This week we want to put our focus onto ANXIETY. Did you know that Anxiety is the most common mental health condition in Australia? On average, one in four people – one in three Females and one in five Males– will experience anxiety at some stage in their life. In a 12-month period, over two million Australians experience anxiety.
Everyone feels anxious from time to time. When anxious feelings don't go away, or happen without any particular reason or make it hard to cope with daily life it may be the sign of an anxiety condition.
What is Anxiety?
Feeling anxious in certain situations can help us avoid danger, triggering our 'fight or flight' response. It is how we’ve evolved to keep ourselves safe. Sometimes though, we can become overly worried about perceived threats – bad things that may or may not happen. When your worries are persistent or out of proportion to the reality of the threat, and get in the way of you living your life, you may have an anxiety disorder.
Anxiety is actually a term for a group of mental health disorders. Each anxiety disorder has its own specific set of symptoms. It is possible to experience more than one type of anxiety at the same time.
It's important for doctors to know which type of anxiety you have, so they can advise you on the most effective treatments.
So what are the types Anxiety…?
Here is a list of the common types of Anxiety
generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)
social phobia
specific phobias
obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
panic disorder
separation anxiety disorder
agoraphobia
The levels of severity of Anxiety are dependant on the individual and there is a range of contributing factors for developing anxiety. The factors could be biological – genes (family history), personality traits and brain chemistry – or they can be life events, such as trauma and long-term stress, or a combination of these factors
What are some signs and symptoms to look out for?
Normal anxiety tends to be limited in time and connected with some stressful situation or event, such as a job interview. The type of anxiety experienced by people with an anxiety condition is more frequent or persistent, not always connected to an obvious challenge, and impacts on their quality of life and day-to-day functioning.
While each anxiety condition has its own unique features, there are some common symptoms including:
Physical: panic attacks, hot and cold flushes, racing heart, tightening of the chest, quick breathing, restlessness, or feeling tense, wound up and edgy
Psychological: excessive fear, worry or obsessive thinking
Behavioural: avoidance of situations that make you feel anxious which can impact on study, work or social life
These are just some of a number of symptoms that you might/can experience. They're not designed to provide a diagnosis just to guide you on what to keep an eye out for!
We all have experienced it or may experience it now in our lives and its OK. Its ok to be in a state of worry. If you are like me, i honestly haven’t suffered a-lot throughout my life with Anxiety but on the odd occasion i do get it when i just over think and over think and over think and don’t disconnect and ground myself to the present.
I myself have experienced it recently with the closure of our gym. For about 3-5 days i just didn’t feel myself, my chest was tight my breathing was short, i couldn’t sleep, my mind was in absolute over drive and thinking about all the WHAT IFS and it just was too much for me to handle. It wasn’t until i decided to look at the positive sides of this situation ( thanks to Mat for being positive and pulling me out of that sad period) and seek gratitude for what is happening and focus on what i am grateful for which is having time to be able to spend with Archie because i never got a Maternity leave. Grateful for being able to have some down time to clean out our gym facilities and get rid of the cluttered stuff we just didn’t have time for and really grateful for being forced to slow down and focus on myself, my relationships and my family and reconnect and realign with all things that fill my cup up!
Everyones situation is different, but know its ok to not feel ok, to feel overwhelmed, to feel uncertain about the future. Its ok to feel uninterested and lose motivation. Its ok to feel uncomfortable, unhappy and confused.
Lets try to interrupt Anxiety with Gratitude. When you feel it creeping on again its crucial we know how to control our breathing and we could have a completely different outcome.
This is a breathing technique that i learnt in prenatal yoga. It is utilised to help women regulate their mind and breathing to remain calm throughout birth/labour which can be very stressful situation for some. So i highly recommend using this technique as it helps in all situations.
How to regulate your breathing and emotions:
Take 3 big long deep breaths in, first through your nose. Picture the path of your breath going in through your nose, travelling down into the bottom of your lungs to fill them up
Hold this breath for the count of 3 seconds
Exhale this slowly either through your nose or pursed lips ( Imagine your blowing out a candle on a birthday cake thats the position you want your lips to be in) while you relax the muscles in your face, neck, jaw, shoulders and stomach.
Look around you and be aware of your surroundings tell yourself what you can see, hear, smell
Tell yourself 3 things you are grateful for in that moment
The idea when experiencing an episode of Anxiety or even a panic attack bought on by severe Anxiety is to bring you back to the moment. Be in that moment and pay specific attention to something ( Like your breathing or surroundings) to help bring you back to you!
