Anxiety: What’s the Big Idea?

Millions of people across the country suffer from Anxiety, a mental affliction, which manifests itself physically and psychologically, and can reduce one’s quality of life in a variety of ways. But before it is possible to break down the various categories of anxiety disorder, it is first necessary to understand what exactly anxiety is.

Anxiety is a form of panic. When a person is anxious, he or she goes into a sort of crisis mode. The problem is, while a certain level of stress is not only important, and perhaps even vital to our very existence, there are times when the physiological responses we experience are counter productive and even sometimes destructive. To give an example:

feeling a bit anxious about going out alone at night, so you take some precautions vrs being so anxious that you never go out at night.

Beyond mere worry, anxiety is accompanied by a host of physiological reactions that correspond to the bodies “fight-or-flight” mode. These include heart pumping, stomach cramps, and headaches. The list continues. These are all the body’s sympathetic nervous system in action. Perhaps the most physically strenuous effect of anxiety is blood vessel spasms. This inhibits oxygenated blood from traveling to the heart and creates a serious shortage. The heart, in turn, begins to pump more quickly, working effortlessly to regenerate a sufficient blood flow. The result is high blood pressure.

It is difficult to pinpoint the exact causes of anxiety. Every human has a different threshold for life stress, and therefore experiences anxiety in a unique way. There are, however, several general bases for anxious reactions to stressful situations. These include genetics: anxiety often stems from a lack of MTHFR, serotonin in the brain.

Like all psychological disturbances, anxiety is produced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Children are especially susceptible to experiencing anxiety as a direct result of their home-environments. When a child lives in a home where there is a high level of negative affect – constant yelling and screaming – he or she could literally undergo a permanent change in brain chemistry. An inappropriately high dosage of Ritalin – an ADHD medication – can produce the same effect in children.

While these environmental factors are a bit more challenging to control, there are simple lifestyle changes, which can greatly impact the degree of anxiety in our lives. Caffeine, which is itself a drug, is known for creating high levels of anxiety. It can also impede sleep, furthering the severity of chemical imbalance in the brain. The media, too, is a subtler anxiety-inducing agent. The horror films so many of us watch for pleasure tend to take a huge toll on our subconscious, engendering a host of anxious responses physiologically and in the brain. Many of the news channels we watch use current events as a mere guise for insubstantial, fear mongering type programming. This can be quite lethal to one’s mental health, especially in the way of anxiety.

Again, all of these factors – environmental and genetic – manifest themselves in a variety of ways. Some of these are more within our control than are others. Nonetheless, where measures can be taken, they should be.

Do yourself a favor. Avoid that morning coffee, and opt instead for tea. Turn off the inane buzz of popular culture by switching off that television, and cracking open a freshly printed-paper. Exercise. Sleep. Interact with family and friends.

Restore balance in the body and brain.