Are you Worrying yourself Sick?
Chronic fretting can compromise your health and happiness
. Here's how to get it under control - for good.
Ten years ago, Lori, a speech pathologist, was grocery shopping when she suddenly couldn't breathe or swallow. My heart was racing and my chest felt tight - I thought I was having a heart attack,' says the 42-year-old mother of four. The symptoms lasted several minutes before finally letting up. Lori took a deep breath and brushed off the incident as a one-time occurrence; she had to pick up the kids from daycare and didn't have time for a trip to the doctor.
But over the next month, Lori experienced several more attacks. When she realized the problem wasn't going to go away, she consulted a doctor. He diagnosed her with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) with panic attacks. GAD is a condition of debilitating worry that affects million every year.
I'd always fretted over my family's wellbeing,' says Lori. But it never occurred to me that doing so could affect my own.' Lori's experience is especially common among women. Global studies indicate nearly one in three women will suffer from an anxiety disorder at some point in her lifetime.
The median onset age of anxiety disorders is 32, and only 16 percent of people seek medical treatment. In addition to GAD, anxiety disorders can take the form of panic disorder (which is panic attacks that recur for more than a month), social anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and phobias.
And while it's no surprise that persistent fretting cripples us emotionally, clouding our thoughts and draining us of energy and joy, it also takes a physical toll, as the body reacts to perceived dangers by releasing a flood of stress hormones. Your heart rate and blood pressure spike, while other functions, such as digestion, slow down. Over the long haul, exposure to these bodily chemicals can set the stage for insomnia, irritable bowel syndrome, and heart and lung disease.
While experts aren't exactly sure what makes certain people to experience anxiety, they say genes may be partly to blame. Research reveals some brains may be pre-disposed to overreact to potential threats. But even if you're a natural-born fretter, you can break free from the worry cycle and prevent it from ruling your life.
By gauging your level of anxiety and then learning ways to calm your mind, you can add years - not to mention tranquility - to your life.
Unfortunately, anxiety disorders are often not properly treated. One reason is that the main warning sign - worry - is a natural emotion that most of us encounter on a regular basis. After all, who hasn't felt anxiety before an interview, or obsessed about not turning off the oven after leaving the house?
While it's true that a certain amount of anxiety is healthy (it serves as the body's alarm system, alerting us to danger and spurring us into action), the problem is that many of us worry too frequently. At the slightest hint of a threat, we immediately conjure up catastrophic thoughts or wonder What if?' for hours.
Women frequently use worrying as a way to gain some sense of control. They mistakenly believe it helps them prepare for disaster. But all that time and energy is usually wasted. Researchers from Australia and New Zealand found that worrying can actually hinder our ability to resolve problems.
To determine if your fretting is over the top, ask yourself what's making you anxious. Are your worries justified or exaggerated? Most women, for instance, would be concerned about their financial future if the stock market took another nose dive. But if you have a healthy savings account, a secure career, and an affordable mortgage and you still stay up at night wondering if you'll wind up homeless, it may signal an anxiety disorder.
Stopping the Cycle
Once you've established that the emotion is getting the better of you, it's time to start reigning in those thoughts. The way to do that is by reprogramming your habits. In a US study of adults with a tendency to fret, researchers found that people who don't allow their anxiety to escalate lived longer than those who do.
Are you Worrying yourself Sick?
By: Sandra Prior
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