I can’t even count the amount of times I’ve heard someone unhappy with the idea of trying to breathe to manage anxiety or stress. It’s usually because what they’ve heard or learnt about breathing is incorrect- which is why it hasn’t helped.
Apprehensive worry involves worrying about the future, and it typically consists of focusing on worst-case scenarios. You see it all play out in your head: how making a necessary comment to your boss then somehow leads to you losing your job; how a routine medical investigation then means you are facing a horrible health outcome; how going for a job interview will result in rejection and humiliation; how spending time with your friends will somehow lead to everyone hating you. When you’re facing something that makes you a little anxious, it’s easy for your thoughts to take you to the worst-case scenarios, which will make you a lot anxious. And then you go over and over all the bad things that could happen, so the anxiety sticks around far longer than what is helpful. Continue reading “Managing worry about the future”
It’s not easy being a woman. Continue reading “Judgement and Self-Doubt”
Panic attacks come on suddenly: sometimes in response to a clear trigger, sometimes after a build-up, and sometimes out of the blue. Continue reading “Understanding Panic”
Perinatal anxiety occurs during pregnancy or in the postnatal period (the first year after birth). Continue reading “Perinatal Anxiety: Symptoms, Risk Factors, and Treatment”
Anxiety: it’s so physical. Anxiety activates your body’s fight or flight response, Continue reading “Four physiology hacks for anxiety”
The Fight or Flight Response
Anxiety, fear, and stress all activate our body’s stress response, also called the ‘Fight or Flight’ response. This causes several physiological changes to help us respond to danger or a threat. Continue reading “Stress, fear, and anxiety”
