Are you having a tough time fighting and hiding your anxiety? Living with it can be tough. Research says feeling stuck with anxiety can lead to more anxiety and aggravate the problem. Anxiety is found to affect our respiratory system in many cases. One may feel short of breath or feel breathless leading to more apprehension and worsening conditions.
One common symptom associated with anxiety is uncomfortable breathing. If you have anxiety disorder then chances are high that your brain may trick you to believe that you are an exception and the uncomfortable breathing is not because of anxiety. Patients fighting with anxiety often feel that something is seriously wrong with their heart or lungs and this worry can make them more anxious. This arises as a result of hyperventilation-i.e. when you cannot take deep and controlled breaths. Our body is very delicate in nature. It’s essential to balance both carbon dioxide and oxygen at a required level. Whenever there is an uncomfortable breathing pattern, we tend to hyperventilate. This kind of breathing leads to a decline in the carbon dioxide level and an elevated oxygen level in the blood streams of the body. Whenever the balance gets disturbed and there is more oxygen in the body, a person can experience
· Chest Pain
· Increase in heart rate
· Lightheadedness
· Weakness in legs
Once anxiety gets triggered, the vicious cycle begins.
If you feel the requirement to visit doctors on common days in fear of heart stroke or respiratory diseases and the doctor laughs it off saying you are in the perfect condition but you are still fighting with the breathing blues then anxiety may be the issue here. In such conditions, the solution is to effectively manage and control anxiety. Effectively learning to control your breath can make a big change to your troubled life. Always remember hyperventilation will worsen the condition.
Let us learn how to counter uncomfortable breathing.
1) Get in movement- Whenever you become anxious, it becomes more difficult to stay calm and composed. You may undergo helplessness and feel out of control. A good strategy to mellow these symptoms is to do some exercise regularly. With any kind of physical activity or walk the blood flow becomes balanced and the necessary need to take longer breaths subsides. It will also help in regaining the oxygen and carbon dioxide balance back in the body.
Also, regular exercise is a great way of reducing your everyday stress and works as a mood elevator. When you become physically in movement you to tend to have better quality sleep and feel more refreshed. This strategy can definitely contribute greatly to your physical and emotional health.
2) Coach your breaths- When one feels anxious, as a response we tend to start hyperventilating. This move aggravates other symptoms hence making the person on target feel dizzy and uncomfortable. During this the best way to manage it is to stop shallow breathing. Try to be calm and take warm deep breath, hold your breath for 2 seconds and slowly exhale. Practicing this everyday for 10 times will have noticeable results in 15 days. This helps in balancing the carbon dioxide and oxygen level back and would make you feel more confident.
Other strategies include meditation, spending lesser time on social media, finding the appropriate cause of anxiety and many more. There are many ways to meditate. You can choose whatever suits you and your routine the most. It reduces stress and anxiety levels from your body and improves sleep quality. Likewise, spending lesser time on social media also helps in reducing anxiety levels. The world shown on facebook, instagram and other networking sites is very different from the one we are living in. According to research people who spend more time on social media are more prone to anxiety and depression. If you are already fighting anxiety, then you need to spend lesser time on social sites for better mental health.
Last but not the least, one of the best ways to deal with anxiety is make a quick appointment with mental health professional and learn to identify and manage the cause of your anxiety. The deep rooted fears, phobias and troubling thoughts need to be known and dealt for a permanent relief. Behavior therapy and thought stopping can successfully help in eradicating anxiety. It’s best to learn how to deal with your stressor and increase you coping mechanisms.
If you are having a tough life dealing with anxiety and its effect and want to know more about its management then please write me at khillim@yahoo.com.
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