Category: Mental Health

Body in Charge: Manage Anxiety by Managing Your Breath

meganmedinalpc

Yesterday, for my Body in Charge: Managing Anxiety series, I wrote about how cutting down on stimulant substances can improve anxiety symptoms. In today’s post, I’ll offer an even simpler strategy: breathe.

Because the mind and body are inextricably linked, they must work together as one. This is why, when our minds are hyperactivated with worry, our bodies tend to mimic the problem with hyperactivated physical symptoms: shallow breathing, overheatingA, rapid pulse, etc, even when we’re physically healthy. While it is sometimes difficult to control the mind when anxiety hits, it’s fairly simple to control the body through breathing, making it one of the most effective interventions in anxiety research.

It takes practice, but what many of my clients have discovered is that if they practice deep breathing during an anxiety episode, the body has no choice but to calm down, and the mind has no choice but to follow. Oxygenated blood and expanded airways will slow down the pulse, and help soothe a troubled mind and body,

And don’t just use it as an intervention! Deep breathing techniques work best when practiced regularly to decrease the severity of anxiety symptoms and ultimately prevent them! Try some of the following activities for a week or two and see if you notice a difference:

  1. Begin and end each day with a set of 10 long, deep breaths, holding the breath for a few seconds between inhalation and exhalation.
  2. Practice yoga breathing, or deep belly breathing, by inhaling air into the bottom of the lungs, so the belly poofs out when the lungs are full. (This takes practice!)
  3. When doing physical activity, check in with the body regularly to make sure you are breathing deeply.
  4. If you have an office job, or spend lots of time in front of the computer, set a timer to take frequent breaks so you can pause, sit back, and take a deep breath at regular intervals.
  5. Download a guided meditation app so you can take short lessons about breathing and mindfulness. (Some apps have meditations as short as 3 minutes, but you might find yourself wanting to do more!)
  6. Try a yoga or tai chi video on YouTube. They’re free, you don’t even need a mat, and the practice of slow movements coordinated with breathing will help you develop the habit of deep breathing.

All of these above activities are simple, effective, and proven ways to settle an anxious mind and body. And not only that, but they also work to improve your own sense of physical fitness and wellness.

Body in Charge: Managing Anxiety by Managing Substances

meganmedinalpc

Caffeine, pseudoephedrine, nicotine, even chocolate could be making your anxiety worse.

With Starbucks on every corner, pseudoephedrine in every allergy medication, and energy drinks becoming one of the most popular beverages in the US, stimulant consumption among most demographics in the US is at an all-time high. Most people talk about their reliance on these substances as if it’s a nutritional need: “I can’t even move until I’ve had my coffee,” is something we’ve all heard before. With stimulant consumption so normalized it’s no wonder anxiety rates have sky-rocketed in recent years.

Most people are so accustomed to the physiological effects of stimulants (raised pulse rate, shallow breathing, muscle tension, rapid thinking, etc.) that they hardly notice the them, and rarely consider their compounded effects. Hours, days, even weeks and months of stimulant consumption can accumulate until heightened activation of the body’s nervous system becomes the norm. Add in a few extra worries, and you’ve got the perfect habitat for a full-blown panic attack.

When a client comes to me with complaints about anxiety, one of the first things I assess is their level of stimulant consumption. Many times, after cutting out (or at least cutting down) the following items, they find their anxiety attacks disappear!

These are some of the things to decrease, or cut out of your system before any therapy for anxiety will be effective:

  1. Caffeine (coffee, teas, energy drinks, chocolate, especially if taken after lunch)
  2. Pseudoephedrine (often in cold and allergy products that have ‘D’ in the name, i.e. Allegra D)
  3. Sugar
  4. Some dietary supplements for mood or weight loss (often have caffeine or herbal stimulants)
  5. Ritalin, Adderall or other stimulants for ADD/ADHD (consult your doctor if this is prescribed. Your doctor may have other suggestions if you share your concerns about your anxiety symptoms.)
  6. Nicotine (cigarrettes, e-cigs such as Juuls, gums)
  7. Alcohol (a depressant, not a stimulant, alcohol can affect deep sleep REM cycles, making a person feel more tired, anxious, and depressed than they would be with some good night’s rest)

Cut out or cut down these substances, and you might see your anxiety symptoms decrease or disappear completely!