Anxiety and Health - Symptoms, Solutions, and More

If you have a few minutes I would like to talk with you about anxiety and health. Let me start by telling a little story that happened to me the other day. I was in my car listening to the radio feeling pretty good about things. As I approached the stop light I suddenly remembered that I had left my appointment book. A certain amount of anxiety started to build. Will it still be there? Did I leave it or did someone take it? Then I quickly made a lane chance, forgetting to turn on my signal, only to be pulled over by a policeman. My anxiety level was now through the roof. My heart was pounding, my blood pressure was rising, my palms were sweating, and an overall tenseness gripped me. Ultimately, I only got a warning and found my appointment book but for hours after the events I was a bundle of nerves and then became exhausted from the experience.

Common symptoms linked to anxiety and health: sweating, clammy hands, muscle tension, trembling, uncontrollable shaking, muscle aches and pain, nausea, fatigue, dizziness, a spike in blood pressure, accelerated heart beat, feeling jumpy, verbal communication impairment, and sleep disorders.

Episodes like this happen to people all the time. Sometimes the anxiety is milder, while other times is can be much, much, worse. It is obvious that anxiety and health are linked but question is really are there any long term health risks from either constant or severe anxiety. The research tends to say this is indeed the case. Such life altering condition as heart attack, stroke, phobias, depression, diabetes, memory disorders, and aggression disorders can be brought about by long term bouts with anxiety. On the other side of the fence you have less serious conditions such as hair loss.

Why does this happen? It is called the fight or flight response and is part of our genetic makeup. The fight or flight response prepares the body to fight an enemy or flee from a dangerous situation by secreting the hormone adrenaline, which increases the heart rate and the flow of blood to the brain and muscles, raises the blood sugar level, and dilates the pupils. The fight or flight response is designed to help people muster additional strength and energy needed to cope and survive.

In other words anxiety and health is a story about your mind and body being placed under unusual and unforeseen pressure and once the dam built around a healthy persona starts to crack, it can collapse in catastrophic fashion, taking months, years, and even a lifetime to repair the damage.