Simple Proven Methods on How to Fight Anxiety

By Brad Grayson
Stress is found everywhere and in every situation. This is because stress is actually a normal part of life. Difficulties arise when stress becomes so overwhelming it takes over the daily life of its victims, thereby manifesting itself in panic attacks, social phobias, and anxiety disorders, some of which may become severe. Thankfully, there are several methods on how to fight anxiety which are quite effective.
First, remember when a panic attack comes on, there may be a feeling of not being able to breathe. This is not life threatening and is simply caused from the act of breathing in too quickly which in turn, causes hyperventilation. This is because not enough carbon dioxide is being released. Some people recommend breathing into a paper bag until normal breathing is restored, while other remedies are slowing down the breathing through certain breathing exercises.
Learning to say no to others, breathing exercises, getting plenty of rest, and changing jobs even, are other ways on how to fight anxiety, and may reduce stress and panic attacks. It is interesting to note stress disorders are found to be more common in women. Because women are expected to play certain roles in society, they are more than likely filled with guilt when they do not perform their roles efficiently and constantly. Often, this gives them no time to care for themselves as they care for others, and this can be extremely stressful.
Not only women have anxiety disorders, men also have them, particularly younger men who attend college, athletes, or anyone where excellent performance is expected. Type A personalities often go hand in hand with panic attacks, so how to fight anxiety in their lives is to simply slow down, assess the situation that is causing the stress, then make the necessary changes. Although stress isn't usually harmful, long term stress can affect the heart eventually and then become deadly. So finding ways to reduce stress is beneficial to long term health.
Remember to always have a physician give a thorough medical checkup including blood work to cancel out any other illnesses which may mimic anxiety disorders then work from there for the best treatments recommended.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brad_Grayson

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All about smoking and how to quit

by: Rob Mellor

Why do we smoke?
Why do we smoke, when we all know that it is not good for health? There are very many reasons to it but in this article we will ponder over the biggest reason in today’s times and that is to release STRESS. What is stress, can we remove it through smoking, if not then how can we remove it, lets talk a little in the light of these questions.

What is Stress?
What is Stress? Stress is the situation when we feel helpless, incapable to perform, not able to meet the deadlines and pressurized. Stress could be due to any reason, be it work pressure, differences at personal front, may be due to financial crisis, or it could be due to anything.

Can we remove it through smoking?
Can we remove it through smoking? Can we smoke away our blues in the air and relax? Perhaps the answer is in the negative. If I have to submit a report to my boss in an hour, which I know, is just impossible and I am thus nervous, will smoking a complete cigarette down my lungs make me build a ginnee of that smoke that will do some miracle for me. Perhaps that could have happened, but alas it is not so. Then why am I smoking, if it is doing no good to me?

Then what to do?
Then what should I do in a stressful situation? The answer is confront it. Face the problem and find a solution to it. As for in my case above I would have talked to my boss, for some more time to prepare the report or if that could not have been possible to, provide me with some helping hand. Thus in a nutshell it is only positive attitude and logical thinking that helps you come out of a crisis situation. That’s why it is rightly said that it’s your attitude and not your aptitude that decides your altitude.

Dangers of smoking
Smoking not only does no good to us but it is bad for us, it thus does double harm to us. Smoking increases the chances of death due to lungs and breast cancer by a number of times. It wrecks the lungs during sports.

Tobacco the chemical contained in the cigar narrows the blood vessels and strains our heart. The biggest harm of tobacco is that it makes a person addictive to its use. So one should watch out, so as not to become addictive to its use in his plight to get rid of his worries and frustration.

About the author:
Rob Mellor owns the number one website that helps people quit smoking, http://www.quit-smoking-expert.com

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Exercise And Stress

by: Kirsten Hawkins

Exercise may not be the most exciting word in your vocabulary, but it sure has a lot of benefits. Participating in daily exercise not only makes us healthier in general, it can diminish the effects of stress on our bodies as well.

How many times have you heard someone proclaim, “The doctor says it’s stress.” ? We occasionally laugh it off, concluding that’s just what doctors say when they don’t know the real answer or diagnosis. But the truth of the matter is that too much stress plays a role in many diseases.

To increase your immune system and decrease your stress levels, try some daily exercise. Movement is the key word here. Bend, stretch, reach, walk. And there’s no need necessarily to buy expensive equipment. You can implement more movement into your daily routine and reap the benefits.

If you’re keen on aerobic exercise, grab a partner and have a blast with one of the basic aerobic videos. Or simply go out for a walk and enjoy spending time together. You’ve heard it dozens of times –walking really is the best overall excise for your health. As long as you have a decent pair of walking shoes, you’re in business!

Also, as you’re going throughout your daily activities, make it a point to walk a little further, bend down and pick something up instead of using some sort of pick up stick or knocking the item toward you with your foot. While you’re sitting, do some simple stretches for your neck and shoulders.

If you enjoy watching television, buy a jogging board. These padded boards make running, jumping or walking in place less stressful on your knees and joints. They’re easy to store and portable. In my opinion, jogging boards are the best piece of exercise equipment you can buy. And they’re far cheaper than bulky treadmills and stationary bikes, too!

By making it a point to move more throughout the day, you boost your body’s immunity and stay healthier in general. There’s no reason to allow stressful situations to take a toll on your health.

About the author:
Kirsten Hawkins is a nutrition and health expert from Nashville, TN. Visit http://www.popular-diets.com/for more great nutrition, well-being, and vitamin tips as well as reviews and comments on popular diets.

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Ten Easy Relaxation Techniques

by: Steve Gillman

Stress is more than just unpleasant. It's dangerous. Try these relaxation techniques today, and use them whenever you feel that tension coming on.

1. Leave the room. This really helps if the things stressing you out are in the room or related to it. Just get out for a little while.

2. Take five deep breaths through your nose. Close your eyes and pay attention only to your breathing while doing this. This is like a mini-meditation.

3. Take a hot shower. The hot water relaxes your muscles, and the break from more stressful activities helps too.

4. Drink chamomile tea. It seems to have a calming effect on the nerves.

5. Stop and watch your mind. Often if you can spot the stressors lurking just below the surface (hunger, worry, a phone call you need to make), you can resolve them and feel more relaxed.

6. Laugh. You know from experience that this helps you relax, right? Find the guy that knows all the best jokes, or just find something funny in front of you.

7. Listen to relaxing music. Keep your favorite relaxation CD at the office, or wherever you'll need it most.

8. Take a walk. This is one of the best relaxation techniques if you have at least ten minutes to spare. Find a pretty place to walk while you're at it.

9. Get a hug. As long as it's from somebody you don't mind hugging you, this really can be relaxing.

10. Break your routine. Talk to that guy sleeping on the bench, or eat lunch on the roof. Anything that breaks you out of your habitual patterns can relieve stress.

Why Easy Relaxation Techniques?

You can change yourself over time, so you're naturally more relaxed. But if the thought of the work involved just stresses you more, you might have to take it slow. In the meantime, the relaxation techniques above really aren't difficult, so why not try one or two today?

About the author:

Steve Gillman writes on many self help topics including boosting brainpower, losing weight, meditation, habits of mind, creative problem solving, learning gratitude, generating luck and anything related to self improvement. You'll find more at http://www.SelfImprovementNow.com

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How Your State of Mind Can Effect Your Body

By Robert Roderick
A lot of people are unaware that any form of mental stress in large amounts can effect your body in an obvious way. This is especially true for those that suffer from depression or anxiety, and the mind is letting you know physically that there is something not quite right.
I personally went through a period in my life where anxiety and depression took over my life completely, my health declined at a rapid rate, I was feeling symptoms and pain in places I never knew could be affected solely on the stress that my mind was giving me. This in time made me realise that I was actually suffering from anxiety, and these signals played a part in helping me determine what actions I needed to take to change my way of thinking.
You find that your heart may beating rapidly for no apparent reason or maybe your hands start to sweat when you feel anxiety. Changes in appetite and less sleep come with feelings of worry or sadness. All these physical signals let us know what could be possibly arising in the near future and that a storm is brewing.
What you can do to help you determine what it is that you're thinking that could be possibly causing the above symptoms, is make a note of each event on a day to day basis. Anytime for example you break into a cold sweat or find that you cannot sleep, make a note of it and write down the thoughts that occurred just before you felt those physical sensations. Once you have figured out mentally what is causing you those uncomfortable symptoms you can then start to programme the brain into a different thought pattern to prevent symptoms arising again.
Always remember to firstly visit your local doctor just to be sure your physical symptoms are not an underlying health problem, I stress this very much as not all physical problems are directly related to anxiety or depression.

Robert has been writing articles for nearly 2 years. Come visit his latest website over at http://www.shockcollarsfordogs.org/ where he provides information on the latest shock collars for dogs as well as various other training tools for your pet.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Roderick

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Stress Research the Fight-or-Flight Response

by: Mike Lindsey

In 1932, Walter Cannon offered some of the earliest research on stress and established the theory of the "fight-or-flight" response. His work proved that when an organism experiences a shock or perceives a threat, it reacts instantly by releasing hormones that help it to survive.

In human beings and other animals, these hormones allow for greater speed and strength. Heart rate and blood pressure increases, delivering more oxygen and blood sugar to support major muscles.

Sweating increases to better cool the muscles and allowing them to remain efficient. Blood is regulated to reduce blood loss if there is any damaged. Hormones focus our attention on the threat, to the exclusion of everything else. All of this commands a heightened ability to survive life-threatening events.

We can also trigger this same reaction when faced with something unexpected or something that frustrates our goals. If the threat is small, our response will be likewise, we may not notice the stressor among the many other distractions of a stressful day.

This mobilization of the body to spring into survival mode also has negative consequences. We become excitable, anxious, jumpy and irritable. This state can reduce our ability to be most effective. With shakiness and a pounding heart, we can find it difficult to carry out controlled skills.

The intensity of our focus on survival takes from our ability to draw information from many sources. We can find that we are more accident-prone and less able to make good decisions.

To be most productive, our day-by-day lives require a calm, rational, controlled and socially sensitive approach.

We need to be able to control our fight-or-flight response; otherwise, we can have problems later on such as poor health and burnout.

About the author:
Mike Lindsey runs the health site, Healthy News. For information on stress management and stress relief please visit the site.

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Stress & Spirituality, Part 1

by: Tanja Gardner

Stress & Spirituality – How Spirituality Affects Stress Levels

Take a moment to close your eyes and think about what a ‘spiritual’ person looks like. Whether you see them as sitting lotus-style in saffron robes or speaking emphatically from a pulpit, I’d bet one thing you won’t see them as is ‘stressed’. Relaxed… serene… beatific. These are all adjectives we associate with the super-spiritual. But stressed? Kind of defeats the purpose of all that spirituality, doesn’t it?

I’m going to take a moment here to make the all-important distinction between religion and spirituality. Different people have different definitions of each, but for the purposes of this article, it’s important to be clear about what I mean by each term. A religion is a codified set of beliefs and practices shared by adherents. Spirituality, by contrast, is about an individual’s relationship with Spirit (however they might see it) and their connection with their own spiritual aspect. Please note that the two concepts can co-exist, but that religion doesn’t have to be spiritual, and equally, spirituality doesn’t need to be religious.

In this article, I want to focus on spirituality, rather than religion. If you do follow an organised religion, feel free to apply the information to your own spiritual path. If not, I invite you to keep in mind the difference between religion and spirituality as you read. This is because there’s a great deal of evidence that a healthy spiritual belief system can both help lessen the impact some of our stressors have on us, and deal with the consequences of our stress responses. The first half of this article covers some of the suggested reasons for this, while the second (which will appear in the next issue of Optimum Stress News) explores how we can use this link to help with our stress management.

SUPPORT NETWORKS

Most stressors seem bigger and more difficult to deal with if we’re feeling isolated and as though we’re dealing with them alone. Knowing that we belong to and can connect with a group of people who care, and who can offer solace, strength and possibly even solutions, can do much to offset that feeling. And interestingly enough, that sense of belonging doesn’t necessarily have to be to a group of people. If we see the natural world as something we can interact with, or Spirit or our Higher Selves as beings with whom we can talk, then they can become part of our support just as much as actual people could.

PERSPECTIVE

In the thousand and one things we all have to do to keep up with the demands work, study, family, and friends; problems that would seem fairly minor if they attacked us one-by-one can seem unbearably huge. At such times, believing in something bigger than ourselves (or bigger than the day-to-day self who has to deal with all of these problems) can sometimes help to shrink our stressors back down to something approaching a manageable size.

MEANING

It’s a hard thing to accept when we’re going through tough periods, but it’s not the things that happen to us that upset us. What upsets us is the meanings we give those events. For example, if I’ve just failed a job interview, it’s not actually failing the interview that’s upset me – it’s all the things I’ve made it mean. Perhaps, in my mind, it means I’ll never get a job, that I’m just no good at interviews, that I’ll always be broke, or even that I’m a useless person in all areas of my life. Whatever it might be, unless I had my heart set on that specific job, it’s unlike to just be the interview results. When this happens, a sense of spirituality can help me to look for positive meanings in seemingly negative events – enabling me to ask what I can learn, or how I can grow stronger, instead of asking why it’s always me that gets dumped on.

SPACE & STILLNESS

Something most spiritual systems emphasise is the need for time spent by ourselves in quiet and stillness. In this still space, our minds - weary of thoughts rushing around at breakneck speed – can find rest. The time alone can be spent meditating, praying, or just listening and appreciating what is there around and within us in that given moment. The form doesn’t matter – whatever is right for you is what’s right for you. It’s the peace and respite we’re accessing – the simple ‘time out’ that makes this so helpful for stress management.


These are just four of the possible suggested ways that developing a personal spirituality can help in keeping our stress at optimum levels. In Part 2, we’ll look at how we can start to develop the kind of spirituality that’s true to our own individual values, and how to make use of it as a tool for managing stress. If you have any questions or comments on the first half of the article, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Otherwise, until the next issue, may every day bring you closer to your optimum life.


About the author:
Optimum Life's Tanja Gardner is a Stress Management Coach and Personal Trainer whose articles on holistic health, relaxation and spirituality have appeared in various media since 1999. Optimum Life is dedicated to providing fitness and stress management services to help clients all over the world achieve their optimum lives. For more information please visit check out http://optimumlife.co.nz,or contact Tanja on tanja@optimumlife.co.nz.

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