Feeling anxious every once in a while and having an anxiety disorder are two very different things. When you have an anxiety disorder, you can become fixated on a thought or feeling that leads you down a rabbit hole of anxious thoughts. While there are different types of anxiety disorders, a common thread between them all is that it interferes with your daily life. Here are four signs that may signal you are dealing with an anxiety disorder.
Your Anxious Thoughts Don't Go Away
When you have an anxiety disorder, you often become incredibly anxious in situations where others might only get a little anxious, like during family gatherings. This anxiety also tends to last longer and is more persistent. When your anxious thoughts start to impact your daily life, that's when it becomes an issue.
Your Anxiety Manifests Itself Physically
If your anxious thoughts are accompanied by physical conditions, like restlessness, fatigue, and muscle pain, among others, it could signal that you have an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders can lead to gastrointestinal issues, like heartburn, cramping, and even diarrhea. These physical symptoms are as a result of your body being in a constant heightened state of anxiety.
You Can't Focus
It isn't that uncommon for people who have a general anxiety disorder to be mistakenly diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This is because when you have an anxiety disorder, you tend to have difficulty focusing. When you're always anxious, you tend to be in your head constantly and can get distracted by the negative thoughts and obsessions rattling around in your head. To an outsider, it looks like you have ADHD.
You Have Trouble Sleeping
The anxiety that you experience tends to take your thoughts on a ride that leaves you struggling to catch some zzz's. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), some level of sleep disruption is present in almost all mental disorders, including anxiety.
If you have more than one of these symptoms, there's a good chance that you might be dealing with an anxiety disorder. However, before you jump to any conclusions, it's best to speak with your doctor to rule out any other conditions, because anxiety symptoms often mimic other medical conditions. Fortunately, anxiety disorders can be treated so that you can learn to manage your symptoms and get back to living your life.
When excessive fears and worries plague you, it is critical to figure out what you can do to stop the anxiety so that it doesn't completely take over your life. If you have an anxiety disorder, it's essential that you find simple strategies that can help you manage or reduce your anxiety.
Here are five things that you can do now to help stop your anxiety before it gets out of control.
Understand the Anatomy of Your Anxiety
When you understand what your anxiety attack is, what causes them, and how your body responds, you can keep from becoming scared of the symptoms. When you can become unafraid of your anxiety symptoms, you can quickly put a stop to them when your mind starts to race with anxious thoughts. Knowledge is power, and the more you can understand your anxiety, the faster you can stop it from controlling your life.
Stop Scaring Yourself
Fear is the most common culprit behind anxiety. When you can refuse to allow, yourself to become scared you can effectively remove the primary reason for your anxiety. When you eliminate fear from your life, you can gain more control of your body's emergency response system and take control of your anxiety.
Calm Yourself
Being able to calm yourself down helps to shut off the mechanism in your brain that causes anxiety attacks and ends your body's stress response. The more you can calm yourself down, the faster you can stop the anxiety attack and start to feel better. A sure way to end, control, and prevent future panic attacks is to find out ways to calm yourself down.
Distract Yourself
Most anxiety attacks are caused and fueled by anxious thoughts. When you can distract your attention, you can effectively prevent anxious thoughts from taking over. As you prevent your thoughts from turning anxious, you can also put an end to voluntary anxiety attacks.
Know That Anxiety Attacks End
No matter how powerful an anxiety attack can be, it will always end. While you can stop them faster by implementing some of the above techniques and methods, you have to remember that all anxiety attacks will end. Riding out the anxiety attack and knowing that it will end, can help you to stay calm and shut off the stress response and anxiety attack.
You don't need to suffer needlessly. You can eliminate your anxiety attacks naturally with these simple tips.
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