Stress and Anxiety

By Dr. Edward F. Group III, DC, ND, DACBN
updated on 11/19/2007 at 03:03PM

Stress affects our bodies both physically and mentally. It can lead to the development of health problems such as headaches, upset stomach, rashes, insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke, as well as depression, and other mental health conditions. Anxiety, or excess fear and worrying, can lead to stress and vice versa. The remedy for both of these conditions involves learning new and better ways to handle stressful or anxiety producing situations before they become a problem.

How Do You Cope With Stress and Anxiety?

Your ability to cope with stressful and anxiety inducing situations will determine the toll they take on your life. And contrary to popular belief, your coping skills are not genetic, they're learned. Just because your mother was a worrier, doesn't mean that you have to be one too. It just means that your mother never learned good coping skills, and she passed along her unhealthy skills to you. But you can break the cycle by recognizing your unhealthy coping techniques and learning other ways to handle the stress and anxiety in your life.

Scientists have studied the effectiveness of different methods for dealing with stressful and anxious situations. Research has shown that those with the best response to stress and anxiety know how to take responsibility, take action, seek advice and support, express their feelings, stay confident, and learn from their mistakes. In contrast, those with the poorest responses to stress become hostile and aggressive, self-blaming and blaming of others, indecisive, they ignore their problems, bottle their emotions, give up, and overindulge in food, drink, cigarettes, or other substances.

Are You Overwhelmed By Stress and Anxiety?

People who are regularly overwhelmed by stress and anxiety tend to display a variety of signs and symptoms. Check the following list to see if any of these behaviors sound familiar.

Walking, eating or working in a rushed manner
Dwelling on thoughts about past mistakes or stresses
Focusing on events that might happen in the future
Frequent tension in the body
Short-tempered or often on edge
Constantly exhausted or fatigued

Managing Stress and Anxiety

If stress and anxiety are becoming overwhelming factors in your life, it's time to learn some new techniques for managing the situations that are causing you problems.
Identify Your Triggers

What is the source of your stress or anxiety? If you need to, sit down and make a list of the things, situations, or people that have become distressing to you. What's your reaction to the stress and anxiety they generate in your life? How does it make you feel physically? Emotionally?

Choose To Change

Take a look at your list and determine where you can make changes to eliminate or reduce stress and anxiety. Can you avoid the stressor? Or somehow shorten your exposure? If not, then you may need to learn new techniques to manage your reactions to it.

Take Care of Yourself

If you are trying to cope with a stressful or anxiety producing situation, the best thing you can do is to take care of yourself physically. Eat well-balanced and nutritious meals to ensure that your body is getting the vitamins and nutrients it needs to stay healthy. And make exercise a priority. Exercise is a great way to relieve stress, divert your thoughts, and keep your body healthy. Avoid using nicotine, excessive caffeine, and other stimulants, as these can aggravate the symptoms of stress and anxiety.

Relax

Practice relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, progressive relaxation, yoga, tai-chi, or massage to reduce stress and relieve tension. If you work on these techniques everyday, you will be better prepared to handle stressful and anxiety producing situations as they arise.

Get Help

Stay connected with friends and family. Your social network can help you through rough times by offering emotional support and possibly even helping to alleviate some of your daily tasks and responsibilities. If necessary, seek the advice of a professional counselor or mental health specialist to help you learn how to identify the source of your stress and anxiety and better ways to cope with it.

Help Others

Helping others can be an extremely gratifying way to reduce stress and divert your thoughts from your own problems. It's also a good way to maintain and strengthen your support network and to help you put your own problems into perspective.

Let go

There are some things that you just cannot change. As difficult as it may seem, learning to let go is one of the best ways for reducing stress and anxiety in your life.