Let’s Ease An Anxious Mind !

Anxiety is nothing but anticipation of a future concern and is generally associated with muscle tension, feeling of nervousness and avoidance behaviour . 

Feeling anxious is normal. It is a natural biological response to stressful situations. It stimulates our body’s inbuilt mechanism by increasing the heart rate, breathing, pumping oxygenated blood to muscles, thus preparing us for fight or flight. Some amount of healthy anxiety can help you go to work on time, push you to study hard for an exam, or help you to get away from a threat.

But whilst this response can be a life saver, in some circumstances a state of anxiety that becomes too intense or too prolonged can knock us off balance and affect our health and wellbeing. For example, anxiety raises levels of the stress hormone cortisol, increases blood pressure, which over a period of time lead to heart problems, stroke, kidney disease, and sexual dysfunction. Quality of life also gets affected. Constant unwanted thoughts, fear of panic attacks, intense self-consciousness and fear of rejection, impedes relationships, work, school, and activities as people isolate themselves, turn down opportunities, and give up possible joys in life.

What Are The Different Types of Anxiety Disorders?

1. Generalised Anxiety Disorder: Excessive and uncontrollable troublesome thoughts.

2. Panic Disorder: Intense, sudden fear ridden episodes that reoccur and are accompanied by physical symptoms like shortness of breath, rapid heart rate and dizziness.

3. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)- Irrational fear and thoughts (obsessions) resulting in repetitive, uncontrolled actions (compulsions)

4. Social Anxiety Disorder- Irrational fear and avoidance of social situations.

5. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)- Anxiety due to vivid memories of traumatic life event in the past.

6. Specific Phobia- Anxiety and irrational fear of certain objects and situations.

7. Digital Anxiety- nervous about losing connectivity to smart phones, long term negative feelings around personal use of social media

What are the causes of the Anxiety Disorder?

– One of the main causes of anxiety and stress in this current challenging global situation is that our future is unknown, and we may feel we are loosing control over things around us. This may make many of us feel uncertain, confused and anxious about what lies ahead.

– Anxiety disorders may also run in families and can be passed on from one generation to next. 

– Certain environmental factors like broken relationships, death of loved ones, financial loss, uncertainty in job, peer pressure, major illness etc may make a person susceptible to anxiety disorders.

– Recurrent studies have suggested that technology is making us more anxious. Everywhere you look, people are on their phones, checking messages, liking pictures on Instagram or watching videos on Youtube. Constantly changing gears like this keeps us from processing anything completely which is why we have so much anxiety. The amount of information available to us can be absolutely overwhelming .

– A few of the medical disorders such as thyroid issues, diabetes mellitus, cancer, brain degenerative diseases can also cause anxiety.

What are the Signs and Symptoms ?

While the symptoms of anxiety vary widely, the commonly presenting symptoms include:

• Feeling of fear and panic, Repetitive negative thoughts, Low self confidence
• Palpitation, Sweating, Disturbed sleep
• Numbness, Shortness of breath
• Restlessness, Trembling, Muscle tension
• Nausea, Dizziness, Dryness of mouth
• Repeated flashback or nightmares of a traumatic experience, etc.

How can Homoeopathy help?

Anxiety needs attention or treatment when it is out of proportion.

Homoeopathy can help adapt and bring us back into alignment, making us more resilient to stress.

The best part of homoeopathic medicines that these work diving deeper into the psychology of the affected individuals thereby bringing by a complete recovery along with holistic improvement in the health condition.

Being made of natural ingredients, the risk of drug dependency is eliminated.

Homoeopathic medicines work wonders in treating anxiety in a very gentle and mild manner without causing any other side effects. 

With systematic homoeopathic treatment, the need for conventional medicine (anti-anxiety, anti-depressants, sleeping pills) gradually reduces.

Homoeopathic treatment combined with psychotherapy or counselling, shows favourable results.

Self care for your anxiety !

– Lifestyle changes: Exercise regularly, skip caffeine, avoid alcohol & substances that might cause anxiety symptoms, go early to bed, distract yourself with family, friends and hobbies.

– Mind-body balance: Deep breathing, meditation, mindfulness, and techniques to alleviate muscle tension and help being calm.

– Digital Detox: Unplug yourself from digital devices and social media from time to time.

  “ Go easy on yourself. Whatever you do today, let it be enough .”