Anxiety And Stress - How We Cause It And How To Overcome It

Even though many people tend to use the terms stress and anxiety interchangeably, they are actually two separate conditions. Stress is a response to a stimulus, which can be external or internal. You may experience stress when you feel frustrated with something (like waiting in line behind a slow person) or when you are worried that you will not meet expectations (such as missing a deadline at work).

Anxiety, on the other hand, is a sense of dread, or fear and nervousness. It can be caused by negative expectations and thoughts, or as a reaction to stress. You may experience feelings of anxiety all of the time and not know why, or your feelings may be a reaction to something you are nervous about, like an upcoming business trip.

Abnormal levels of certain neurotransmitters in the brain can cause generalized anxiety. Some studies indicate that anxiety can be brought on by genetics. In addition, anxiety can stem from environmental conditions, as when a child whose mother or father is often anxious becomes an anxious person by observing the parent. But frequently, the core cause of anxiety is simply the thoughts in a person's mind!

Stress and anxiety are subjective conditions. Different people may feel stressed about different situations, and different people may react to their anxiousness in extremely different ways. Symptoms of anxiety can range from the mild, such as sweaty hands and tense muscles, to the severe, such as anxiety attacks, vomiting, and irregular heartbeat.

Everyone feels some amount of anxiety once in awhile. All of us have experienced the dry mouth and vague sense of dread before a public speaking engagement or an exam. But when does it become damaging to your health? Research has shown that chronic anxiety can make us vulnerable to sleep disorders, depression, high blood pressure, and relationship problems

For sufferers of long-term untreated anxiety, there may be detrimental health consequences that have yet to be explored fully. Many studies have found a link between generalized anxiety disorder and a number of serious health conditions including cancer, heart disease, thyroid disease, respiratory illness, and arthritis. Chronically anxious people may even be more likely to suffer a fatal cardiac attack.

If you suffer from what seems like an inappropriately high amount of anxiety relative to the situation, or if you feel anxious nearly every day, you may actually have an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders are chronic conditions characterized by a person's inability to function normally because of constant anxiety. Anxiety disorders are serious conditions that should be treated to lower the risk of long-term negative health effects.

Anxiety treatment has long been the subject of much debate in the medical field. Some medical professionals believe that medication is the best treatment for chronic anxiety. However, anti-anxiety medications often produce harmful side effects that are just as bad or even worse than the initial affliction.

There are plenty of safe and natural ways to handle negative emotional responses. Exercise is one that is often overlooked by anxious people, but it is extremely effective in managing stress and anxiety. Exercise causes your body to release endorphins, which are natural pain-killing and mood-boosting chemicals. With regular exercise, you may start to experience a decrease in negative emotional responses to situations that would previously have made you very anxious.

The best way to deal with tension and worry is to control it from within. Stress relief and stress management techniques are very valuable tools in coping with day-to-day stress. These techniques can teach you to relax yourself and relieve your tension. You make a conscious effort to slow your rate of breathing, release the tension, and maintain a peaceful state of mind. Meditation is an increasingly popular form of tension management in which you focus on thoughtful relaxation and deep, calming breathing.

However, if you are seeking a proactive way to free yourself of anxiety, hypnosis is by far the most effective form of treatment. When an individual undergoes hypnosis, their emotional responses and reactions to events are changed at their core. This provides them with the opportunity to handle anxiety-inducing triggers without the typical feelings of fear and nervousness.

Hypnosis is typically performed by a licensed hypnotherapist in a series of regular sessions. More commonly today, hypnosis takes the form of self hypnosis programs which are available in the form of MP3s, DVDs, or CDs for personal home use. No special skills are needed to perform self hypnosis. All that you need is a device to play the hypnosis program and a quiet place where you can relax and listen.

Another very successful method of anxiety treatment is Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP. NLP is a form of therapy that can help you condition your body and mind to naturally react to situations in a more positive way. You can consciously decide to remain calm instead of feeling anxious, meaning that you always maintain control over your own emotions.

In summary, you can see that it is important to be able to manage our negative emotional responses in order to remain healthy. Mastering techniques to deal with fear and nervousness may even extend your life. To treat long-term anxiety, the best treatment option to follow is to use hypnosis to change your reactions and attitudes at the core. Then, it becomes easy to use stress management techniques as needed to remain calm in everyday situations.

Article Source: http://www.healthandwellnesscentral.com

Alan B. Densky is an NGH certified hypnotherapist. He offers a complete line of anxiety elimination hypnosis CDs, and advanced anxiety reduction CDs through his Neuro-VISION self hypnosis website. You can visit his self hypnosis blog, and download a free MP3.

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