What is anxiety, and how does it affect you?

Life has its ebbs and flows and occasional anxiety is a natural part of it. However, what happens if anxiety becomes more frequent and intense? Anxiety may cause you to experience strong, overwhelming, and ongoing worry or fear. Some experience panic episodes, a somatic and cognitive experience of immense fear and a sense of doom that peaks in a matter of minutes. 

Anxiety can impact us in many ways. It can get in the way of your everyday tasks and enjoyments, be difficult and tiring to manage, and appear disproportionate to any actual threat. Have you ever stayed away from specific environments or people to avoid experiencing anxiety? You're not alone if you find yourself worried about ordinary problems all the time. You are going through what a lot of people go through. 

Anxiety can begin early, throughout childhood or adolescence, and last into adulthood, influencing our way of life and interactions with others. It can also start unexpectedly later in life due to various experiences we can have that overwhelm us. Sometimes, we can have brief moments of anxiety and then it passes. But often, anxiety patterns can persist, and when they do, they tend to worsen as time passes, having more and more of an impact on the quality of our life.The good news is that, though patterns of anxiety can become chronic and escalate over time, they are also something that can be treated and transformed. The first step to achieving a greater sense of peace and ease is realizing what you're going through. You can work through these physiological, cognitive and emotional patterns to achieve greater harmony and equilibrium when you have the right care and support. 

What is anxiety?

Anxiety disorders are one of the most prevalent mental health conditions that people experience and have grown more common in recent years. But what is it that determines if an anxiety pattern is considered a “disorder” that warrants being attended to, or if it’s a passing experience that does not need any particular care? 

There are two key variables to determining if the anxiety pattern is a mental health condition that needs further support. The first is the impact of anxiety on a person’s life. Is it causing distress? Is it impacting one’s ability to enjoy life, the ability to succeed in school, work, family and or social dynamics? The second is the duration of the experience of anxiety. How long has it been going on? Has it just been a couple of days? Are things ok overall? Or has the struggle with anxiety been going on for several months or more? Does the pattern reoccur often?

A resource to help begin exploring if anxiety is being problematic is BMY’s free Anxiety Calculator. If you think that you, or someone you care about, is struggling with Anxiety, reach out for support. Anxiety does not have to continue to have the impact that it does on people’s lives. 

Anxiety Diagnosis

Anxiety Disorders can come in several forms with distinct aspects to the anxiety pattern. Types of anxiety disorders, for adults, include:

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder: This refers to 6 months or more of a pattern of excessive anxiety and worry about many things, difficulty controlling the worry, and experiencing 3 or more of the following symptoms:
  • Restlessness
  • Being easily fatigued
  • Difficulty with concentration
  • Irritability
  • Tense muscles
  • Sleep disturbance
• Social Anxiety Disorder: Also known as Social Phobia, refers to a fear pattern that persists for 6 or more months, where a person is 1) disproportionately anxious or worried about the judgment of others in a specific social situation or activity (such as while eating or drinking, or in social gatherings, or meeting new people, etc.), 2) is worried that people will be able to notice the anxiety and judge it as well, and, 3) as a result, a pattern of avoiding such social situations develops. Simply, a person with social anxiety will feel an intensity of fear of criticism or embarrassment in social situations to the extent that they avoid such situations and, as a result, their life can become more and more limited.
• Separation Anxiety Disorder: This is an anxiety pattern that persists for 6 months or more, and is the tendency to have excessive fear, anxiety and distress when separated from significant people in one’s life. The anxiety or distress is experienced by at least 3 of the following patterns:
  • Distress either at the anticipation of the separation, or when the separation occurs.
  • Excessive worry and fear that something bad will happen to those one cares about.
  • Reluctance to be away from the person (therefore reluctance to go out, leave the home, go to school or work, etc.)
  • Fear of being alone at home.
  • Repeated nightmares about experiencing separation (or loss).
  • Experiencing physical symptoms when there is separation (such as headaches, stomachaches, fatigue, nausea, etc.)
• Specific Phobia: This is a pattern of intense fear of a specific object or situation (such as fear of cats, storms, high places, public speaking, etc.) for 6 or more months. The pattern of the phobia includes both disproportionate immense fear and anxiety about the object or situation as well as persistent avoidance of the object or situation.
• Panic Disorder: This is an anxiety pattern that involves the experience of recurrent and unexpected panic attacks followed by at least 1 month or more of either worrying about having another panic attack or engaging in avoidance behavior (such as avoiding certain places, situations, or activities perceived as triggers) in an effort to prevent another panic attack from happening again. Panic Disorder can become very disruptive to quality of life. It’s important to know that not everyone who experiences a panic attack develops a panic disorder. It’s also important to know that this is usually very treatable and does not have to persist.

When it comes to Anxiety Disorder, more often than not, when left untreated, the pattern tends to persist and negatively impact different aspects of life. If proper treatment is not received, the condition tends to have a progressively more crippling effect on one’s life. Holistic and naturalistic approaches to treatment can be very effective in treating anxiety. 

Also Read : Why we kiss the frog ?

Physical Impact And Symptoms Of Anxiety

Chronic worry can put your body under physical strain, particularly on the respiratory, cardiovascular, digestive, immunological, and nervous systems. However, each person's experience with the disorder's intensity and potential effects on quality of life is different.

Although many people are aware of the effects of anxiety on mental health, only a few people are aware of the physical effects it can have on your body. Let’s look at some of those symptoms:

• Feeling uneasy, anxious, or afraid
• RestlessnessRapid breathing, excessive breathing or constricted breathing
• Tiredness and fatigue
• Elevated heart rate
• Lightheadedness
• Difficulty focusing
• Sleep issues
• Nausea
• Digestive problems
• Muscle tension or laxness
• Body pain - back pain or headaches or stomach aches

Anxiety and Stress Physiology

The amygdala is the brain area responsible for controlling our emotional reactions. It is essential to how our emotions of dread and anxiety arise. Your body sends signals to various parts when you experience anxiety, tension, or fear. It seems as though your brain is alerting your body to prepare for battle or to run away from the source of your stress.When this happens, your body reacts by releasing cortisol and adrenaline, which are commonly referred to as stress chemicals. Your body is ready to respond to the imagined threat due to these hormones. This is helpful when we do need to take such action. But chronic anxiety can cause repeated presence of stress hormones without any direction for metabolization and return of homeostasis. As a result, chronic anxiety can raise the chance of developing long-term physical health issues related to cardiovascular health, respiratory health, digestive health and others.

Why Choose Holistic Anxiety Treatment

Anxiety disorders vary in their pattern and symptoms. Moreover, people can experience anxiety and its impact on their lives in their own unique way. So often people continue to struggle in their lives because they are trying to cope with anxiety on their own. They continue to push through leaving the anxiety untreated even though there are effective natural and alternative ways to treat anxiety. The thing is, as discussed earlier, very often, anxiety patterns, when left untreated, tend to persist causing further and further impact on a person’s life.

It’s important to approach anxiety treatment in a holistic way. Why? For several reasons:

1. Anxiety is a body-mind disorder. It has physical, mental and emotional symptoms.
2. Anxiety impacts and is impacted by lifestyle issues. For instance, poor sleep can increase the intensity and experience of anxiety. At the same time, anxiety can impact sleep. Deficiency of certain nutrients, such as vitamin B deficiency, impacts anxiety. And so on.
3. Anxiety both impacts and aggravates, and is impacted by and aggravated by, physical health conditions. There is a reciprocal dynamic between them. For instance, chronic pain, IBS, hypertension and others have been linked with anxiety.
4. Anxiety impacts a person’s life and is aggravated by life stressors.

For many, there are times when the inclusion of psychiatric medication is an important part of their treatment for the anxiety disorder. However, it is important to know that psychiatric treatment should not be provided on its own. Other components to treatment should be included to transform the anxiety pattern. Moreover, natural and alternative remedies are also available and can provide people with an alternative healthcare approach.

BMY - Holistic Treatment For Anxiety

Because of the holistic presentation and impact of anxiety disorders, a holistic approach to treating anxiety is recommended. Through a combination of naturalistic and alternative healthcare modalities, a comprehensive, gentle and holistic approach is possible. This can include:

• Holistic Psychotherapy - to discover and develop the ability for emotion regulation and increased resilience.
• Homeopathy - to include homeopathic remedies that stimulate the body’s inherent ability for harmony and balance.
• Holistic Physiotherapy - to bring more ease to the physiology directly and shift tension and dis-ease patterns.
• Lifestyle Medicine - to discover and incorporate lifestyle practices that increase emotion regulation skills and engage the sympathetic-parasympathetic rhythm such as with mindfulness, yoga and so on.

Anxiety can be overwhelming, but holistic treatment can provide relief and bring back a greater sense of wellness. Lifestyle changes are also an essential part of lifestyle medicine and holistic treatment. Simple adjustments like getting enough sleep, eating nourishing foods, and staying physically active can make a big difference in how you feel. 

Remember, it's okay and important to seek help and take steps toward feeling better. Holistic treatment offers a soothing and supportive path to transforming the anxiety better and enhancing your overall quality of life.