Are you frequently experiencing symptoms of anxiety? Are you suffering from any of these panic symptoms; stomach cramps, diarrhea, chest pains, a pounding heart? Anxiety affects us all and it is a natural response to fear.
These symptoms that we experience during anxiety are natures way of helping you deal with a threat If you suffer from anxiety symptoms, it does not necessarily mean that you have an anxiety disorder. This is because we all have experienced the stress response in some form or another.
Symptoms of anxiety are in fact the symptoms of a stress response. Fear, worry and anxiety are interpreted by the body in limited ways. If your body believes there is a threat it reacts by releasing hormones to help you counter the threat.
A real threat and a perceived threat are interpreted by the subconscious in the same way. The stress response can potentially save you from a dangerous situation. For example, you’re traveling in your car, when a car speeds out in front of you. Within seconds your brain and body responds to the situation, producing a biological response.
You may experience your heart racing, your muscles tighten, and your senses heighten. These changes could help save your life or prevent an accident from happening. When this stress response triggers, it is what is believed to be a panic attack.
Fears are unique and are different for each person, what one person might see as a threat another does not. For instance, a social anxiety disorder sufferer might frequently have felt embarrassed in front of others and now finds it unbearable to be in public. They are afraid that another incident may happen again.
The thought alone of the incident may be enough to trigger symptoms of anxiety. This threat to one’s pride, ego and self esteem is acknowledged by the subconscious. Even though it is not a life threatening threat your body releases the same hormones to try and prepare you for the threat the only way it knows how.
Our environment has changed immensely in a relatively short time but our biology has remained the same. We are no longer on guard in fear of being attacked from wild creatures. But still, our stress response is triggered frequently when we experience stress, fear and anxiety.
This is widely known to be a cause of mental illnesses. In patients of anxiety disorders, this stress response has become hypersensitive to triggering. This in turn causes frequent symptoms of anxiety and feelings of uneasiness.
The good news is that symptoms of anxiety can be remedied since they are a learned reaction. This makes it possible to replace this response with a new one by learning how to react to triggers of anxiety.
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