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De-Stressing
Daily Life
by RuthAnn Parvin, Ph.D. |
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In the past two years I have noticed that more people who consult me as a psychologist are experiencing panic attacks and anxiety that shows up in a variety of ways. In the area of sexual dysfunctions, the fastest growing problem is called hypoactive sexual desire, the lack of sexual desire, which is often blamed on the over scheduling of life that prevents a person from slowing down enough to feel sexual. The vast majority of people who go to the emergency room for a heart attack are actually experiencing a panic attack, a type of anxiety disorder where the person has heart palpitations, sweating, problems breathing, chest discomfort, and other frightening symptoms. If the hospital is unable to detect a problem with the heart, often counseling is recommended. People who come to my office for depression often have signs of anxiety: excessive worry, feeling keyed up or on edge, fatigue, irritability, tension, sleep problems, and having their mind go blank in the middle of a sentence. One of the common problems people with anxiety and depression often have is something I call "gerbil thoughts," thoughts that go round and round without resolving, like a gerbil on an exercise wheel. ^Top Sometimes they wake up in the middle of the night with these thoughts or feeling frightened. This is one cause of sleep disturbances. It is as though anxiety is the disorder of the final years of this millennium. At least part of the problem is our lifestyles and how we use our time. There is good stress and bad stress but both can be harmful to your health. Even wonderful things in our lives can be stressful--the birth of a child, a job promotion where there are new and greater responsibilities to handle, the visit of parents or adult children. I often have someone who is experiencing panic attacks who says that their life is going great-they have just achieved long held goals. They feel guilty for feeling anxious. Other stress is easily recognized as bad stress--loss of job, death of a friend or parent, an illness. ^Top When people are under stress there are physical changes that occur in the body. When the body believes it is in danger, it produces hormones that affect all parts of the body, including the immune system--the part of the body that protects us from illness. After adrenaline is released in the body as a reaction to stress, there are chemical by-products that are not good for our health. These toxins are normally released from the body through urine, sweat, and tears. However, modern life is such that many people feel they can't cry, don't have time to exercise and forget to go to the bathroom during the work day. When stress continues, a person can begin to develop an anxiety disorder where they become overwhelmed by fears and negative thoughts. Stress can increase
asthma attacks, colds, fever blisters, stomach acid, blood pressure and
other common health problems. There is even good research that shows that
cancer survivors live longer if they practice good stress reduction exercises.
^Top A Few Ways to Cut Down on Stress
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