms of anxiety and induce relaxation, which is an important need for anyone with anxiety.

You may find a single natural remedy for your anxiety or a combination of remedies and therapies are necessary to help you overcome your signs and symptoms and better manage your stress and anxiety levels. Your first step is to educate yourself on the various options available to you, which ones seem to be best for your particular needs and symptoms, and begin trying to incorporate them into your life.

Natural remedies and therapies are very effective at resolving panic and anxiety. To get started, educate yourself on what natural medicine has to offer and you can open the door to curing your anxiety with natural remedies that do not involve harmful medications. Get your free report The Anxiety Diet No-No’s – Five Things to Avoid Eating and Drinking. Start with that and you can begin curing your anxiety and panic attacks, naturally.

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Natural Supplements for Anxiety: Do They Really Work?

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

Small amounts of stress in our daily lives can be a natural umph to motivate us to get a task done, meet a deadline, or study well for a test. However, persistent, ongoing, debilitating, and pervasive stress that results in anxiety and panic attacks can have devastating physical and emotional effects on us. We end up mentally exhausted, which can lead to a plethora of real physical problems such as migraines, insomnia, ulcers, muscle strain, and a general lack of well being.

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Anxiety & Depression Remedies: What Are Your Options in Using Natural Alternatives?

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

Anyone embracing the fact that they have anxiety or depression is bound to be asking what the options are for treatment. Here we will look at the standard drug approach and the natural anxiety & depression remedies. (more…)

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Six Freak-Out Signs and Symptoms of Panic Attacks Everyone Should Learn

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

Have you ever experienced one of these freaky symptoms and thought “OMG! I’m dying!”? You may have had a panic attack. Read on to identify the signs and symptoms of panic attacks and what you can do to deal with them.

Do you experience things that make you wonder if you are having panic attack? Recognizing the signs and symptoms of panic attacks can go a long way toward understanding them and taking control of them. Here are the most common signs and the usual symptoms experienced by a panic attack sufferer.

Panic attacks can come on very quickly. They often reach their worst stage within 10 minutes and are usually over in 20 minutes or less. But for some people they symptoms can continue as long as an hour.  One you realize the start of an attack you can take steps to stop it in its tracks.

One: Heart Palpitations
Heart palpitations  are when you’re heartbeat feels unusually strong, or odd. You are aware there is an irregularity. Sometimes it feels like your heart is jumping out of your chest and when accompanied by chest pain you may feel that you’re having a heart attack.

Two: Rapid Breathing
Also known as overbreathing or hyperventilation, this is a state of breathing more rapidly or deeper than necessary. It can be accompanied by chest pain and result in a tingling sensation of the fingertips and dizziness.

Three: Dizziness
A drop in blood pressure may occur which can cause dizziness. For those who overbreathe, dizziness is a common occurrence. The room may begin to feel like it is spinning because as breathing becomes more rapid, too much oxygen reaches the brain.

Four: Derealization
This is feeling out being of your body, as if you are detached from it and the things around you. Familiar places and people may look alien, bizarre, and surreal. You may also have a decreased sense of hearing, taste and vision.

Five: Feeling of Going Crazy
Panic attacks are anxious nerve signals produced by your brain. Your emotions run high and your thought process feels out of control. This can sometimes make you feel that you are losing your mind

Six: Hot Flashes/Chills
Feeling a sudden hot rush, as a result of an increased blood flow in the body, you have a feeling of heat on the face, the neck, and continuing to the chest. This can sometimes cause sweating as well and is a very common panic attack symptom. Others suffer the exact opposite: chills, an episode of shivering, accompanied by turning pale and/or clammy and feeling cold.

All six of these symptoms can be brought under control and stopped with simple measures. You simply need to learn to recognize them and take advantage of techniques and remedies to deal with them as they occur or prevent them before they do.

Natural remedies and therapies are very effective at resolving panic and anxiety. To get started, educate yourself on what natural medicine has to offer and you can open the door to curing your anxiety with natural remedies that do not involve harmful medications. Get your free report The Anxiety Diet No-No’s – Five Things to Avoid Eating and Drinking. Start with that and you can begin curing your anxiety and panic attacks, naturally

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Panic Disorder Cycle – Breaking the Patterns of Fear that Feed the Panic

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

Panic disorder cycle is a progressive path from a normal situation to one of complete panic attack. Normal everyday life events present themselves and your reaction is one of panic fed by your anxiety and that increases as the cycle builds. Fear results in an increase of your body’s natural anxiety reaction and will set the stage for the usual physical symptoms you experience with a panic attack. As the attack increases in severity your thoughts focus on what is happening but only server to feed the attack more. Your symptoms continue to intensify. As they do, one of two things will happen: You will either have a full blown panic attack or you will stop it in its tracks by seeking some sort of relief  – usually by removing yourself from the situation. Sometimes it is as simple as deciding to not go to a certain store that is always crowded. At other times it means holding onto something nearby as a measure of protection or walking on the opposite side of the sidewalk. While these things may reduce or stop your anxiety and prevent your panic attack, the actually result in severely restricting your lifestyle and reducing your ability to deal with your panic and overcome your fears to stop them altogether.

So, what can you do? Try to keep a log of the following things:

1.  Identify your triggers. What are the things that start your panic attacks?  These can be external things like an interview, meeting new people, caffeine, or pubic speaking. You may also have triggers that are internal. They can also be thoughts, mental images, or strong emotions.

2. Identify your fears. What do you feel? What are your afraid of? What do you think might happen? Give each fear a level of intensity on a scale of one to ten, one being negligible fear, ten being all out severe panic attack type, high level fear.

3. Examine your triggers and fears and write down arguments for yourself you know to be true that negates your fear. For example, your doctor has given you an excellent bill of health so your fear of having a serious illness is unfounded.

With this log you can begin a plan to challenge yourself to gradually increase your ability to face the things you fear:

1. Exposure: By intentionally and gradually placing yourself in the presence of the things that trigger your anxiety you can develop a tolerance and ability to deal with your trigger situations and thoughts without panic. Start with the mildest of fears based on your ratings and gradually work up and through the more severe ones. Use your arguments to talk yourself through each event, thought, or situation.

2. Address your physical fears by challenging yourself physically in the same way. If your heart palpitations make you fear a heart attack, do a quick workout to elevate your heart rate.

3. Once you have succeeded in proving your fears are unreasonable and you have confidence and success in facing them, use guided imagery, breathing techniques, and other relaxation techniques to handle your stress.

Addressing your fears and managing your panic attacks can be a difficult step to take but once you get started you will find your confidence rise and your fears fade. Natural remedies and therapies are very effective at resolving panic and anxiety. To get started, educate yourself on what natural medicine has to offer and you can open the door to curing your anxiety with natural remedies that do not involve harmful medications. Get your free report The Anxiety Diet No-No’s – Five Things to Avoid Eating and Drinking. Start with that and you can begin curing your anxiety and panic attacks, naturally

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Anxiety Attack Symptoms: What you may experience and what you can do to stop them

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

If you are fortunate enough to have never experienced an anxiety attack, you are one of the lucky ones. For those who have gone through this, it can seem like a life-threatening event and that you have totally lost control of every aspect of your life. People that have never gone through this tend to mock the ones that have is they actually don’t understand the seriousness of suffering from anxiety attack symptoms. (more…)

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Overcoming Communication Anxiety

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

Communication anxiety, the fear of speaking in public, is a common difficulty experienced by many people in every profession in the world. These people can be the leading authority on their field of expertise and be terrified of addressing a group of people. Communication anxiety can also affect a person’s job performance. If one has to give a presentation to managers or other employees and suffers from communication anxiety, he/she may appear unprepared or even foolish despite having all the needed elements in place except the ability to speak coherently.

The ability to peak well is of prime importance in education and professional presentation. This is one of the reasons that every university in the country requires communication classes. These schools know that speaking to groups of people will be required of everyone at some point in time by their profession. These classes are designed to teach effective speaking habits and tactics to dealing with anxiety about the presentation before getting in front of a group.

Overcoming communication anxiety is usually fairly simple unless the individual suffers from an honest phobia about speaking in public. The first step to overcoming anxiety over speaking to a group is to examine one’s own feelings. Is the physical sensation one is experiencing genuine fear or simply excitement? Of feelings of excitement are confused with anxiety because the physical sensations associated with the two are very similar.

The second step is to review the subject of the presentation or speech thoroughly to eliminate any chance that one has overlooked a detail that could come back to haunt one later. Knowing the material intimately will help a person overcome anxiety by allowing him/her to relax into the knowledge and forget about the group of people being addressed.

The third step is to postpone the meeting or speaking engagement if feelings of anxiety are overpowering. There are some tricks that people suggest, such as picturing the audience in their underwear, which may help one to relax. If relaxation and calm are not forthcoming after taking the first two steps, postpone the meeting until one is completely satisfied that his/her knowledge of the topic is sufficient to overcome any possible shortcomings and that any questions asked can be answered knowledgably. Once one is totally secure in his/her familiarity with the topic of the presentation, the fear of addressing a group can be treated as excitement and dealt with in a rational manner. Of course, when everything else fails, and you feel as if you standing in front of a group of people completely naked, make sure you envision them sitting in their chairs naked too. Remember, you are still equal to them in every way.

You can treat anxiety naturally. Start with five things you should and should not eat, revealed in our FREE report The Anxiety No-No’s Diet.

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Dealing with Workplace Anxiety: How to handle anxiety at work

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

Do you find yourself freaking out over things at work? You may be suffering from anxiety. Anxiety was once a necessary survival mechanism. But in today’s modern world, the workplace seldom leads to situations that are actually a matter of life and death, yet many situations cause feelings of anxiety that the body interprets in the same manner. In this article we’ll take a look at anxiety in the workplace and how to deal with it.

Workplace anxiety is becoming a major problem in the U.S. today. The reasons are varied, but the result is almost invariably a reduction in productivity of employees. Anxiety was once a necessary survival mechanism. The word anxiety actually refers to the anxious feeling one experiences when placed in a fight or flight situation. In today’s modern world, the workplace seldom leads to situations that are actually life and death, yet many situations cause feelings of anxiety that the body interprets in the same manner.

Stress comes in two varieties. Eustress is a good form of stress that results in heightened senses and abilities that lead to improvements in productivity and mood. Distress is harmful stress that leads to anxiety if allowed to build without any form of relief. Unfortunately, in today’s economic climate, many people feel distress every time they about their job.

Anxiety is brought on by feelings of helplessness. If a person feels that he has no control of what is going on around him, he becomes anxious. With companies merging, closing down, and laying workers off in increasing numbers, many workers are left with the feeling that they have no control of whether or not they will have a job by the end of the day. If a company is experiencing difficulties that could potentially lead to layoffs, the anxiety level among employees will be extremely high.

Many people feel that they are helpless even if they have a job that is relatively secure. This is often the case when people have a job that is not really a good fit for their personality or ability level, yet they feel that they can not leave because of salary, benefits, or other aspects of the job that might not be easily matched in another position. When this is the case, anxiety may build over a period of time that makes it go unnoticed until the person “snaps”.

The primary steps to reducing workplace anxiety include providing detailed job descriptions to each employee. Allowing the employee to have input in producing the job description and negotiating any compromises will provide a more secure feeling for the employee. If it is possible to do so honestly, reassure employees that their jobs are not about to disappear without notice. Avoid overloading employees in an effort to cut costs. Keep an “open door” policy in place to allow employees an outlet when they are becoming anxious about different aspects of the job. These steps will reduce the amount of anxiety in the workplace and improve productivity of the workers while allowing them to feel that they have some control over their own lives.

You can treat anxiety naturally. Start with five things you should and should not eat, revealed in our FREE report The Anxiety No-No’s Diet.

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Benefits of the Zung Self Rating Anxiety Scale

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

Do you wonder if you suffer from anxiety or want to know how severe your symptoms are? The Zung Self Rating Anxiety Scale is a simple test that people can administer to themselves to pinpoint and determine the severity of their symptoms of anxiety. Of course, the results of this test are intended to be used and interpreted by mental health professionals who can make specific recommendations if treatment is needed to improve the condition. But for individuals it can help them determine if they have the symptoms of anxiety and can decide to seek treatment.

Developed by Dr. William WK Zung of Duke University, the Zung Self Rating Anxiety Scale is comprised of 20 questions that receive a numerical score from 1 to 4. Most of the questions are scaled with numbers increasing as symptoms worsen. 5 have the scale reversed so that numbers decrease as symptoms are better more often. The questions are all straightforward inquiries into how often a person experiences certain feelings or physical sensations with the scale running thus: almost never, sometimes, frequently, all the time. Answering each question honestly will help mental health providers determine the severity of any anxiety disorder or rule one out if the scores are low enough. Scores below a certain range indicate false answers.

While the Zung anxiety scale is recognized by physicians, psychologists, and other medical professionals around the world, it important to stress that self interpretation of the results of the assessment is not a viable option. The assessment itself can be administered in the privacy of one’s own home if so desired, but only a professional healthcare provider can accurately interpret the results. Any feelings of anxiety or depression should be discussed with and diagnosed by professionals to ensure that the proper care is received for any anxiety disorders. Bear in mind that everyone feels anxiety in certain situations. This is perfectly normal.

The Zung Self Rating Anxiety Scale is not intended to be used for assessing or diagnosing children or teens. Changes that are taking place normally in their young bodies can cause them to report higher incidence of certain types of anxiety that are perfectly normal functions of adolescence rather than signs of an anxiety disorder. If a teen feels that he/she is experiencing anxiety or depression that are outside the realm of normal adolescent difficulties, a mental health professional should be contacted to evaluate and diagnose whether a problem actually exists.

In adults, however, the Zung Self Rating Anxiety Scale is a very useful tool recognized around the world as an asset in determining the severity of anxiety disorders. Giving honest answers on the assessment test is critical to making an accurate determination. Only mental health professionals are qualified to interpret the results in relation to other tests and assessments to determine what if any treatment is needed for an anxiety disorder.

Educate yourself on natural therapies and implement simple approaches that can have immediate and positive effects. Start with five things you should and should not eat, revealed in our FREE report The Anxiety No-No’s Diet.

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The Beck Anxiety Scale: Using it to rate your anxiety disorder

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

Many people in this country suffer from anxiety disorders. Anxiety can be brought on by many things and has common symptoms of many other conditions. For instance, it is very easy to confuse a panic attack with a heart attack. There are few tools that can help you distinguish the level of anxiety that you’re suffering like the Beck anxiety scale.

When using the Beck anxiety scale you are asked to rate 21 different categories on a scale of zero to three. Zero means you are not affected at all by the symptom. You will give one point if it mildly bothered you, two if it was moderately disturbing and three for something that severely bothered you. Once you have read it be 21 separate categories, you will add up all of your points and come up with your final score. Then you look down at the chart to see how severe your anxiety is.

If you have a score of zero to 21, you are considered to be suffering from low anxiety levels. While this is usually a positive sign, the person taking the test needs to make sure that they have answered all of the scores honestly as they may be giving themselves a false assessment. If that is the case, they’re trying to cover up their symptoms and act as though things aren’t bothering them and the result is usually that they will end up distancing sell themselves from the people closest to them. When you do this assessment you need to be totally honest in rate each and every category exactly how you are affected by this symptom.

If you score from 22 to 35 you’re in a moderate anxiety category. More than likely your body is trying to give you warning signs that you need to pay attention to. Depending upon when you experience these conditions, could mean that you are suffering from a phobia or perhaps getting warning signs from your body of a more serious medical condition. There is no need to panic at this level, but you do need to look at why you are experiencing these feelings.

If you score over 36 points, you’re going to need to seek some help. Having that level of stress is not good for anyone and it needs to be treated aggressively to ensure that your mental and physical health do not deteriorate. Consult your family doctor and he or she will get you pointed in the right direction of therapy.

In consultation with your doctor consider treating anxiety naturally. Educate yourself on natural therapies and implement simple approaches that can have immediate and positive effects. Start with five things you should and should not eat, revealed in our FREE report The Anxiety No-No’s Diet.

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