by Sherie Winslow Fourteen million Americans suffer from some degree of anxiety, with unpleasant sensations ranging from a generalized chronic feeling of unease to intense panic and fear.
Those who suffer from anxiety constantly feel that something bad is going to happen at any moment. Fears are often related to concerns about physical illness, which are then reinforced by the symptoms of chronic anxiety. Sleep is often disturbed, with inability to relax and sleep through the night without waking.
Common symptoms can include heart palpitations, tightness in the chest, muscle tension in the back and neck, and hyperventilation, as well as digestive disturbances, dryness of the mouth, dizziness, and sweating.
Taken to the extreme, anxiety can produce what are known as "panic attacks" as generalized fear takes over. Hyperventilation, with its rapid and shallow breathing, causes the level of carbon dioxide in the blood to drop, which then causes numbness of extremities, muscle tension, and faintness. The "fight or flight" syndrome kicks in, and massive amounts of adrenaline are injected into a system that´s already stressed.
Worse, anxiety and panic attacks frequently run in a cycle: Generalized anxiety can be pushed to the level of a full panic attack when the mind and body is already greatly stressed; fear of future panic attacks keeps the level of anxiety high, which increases the likelihood that another panic attack will be triggered. Typically, panic attacks result in fear of open places or being alone -- agoraphobia. Those who suffer from these attacks can literally remain housebound out of fear that an attack will incapacitate them while they´re in public.
Worse still, those who have successfully reduced their panic attacks and tackled the sources of their anxiety are greatly upset to find the pattern returning, sometimes years later and long after the original source of anxiety is gone.
It´s Not All In Your Mind
Anxiety is a physical response to chemical infusion in the body -- lactate, or lactic acid, is the culprit.
During exercise, the muscles would prefer to burn fat for energy. With exercise that's too strenuous, there isn't enough oxygen to burn fat, and the muscles must burn glucose instead, turning the glucose into pyruvic acid. The pyruvic acid is converted to lactic acid -- which is what causes muscle soreness after strenuous exercise.
Those who suffer from chronic anxiety and panic attacks are found to have a greatly elevated level of lactic acid compared to that of pyruvic acid. This accounts for the muscle tension that is always present in anxiety.
Dietary Factors
Six dietary factors have been identified as being responsible for elevated lactic acid to pyruvic acid ratios:
- Sugar
- Caffeine
- Food allergies
- Alcohol
- B-vitamin deficiency
- Calcium or magnesium deficiency
Anxiety symptoms can be alleviated or lessened by making dietary changes.
- Decreasing the amount of caffeine consumed seems almost too easy -- cliche advice you'd hear from your physician. But a scientific study showed that avoiding caffeine for only a week brought significant reduction of symptoms in those who had suffered from anxiety or panic attacks. These same patients had only received minimal help from drug treatment. The relief during the study was so great that participants chose to continue abstaining from caffeine.
- Deficiency in alpha-linolenic acid -- an essential omega-3 fatty acid -- was found to be present in patients who had suffered from agoraphobia for 10 years or more. Adding a small amount of flaxseed oil to the daily diet reduced not only the panic symptoms, but the dry skin, brittle nails, and dandruff that is common in patients who are deficient in essential fatty acid.
Lifestyle Changes are Needed, Too
Making adjustments in your diet can bring considerable relief for those who suffer from anxiety, but it's not the whole solution. Lifestyle changes are needed to complete the transformation from anxiety-ridden to calm. Center yourself. Daily meditation and breathing exercises can help you break out of the anxiety routine. Identify the source of stress. Get to the bottom of what's troubling you. Learn to manage time more effectively. If you're not rushed, you're less likely to become anxious. Exercise. All of your bodily systems and functions will benefit from a regular pattern of workouts. Don't Stop Taking Your Medication
Warning: If you are currently taking medication for anxiety, consult your doctor before reducing your dosage. It can be extremely dangerous to suddenly quit taking anxiety medication. A doctor's supervision is necessary. Copyright 2000 Sherie Winslow
First seen on AOL AltMed - reproduced by permission.
