Fighting Anxiety and Panic Attacks - Can They Be Beaten?
Anxiety affects the lives of millions of people.
In fact, to one extent or another, everybody finds themselves immersed in spells of anxiety, at least every now and then.
There are many different levels of anxiety.
These levels range from mild nervousness to full blown anxiety attacks which are often referred to as panic attacks.
Panic attacks essentially ruin the lives of their victims; at least when they are present.
They are so disruptive because they become the center of attention to their prey.
This happens because they are so overwhelming.
They actually prevent people from being able to carry out their normal day's routine.
A spell of anxiety can be seen miles away as it approaches.
When it arrives, it is normally met by a person who is 100% determined to fight it off! The problem is fighting anxiety is what keeps it alive.
Anxiety, of course, is a symptom of nervousness.
In fact, an anxiety or panic attack is nervousness supersized.
Little do most of us realize it is our fighting that supersizes it.
The Fight or Flight Response The explanation for this is fighting is one of the actions our nervous system responds to by pouring loads of adrenaline into our veins.
The other action is running away, or flight.
It is adrenaline that is the answer to our call when we are in a mindset of "fight or flight.
" It is our sympathetic nerves which sense our state is one of fight or flight and so the adrenaline is manufactured in order to give us more strength, to fight, and more speed, for flight.
This would be fine if we were still in the Neanderthal stage of our evolution, or perhaps if we were playing football.
However, when we are engaged in normal 21st century activities, adrenaline's excess energy manifests itself as panic; or at least extreme nervousness.
Rest and Digest The key we must master in order to overcome anxiety disorder and prevent panic attacks from occurring is learning how to hone the ability to meet oncoming anxiety with calmness.
The opposite of fight or flight is rest and digest.
The most important word here is rest.
Meeting anxiety with an attitude of no fighting or no running away is accomplished by putting down your guard and accepting whatever anxiety throws at you.
By using a response of resting instead of fighting your parasympathetic nerves will arrest adrenaline flow and nervousness will not be able to build into panic.
This, of course, is something that cannot be learned overnight.
However, once it is, you will have gained the ability to defeat anxiety in your life.
Even before you master the rest and digest response, simply knowing what anxiety and panic are made of will take the steam out of them!
In fact, to one extent or another, everybody finds themselves immersed in spells of anxiety, at least every now and then.
There are many different levels of anxiety.
These levels range from mild nervousness to full blown anxiety attacks which are often referred to as panic attacks.
Panic attacks essentially ruin the lives of their victims; at least when they are present.
They are so disruptive because they become the center of attention to their prey.
This happens because they are so overwhelming.
They actually prevent people from being able to carry out their normal day's routine.
A spell of anxiety can be seen miles away as it approaches.
When it arrives, it is normally met by a person who is 100% determined to fight it off! The problem is fighting anxiety is what keeps it alive.
Anxiety, of course, is a symptom of nervousness.
In fact, an anxiety or panic attack is nervousness supersized.
Little do most of us realize it is our fighting that supersizes it.
The Fight or Flight Response The explanation for this is fighting is one of the actions our nervous system responds to by pouring loads of adrenaline into our veins.
The other action is running away, or flight.
It is adrenaline that is the answer to our call when we are in a mindset of "fight or flight.
" It is our sympathetic nerves which sense our state is one of fight or flight and so the adrenaline is manufactured in order to give us more strength, to fight, and more speed, for flight.
This would be fine if we were still in the Neanderthal stage of our evolution, or perhaps if we were playing football.
However, when we are engaged in normal 21st century activities, adrenaline's excess energy manifests itself as panic; or at least extreme nervousness.
Rest and Digest The key we must master in order to overcome anxiety disorder and prevent panic attacks from occurring is learning how to hone the ability to meet oncoming anxiety with calmness.
The opposite of fight or flight is rest and digest.
The most important word here is rest.
Meeting anxiety with an attitude of no fighting or no running away is accomplished by putting down your guard and accepting whatever anxiety throws at you.
By using a response of resting instead of fighting your parasympathetic nerves will arrest adrenaline flow and nervousness will not be able to build into panic.
This, of course, is something that cannot be learned overnight.
However, once it is, you will have gained the ability to defeat anxiety in your life.
Even before you master the rest and digest response, simply knowing what anxiety and panic are made of will take the steam out of them!
