Worry 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 in fact two separate conditions. Stress is a reaction to a stimulus, either 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).

Anxiety, on the other hand, is a feeling of nervousness and fear or even dread. It can be brought on by negative expectations and thoughts, or as a response to stress. You may feel anxious all of the time and not know why, or your feelings may be a response to something you are nervous about, such as an upcoming business trip.

Abnormal levels of certain neurotransmitters in the brain may cause generalized anxiety. Some studies indicate that anxiety can be hereditary. Anxiety may also be induced environmentally, as when a child whose mother or father is often anxious becomes an anxious person by observing the parent. But very often the root cause of anxiety is simply the thoughts that a person is thinking!

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

Everyone experiences feelings of anxiety once in awhile. We have all experienced the dry mouth and vague sense of dread before a public speaking engagement or a test. But when does it become damaging to your health? Research indicates that prolonged anxiety can make us vulnerable to sleep disorders, high blood pressure, relationship problems, and depression

For sufferers of chronic 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, arthritis, heart disease, respiratory illness, and thyroid disease. Chronically anxious people may even be more likely to suffer a fatal cardiac attack.

If you experience 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 frequent anxiety. Anxiety disorders are serious conditions that should be treated to reduce 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 way to treat chronic anxiety. Unfortunately, anxiety medications often produce undesirable side effects that are just as bad or even worse than the initial affliction.

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

The best way to deal with tension and worry is to control it from the inside out. Stress relief and stress management techniques are extremely valuable tools in handling day-to-day stress. These techniques can teach you to calm yourself and relieve your tension. You make a conscious effort to slow your breathing rate, release the tension, and remain in a tranquil state of mind. Meditation is an excellent form of tension management in which you practice mindful relaxation and deep, calm breathing.

However, if you seek a proactive solution to free yourself of anxiety, hypnosis is the best form of treatment. When an individual undergoes hypnosis, their emotional responses and reactions to events are changed at their core. This permits them to deal with typical anxiety-inducing triggers without the typical nervousness and fear.

Hypnosis is typically performed by a licensed hypnotist 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, CDs, or DVDs for individual home usage. No special skills are necessary to perform self hypnosis. All you need is a device to play the hypnosis program and a quiet place where you can listen and relax.

Another successful method of anxiety treatment is Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP. NLP is a type of therapy that helps you retrain your body and mind to naturally react to situations in a more positive manner. You can consciously decide to stay calm rather than anxious, meaning that you always maintain control over your own feelings.

In summary, you can see that it is very important to manage our negative emotional responses in order to remain healthy. Mastering techniques to cope with nervousness and fear may even add years onto your life. To treat chronic anxiety, the best course of action is to participate in hypnotherapy 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.cursebustersound.com/article

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

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