Anxiety may feel like an intimidating thing, but It’s important to remember that feeling anxious can be beneficial – it’s our body’s way of preparing us for a stressful situation.
Of course, we have all felt anxious at some point in our lives, but for some people anxiety can be difficult to control and can stop them getting on with their daily lives. The feelings of fear or worry can build to a point where psychological symptoms contribute to physical ones – dizziness, heart palpitations, trembling or shaking, dry mouth, sweating, headaches and more. Together these can lead to a full-blown panic attack, where the sufferer must leave whatever situation has brought the attack on to calm down.
One of the most common problems associated with anxiety is sleeplessness; lying awake at night ruminating on things that happened that day, or worrying about potential problems in the future. The key is that anxiety often isn’t proportional to the size of the actual problem – it can be a subjective cumulation of smaller worries that contributes to an overriding sense of worry.
There are increasing numbers of strategies to help with anxiety. Talking therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) can help reprogram the brain to think differently in specific situations, especially if it is known what has triggered the anxiety in the past. Your doctor can point you towards reputable CBT therapists in your area for face to face sessions, or increasingly there are online CBT groups and services which can help too.
Mindfulness can be a useful tool in calming the brain and getting some perspective on any problems. Rather than worrying about the past or the future, you are centered in the here and now, and if practiced regularly, this can really help.
Some patients may also need prescription medication, and there is no shame in that, but that should be used alongside other strategies such as CBT, not on its own. Antidepressants can be of great value, but in some people cause sleeping problems and can actually increase feelings of anxiety, so always keep your doctor in the loop about any side effects.
Anxiety can be very serious, so don’t suffer in silence and reach out for help before it’s too late.