All In Your Head? Volume Two: PANIC and ANXIETY

If not, at least you have achieved five minutes of work. Be kind to yourself — but disciplined. It is easy to become your own worst enemy. Accept that things are tough right now and think about how you can work with your brain to make things happen. Moderate your caffeine and alcohol intake. Excessive caffeine increases symptoms of anxiety and although alcohol is a relaxant it may not help the next day.

Remember you are not alone. Everyone else may look as if they are coping fine but many of them are struggling too.

Follow a healthy routine of eating, sleeping and exercise. Even 30 minutes walking a day can reduce anxiety. Disrupted sleeping and eating are classic accompaniments to anxiety and can create a vicious cycle.

If this is happening, seek help. Topics Students Use your head. Advice for students Higher education Mental health Neuroscience sponsored features. Essentially, all the important functions of the body! So how do these little buggers do that? By producing hundreds of chemical neurotransmitters, including one you may have heard of before — serotonin.

And studies have shown that those who are deficient in serotonin are more likely to be depressed and suffer from anxiety and panic attacks. So if you have a gut bacterial imbalance, you may not be receiving an appropriate amount of serotonin to regulate your physiological and mental systems.

Modern lifestyle might have done a number on your gut, but you can reverse that damage. This includes healing your gut, improving your serotonin levels and getting your anxiety back under control. Eat a wholesome, real food diet with lots of vegetables.

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Years of poor diet, medications and environmental toxins altered your bacteria. Eat more fermented foods to introduce good bacteria to your gut. Chronic stress has damaged your gut to the same degree as toxic food. Practice relaxation techniques such as meditation and yoga. You can conquer your anxiety. Just focus on simple tweaks that will heal your gut and improve your overall wellness. Baby steps will get you quite far. I also no longer get seasonal allergies interesting side effect, eh?

And the cherry on top? The gut-brain axis is back in full working order!

Have you ever had a panic attack? What did you did you do to overcome it? Share in the comments below! Your email address will not be published. I had a hypothesis and you confirmed it. I was reading the GAPs book by Campbell but she never went into panic attacks but i just assumed.

My problem is i go through one and when i calm down i feel like apart of me didnt come back. Basically like im still in the panic attack mind set. Maybe anxious of starting it again. Thats my only stress. Everything you explained is like me. I dont know what that is but i have been apathetic and un motivated to things i once did and i cant concentrate to make myself snap out of it and study my bible or go hiking.

I can definitely understand the stress that comes with panic attacks. I wish you the best! I feel exactly like you just explained. I get so down on myself for not trusting God or having the mind of Christ. I have totally changed my diet and hoping it works. Left untreated, those anxieties can go on for months and years.

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We all avoid things we fear or dislike: Anxieties start to strip away the things that do. People with an airplane phobia may, similarly, limit their travel to only places they can drive. People with big dreams may sometimes settle for smaller ones because their anxiety holds them back. Ultimately, an anxiety disorder may become so severe that the basic business of living becomes compromised. Schoolwork and job performance may suffer because perfectionism makes it impossible to complete a project or because social anxiety makes it impossible to talk to classmates or colleagues.

Things become worse when emotional symptoms lead to physical ones such as headaches, loss of appetite and sleeplessness. Anxiety responds well to professional care. Treatment may include psychotropic medications like Zoloft or Prozac, which can at least lower the voltage of the pain. That may make it easier to embrace and practice the techniques of cognitive behavioral therapy, in which people learn to talk back to their anxiety, reframe their fears to something less extreme, and practice self-soothing techniques like mindfulness or distraction or breathing.