How To Fight Back Against Morning Anxiety
Anxiety is a frustrating condition, especially when it pops up first thing in the a.m. As mentioned above, if you have chronic anxiety or a diagnosed anxiety condition, you’ll want to work with your mental health practitioner to find the right treatment for you. But if your morning anxiety is more of an occasional annoyance, Dr. Saltz has some tips that could help cut down on its occurrence:
1. Make measures to minimize overall stress. If you have generalized anxiety disorder or are overly stressed, Dr. Saltz says it’s important to take steps to manage it, which could include the help of a therapist. “Meditation, regular exercise, and having an overall healthy diet all play parts in minimizing overall stress,” she adds.
2. Cut back on caffeine and sugar. Because these are two culprits that often cause physiological responses that mimic anxiety, cutting them out or reducing your intake could help. Look for breakfast foods rich in protein and healthy fats that won’t spike insulin levels, like eggs or a green smoothie, and consider switching your regular latte for a milder form of caffeine, like matcha or tea.
3. Take some deep breaths. This might seem like an “easier said than done” situation, but Dr. Saltz says taking slow, deep breaths truly can help calm the mind and body. “If there’s something you’re worried about on your mind that pops up while you’re taking your deep breaths, acknowledge it and let it pass don’t try to push it away,” she says.
What Are The Six Types Of Anxiety Disorders
Here are the six most common types of anxiety disorders:
Proven Ways To Cope With Anxiety
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Anxiety happens to the best of us. Feeling anxious or overwhelmed is a normal and healthy response to stressful situations, such as dealing with the uncertainty of an acute medical crisis. But that doesnt make it pleasant.
Fortunately, you can learn how to cope with anxiety. Try these nine strategies to prevent anxiety from taking hold.
Also Check: What Does It Feel Like To Have Anxiety Attack
What Is Separation Anxiety Disorder
This condition mostly happens to children or teens, who may worry about being away from their parents. Children with separation anxiety disorder may fear that their parents will be hurt in some way or not come back as promised. It happens a lot in preschoolers. But older children and adults who experience a stressful event may have separation anxiety disorder as well.
Take Up Yoga Or Tai Chi
Yoga does more than increase your flexibility. It incorporates exercise, deep breathing, and meditation. Yoga is an all-in-one antianxiety activity, as shown in a review of body-centered interventions published in Frontiers in Psychology. Tai chi, a mix of meditation and martial arts, works much the same way.
Read Also: Can I Get A Service Animal For Anxiety
What Causes Anxiety In Children
Research shows that biology, biochemistry, and environmental factors play a role. While anxiety disorders do run in families, a family history doesnt mean a child is destined to develop a disorder. Much depends on the childs nature, innate sensitivity, experiences, and family dynamics. For some children, stressful or traumatic events can set off an anxiety disorder.
What Causes Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders are like other forms of mental illness. They dont come from personal weakness, character flaws or problems with upbringing. But researchers dont know exactly what causes anxiety disorders. They suspect a combination of factors plays a role:
- Chemical imbalance: Severe or long-lasting stress can change the chemical balance that controls your mood. Experiencing a lot of stress over a long period can lead to an anxiety disorder.
- Environmental factors: Experiencing a trauma might trigger an anxiety disorder, especially in someone who has inherited a higher risk to start.
- Heredity: Anxiety disorders tend to run in families. You may inherit them from one or both parents, like eye color.
Recommended Reading: Why Does One Person Cause Me Anxiety
What Is An Anxiety Disorder
An anxiety disorder is a type of mental health condition. If you have an anxiety disorder, you may respond to certain things and situations with fear and dread. You may also experience physical signs of anxiety, such as a pounding heart and sweating.
Its normal to have some anxiety. You may feel anxious or nervous if you have to tackle a problem at work, go to an interview, take a test or make an important decision. And anxiety can even be beneficial. For example, anxiety helps us notice dangerous situations and focuses our attention, so we stay safe.
But an anxiety disorder goes beyond the regular nervousness and slight fear you may feel from time to time. An anxiety disorder happens when:
- Anxiety interferes with your ability to function.
- You often overreact when something triggers your emotions.
- You cant control your responses to situations.
Anxiety disorders can make it difficult to get through the day. Fortunately, there are several effective treatments for anxiety disorders.
Practical Tips For Helping A Friend With Anxiety
Helping someone with anxiety can be intimidating. Often, the anxious person feels completely overwhelmed by their anxiety, especially if they experience panic attacks or find themselves gripped by anxious thoughts .
If your anxious friend doesn’t understand their anxiety yet, they may not be able to give you a clear answer about what you can do to be helpful to them. Use the ideas below as a starting point. The same advice applies whether the anxious person you’re trying to help is a friend, your spouse/partner, or another family member. You can always show this article to your anxious friend or loved one and get their feedback on what applies to them and what doesn’t.
If you’re looking for suggestions for how to help someone with anxiety attacks in particular, you’ll find a specific section on that at the bottom of this article. Much of the advice below also applies to how to help someone with depression. There is a lot of overlap between depression and anxiety, and many people who experience one experience the other.
1. Educate yourself about what can help anxiety.
In addition, there are specific types of anxiety strategies that are suited to being done with an accountability partner:
2. Help your anxious friend break free of avoidance behavior.
Common examples of such behavior include avoiding:
- Making phone calls
- Getting started on a task that feels intimidating
- Repairing mistakes
Recommended Reading: What Does Anxiety And Depression Feel Like
Match Your Support To Their Preferences And Attachment Style
Its best to ask someone what type of support they prefer rather than guess! However, we know from research that people who have an avoidant attachment style are likely to respond best to strong displays of concrete practical support. That could include helping the anxious person break tasks down into manageable steps, or talking through specific options for how to deal with a difficult situation, like how to respond to an angry email, but still acknowledging their autonomy and independence while doing so.
Other people are more likely to prefer emotional support, especially those who are securely attached, or who have a preoccupied attachment style due to a fear of being abandoned or of their emotions being overwhelming to others. Folks like this respond well to statements emphasizing that theyre part of a tight teamfor example, their supporter saying, This is tough but we love each other and well get through it together.
Ask For Anointing Prayer
Its important for Christians to understand, anxiety changes us. It changes our perception. It challenges our physical bodies. We know there is no logical explanation for adrenaline pumping through our veins as though were running from a Zombie Apocalypse. We know that were to pray our worries away. We know we are to go to God and rest our thoughts on Christ. We know that there is a battlefield in our minds and bodies. We know its not a Philippians 4 thing. We know it doesnt make sense. We can, however, ask for anointing prayer. We can ask for our brothers and sisters in Christ to lay aside their assumptions and rest their hands upon us. We can ask for that. We can ask for help.
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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Anxiety
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or CBT is considered to be one of the leading psychological treatments for anxiety. All of our online courses use CBT strategies to help ease symptoms of anxiety and depression. Click below to see if CBT can help you tackle your symptoms to improve the way you feel.
Self-Help Strategies for Controlling Anxiety & Reducing Stress
Cognitive Strategies
People with generalised anxiety disorder often overestimatethe likelihood of bad things happening and underestimatetheir ability to cope. They can also be more prone to negative and self-critical thinking. Cognitive strategies help people identify and challenge these kinds of thoughts, and learn new, more helpful ways of thinking. In doing so, these strategies help can people feel more confident, resilient, and grounded.
Behavioural Strategies
A key feature of anxiety is avoidance. Avoidance is when you miss out on fun or important experiences because of the anxiety that these experiences trigger. For example, saying no to a party because youre worried that people there will judge you, avoiding the outdoors because youre afraid of spiders, or not even applying for that new job because youre afraid of rejection.
Because avoidance deprives you of the chance to have fun, connect with other people, achieve things, and overcome your fears, it keeps anxiety going. Behavioural strategies therefore target avoidance. For example:
Coping With Symptoms of Anxiety & Excessive Worry
What Makes You Afraid
Lots of things make us feel afraid. Being afraid of some things like fires can keep you safe. Fearing failure can make you try to do well so that you wont fail, but it can also stop you doing well if the feeling is too strong.
What youre afraid of and how you act when youre afraid of something can vary per person. Just knowing what makes you afraid and why can be the first step to sorting out problems with fear.
How can we manage and reduce stress? Our free downloadable pocket guide offers you 101 tips: www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/how-to-stress.
Also Check: How To Treat Morning Anxiety
What Are The Signs Of Anxiety
Anxiety is a natural reaction to stress or threat. In fact, it’s likely a hard-wired safety response part of the “fight or flight” instinct. When we or someone we care about is at risk, our brain prioritizes the danger and focuses its energy on beating it.
Complex thinking processes are shut down to allow us to concentrate on the danger at hand. Meanwhile, signals go out to our body to prepare for action. Our breathing quickens, our heart starts pumping faster, sending more blood to our muscles as we prepare to fight or flee. Both the mind and body adapt in order to give us the best chance of surviving until the danger passes.
However, the same responses can be triggered when there is no immediate physical danger. Just thinking about a threat, past or future, can be enough to activate intense anxiety. And this can mean that there’s also no clear end point to the threat, so all these anxious feelings can persist. In these circumstances, anxiety can evolve into something thats problematic.
Feeling a little anxious before a big exam, for example, might focus your mind and energize you to give your best performance on the day. But if it becomes too much, it could make you feel sick, prevent you from sleeping properly, and leave you with a shaky hand and a wandering mind when the exam begins.
Later in this article we’ll explore ways to manage anxious situations like this.
Warning:
Seek The Trio Of Counsel
There are three professionals you need to meet in order to combat anxiety. Your doctor, your counselor, and your pastor. Once youve visited your doctor to find out if its a chemical imbalance in your brain, the next step is your Pastor for spiritual guidance, accountability, and prayer. The next professional is a critical: A Biblical Counselor. Cognitive talk therapy based on Biblical Christian values is important. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness , todays treatments for mental illnesses are 70% to 90% effective for reducing symptoms and improving quality of life. The NIMH also states that early identification is paramount. It reduces the risk of further harm to the brain. Early intervention also produces faster healing.
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When Should I Seek Professional Help For My Anxious Child
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics and our experts, you should consult a psychologist or psychiatrist with experience treating children with an anxiety disorder when the childs behavior or anxiety:
- Disrupts the household and interferes with family activities and life
- When the child gets upset multiple times a day or week
- When the frequency and intensity of the fears escalate .
- When the anxiety leads to significant avoidance behavior. The child continually and consistently makes excuses to avoid school or other situations that may provoke anxiety.
- When the disorder is making it difficult for the child to interact with, make or keep friends.
- When sleep habits are disrupted
- When you begin to see compulsive behaviors and rituals such as repeated hand washing, counting, checking things and when the child refuses or is unable to leave the house without performing these rituals.
- When your child shows a pattern of physical symptoms that are disruptive and detrimental to the child
- When your child experiences panic attacks characterized by heart palpitations, sweating, nausea, hyperventilation.