Anxiety is your body’s response to stress. It’s natural in many ways. But, if you suffer from an anxiety disorder, it can completely take over and make you feel overreactive.

The symptoms of anxiety include everything from sweaty palms and trembling to a racing heart, digestive upset, and shortness of breath. Additionally, you may find it hard to concentrate as your mind keeps pulling you back to obsess about your problem or body sensation.

As scary and uncomfortable as this can be, it may surprise you that your body is reacting this way in an effort to help and protect you! So, while the body’s natural response to stress is meant to protect you, it can easily and quickly get out of hand.

If you’re dealing with an anxiety disorder, self-education and professional help are vital. Anxiety doesn’t go away on its own. Information and support can make all the difference.

So, Why Are You So Jumpy?

In short, your “Cave Man Brain” is responding because it thinks you are in danger. It is activating you to MOVE – fight, run, hide (the fight-or-flight response). In fact, this highly desirable when life and death are on the line. In ancient history, most of our threats were in fact life-threatening (obtaining food and shelter, watching the horizon for storm clouds or warring tribes approaching, etc).

Fast forward a few million years, and our modern world has a very different kind of stress. We worry about paying our bills, impressing our boss, juggling competing pressures for our time, etc. But our nervous system doesn’t know the difference and interprets all stress as urgent, life-threatening cues that require a call to action.

Let’s look a bit closer at how anxiety impacts our nervous systems:

1. Anxiety Activates Our Stress Response

Often referred to as the “fight or flight response”, the stress response is activated when stress hormones are released in our bodies. The response is immediate and creates distinct physiological, mental, and emotional shifts in the affected person. Once activated, we experience heightened senses and a highly stimulated nervous system. You can feel this response today in situations such as stepping off a curb and seeing a car speeding towards you – you are glad to have an immediate push of adrenaline and increased heart rate to activate you to jump back and avoid being hit!

2. Our Stress Response Becomes Hyper-stimulation

When our stress response is activated too often or too suddenly, our bodies have a difficult time clearing out the flood of stress hormones. Thus, we don’t really recover from the state of emergency created and our nervous systems can become “stuck” in that anxious state. If we remain semi-stimulated, we feel affected by hyper-sensitivity and reactivity that leads us to startle easily and  feel perpetually nervous or “on edge.”

In your everyday life, you may experience a significant impact on your senses. Auditory information, physical sensations, and even certain smells can be a source of further stimulation. If stimulation to our nervous system persists without relief, our bodies reactivity can become increasingly bothersome and interfere with our lives and relationships.

How Can You Find Relief for Anxiety?

Fortunately, there are coping mechanisms you can use on a daily basis to calm down and manage your anxiety.

Focusing On Breathing

When the body is stressed, it tends to take shorter, more rapid breaths. This only serves to cause more stress and anxiety, and can even make you feel more physical symptoms like dizziness.

If you feel a bout of anxiety coming on, try to focus on deep breathing. Inhale deeply for four counts, then exhale just as slowly. Not only will these slow, mindful breaths help you to calm down, but they can distract you from whatever trigger caused the anxious thoughts to begin with.

Keep a Journal

If you start to feel anxious, write down your thoughts and feelings.When you’re able to look back on your feelings, it can also be helpful to see just how far you’ve come. Sometimes, anxiety can be overwhelming when you feel like you’re not making any progress to get better.

Keeping a journal lets you see that progress in black and white. Writing down your thoughts also will help to distract you, allowing you to calm down faster.

Be More Mindful

Mindfulness takes time to fully embrace, but when you’re able to do it, it can be a big help with anxious thoughts. One way to get in the mood of mindfulness is to practice daily meditation.

Meditation doesn’t have to be something formal. If you allow yourself just 10-15 minutes a day to clear your head, focus on your breathing, and remain in the present moment, you’ll set a foundation for your day that will automatically help you to combat anxiety.

Where Can You Find Support?

Coping with anxiety is a long-term process. Reach out for relief and support.Therapy with an experienced and compassionate counselor or therapist can help you identify your triggers. It can also help you change the thought patterns that could be causing your worry.