Anxiety disorders often run concurrently with other mental health issues, such as depression. This can make symptoms of anxiety as well as other conditions worse, and it can make it harder to obtain the right diagnosis. Because of this, practitioners, doctors, and diagnosticians must rule out other mental conditions as the cause of symptoms before making a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder. Many anxiety disorders have symptoms that can also be explained by other mental health conditions.
For patients with an anxiety disorder as well as another mental health condition, it is important that they are treated for both conditions simultaneously. Because mental health disorders can exacerbate anxiety and because anxiety can exacerbate other mental illnesses, it is important that patients receive therapy or treatment to help teach coping mechanisms that can help with symptoms of all mental health diagnoses.
Diet and Exercise
fitness club
While diet and exercise are not direct causes or cures for anxiety, they can play an indirect role in making it worse or better. The benefits of a proper diet and exercise regimen will be discussed in the next chapter of this book, but for now, it is important to look at how poor diet and exercise habits can be detrimental to people with anxiety disorders.
Anxiety is the result of your body’s security system firing off signals that you are in danger, distress, or despair, even when these things are not happening. Even in disorders where a specific trauma is creating symptoms, panic and anxiety still arise from the body sending out signals of danger and alerting the adrenal system. In order for your adrenal system to properly function, your body must be healthy and you must be hydrated.
For many people with anxiety and anxiety disorders, caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and other chemicals are commonly used to help reduce symptoms. All of these chemicals and substances can create imbalances in nutrient levels in the body and all of them require your body to consume nutrients and water to remove them from your blood and expel them from the body. Dehydration is very common in people who smoke, drink caffeine, take medications, or use drugs.
A lack of exercise can also be detrimental to people who experience anxiety or panic. Whenever you exercise, not only does your body produce chemicals that naturally fight stress, but you expel excess hormones and energy. Whenever you are inactive, your body has no means of expelling the energy that you take in through your diet. You also have no means of expelling stress, which can result in tension, an increased heart rate, and other symptoms of anxiety.
Stress
man in stress
Stress is a normal part of everyday life. It can be an excellent motivator and can actually be healthy. The sense of stress that one experiences before a wedding, for example, as they try to accomplish everything within a certain window of time, can be a source of positive stress. The problem with stress is not in experiencing it at all, but when it is overwhelming.
For some people, anxiety disorders are specifically caused by stress. PTSD and acute stress disorder are two of the most common examples of this. With these disorders, the stress experienced is so great that the body and mind become overwhelmed and natural defense systems stop working as they should.
For patients with other anxiety disorders, there is still a great correlation between stress and symptoms in many cases. Many symptoms of anxiety can be made worse by excessive stress. For some people, it is that daily stressors prove to have a more profound effect on them than with other people, while for others it is that stresses experienced are greater than many people experience, which in turn lead to greater symptoms of anxiety.
In any of these cases, learning how to deal with stress in a positive way can help to lessen symptoms of anxiety. Patients who learn relaxation techniques, employ behavioral or cognitive changes, or find new coping mechanisms can often greatly reduce the symptoms of anxiety by first relieving the stresses that can make the symptoms so severe.
Summary
There are really a number of substances, conditions, and things that can have a major impact on anxiety symptoms and their severity. Learning what factors in your life may be causing your anxiety or exacerbating the condition can be a very important step in reducing symptoms or even eliminating many symptoms. Seeking treatment for anxiety is always important, but when you are able to make changes in your lifestyle and habits that can reduce the severity and occurrence of symptoms, you help to increase your chances of successful treatment exponentially.
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