If you suffer from anxiety you are not alone. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that about 19% of US adults suffer from some form of anxiety. If we include depression with anxiety the incidence has risen from 11% in 2019 to close to 40%.
The cause of this rising anxiety gives us clues as to how to solve the problem.
Take a look at what is happening in our world and it is easy to understand the rising incidence of anxiety. Our world is filled with more uncertainty than ever before and coupled with the fear that comes with that the result is rising anxiety.
Think of anxiety as the body’s natural response to the stresses of uncertainty, fear, along with all kinds of trauma. The response is in the nervous system so that is where we will go to control and solve the problem.
Here’s a social media post I did on The Anxiety Epidemic
Anxiety isn’t limited to adults either. Here are a few startling statistics on anxiety:
- 27.3% of American adults have anxiety problems.
- 41.7% of young adults (18 to 29 years) suffer from anxiety.
- 36% of teens experienced higher anxiety levels during the pandemic.
- 31% of college students have an anxiety diagnosis.
- The prevalence of anxiety disorders in the US is higher in women at 30.8% than in men at 23.5%.
- 94% of the workers feel stressed out at work.
- The COVID-19 pandemic caused a 25% increase in anxiety prevalence.
- Only 36.9% seek treatment for anxiety disorders.
Take Control of Your Anxiety
Anxiety arises in response to events that have already taken place or largely in response to events and conditions out of our control. If we look at how anxiety arises we get clues as to how to approach it.
Like over 90% of all other illnesses and diseases we can trace anxiety back to stress. Anxiety is a natural response of the nervous system to stress that exceeds our ability to process it. Since this stress has already occurred or is out of our ability to control it the best approach to control anxiety is to improve our ability to handle the stress that results in anxiety.
The Nervous System and Stress
The Autonomic division of the nervous system responds to the demands of stress in our life. It is composed of 2 parts, the Sympathetic ‘Fight-or-Flight’ System and the Parasympathetic ‘Vagal’ System.
The Sympathetic System is our survival system. It reacts to any real or perceived threat and mobilizes the body’s energy and resources toward one goal, survival. This worked great when the threats were real and infrequent. In modern life we are exposed to a daily onslaught of perceived threats.
This means the Sympathetic System is repeatedly activated. The more it is activated the more it takes over control of the nervous system resulting in a range of effects:
- Increased heart rate and blood pressure
- Rapid and shallow breathing
- Increased muscle tension and pain
- Impaired digestion
- Poor quality sleep
- Increased inflammation
Over time this can manifest as anxiety. This overactivity of the Sympathetic System suppresses the activity of the Vagus Nerve of the Parasympathetic System. An anxiety attack or panic attack is an acute episode of Sympathetic overactivity.
A few of the more commons symptoms of an Anxiety Attack or Panic Attack are:
- Shortness of breath
- Heart palpitations
- Uncontrollable thoughts
- Feelings of panic
- Light headedness
- Rapid heartbeat
- Chest pain
- Feelings of doom
Take Control of Anxiety Attacks & Panic Attacks
The goal in controlling anxiety attacks and panic attacks is to take back control of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). This will help you in the event you feel an attack coming on or are already in the midst of an attack. The very same principle holds for the long term control of anxiety and panic.
The difficulty breathing and shortness of breath arise from sympathetic nervous system activation and once they start it can be difficult to change course. The answer lies in shifting the balance in your ANS from the sympathetic system to your Vagus Nerve.
The number one thing to do to control anxiety attacks and panic attacks is to activate the Vagus Nerve. Let’s explore how:
The more the Sympathetic ‘Fight-or-Flight’ System gets activated the more active it becomes and the more it suppresses the Vagus Nerve. An anxiety or panic attack is an acute over-activation of the sympathetic system.
The goal in reducing anxiety and panic attacks is to raise the tone or activity of the Vagus Nerve. You can’t really lower the Sympathetic System directly. Let’s go over how to control anxiety attacks.
Acute Anxiety Attack and Panic Attack First Aid:
An acute anxiety attack is accompanied by a change of breathing where breathing gets more rapid, more shallow, and takes place in the upper chest and shoulders. This causes your body to expel too much carbon dioxide which in turn reduces your ability to deliver oxygen to your body. Even though you are breathing more you feel panicked and starved for oxygen.
Cup both hands over your mouth and nose and slow your breathing down as slow as you can. Use your hands to seal your nose and mouth as much as possible. Breathe in and out of your nose as slowly as possible for 5 minutes.
You will experience a fairly rapid and progressive easing up of the anxiety attack. By doing this you are actually raising your blood C02 levels which releases more oxygen into your body.
Control Your Anxiety and Anxiety Attacks:
The long term solution has the same goal as the short term first aid. You want to raise the tone of your Vagus Nerve which will lower the activity and sensitivity of your Sympathetic System. This is a long term approach. You will want to take time daily to activate your Vagus Nerve.
The more you activate your Vagus Nerve the easier it becomes to activate it and it becomes your default state rather than the ‘fight-or-flight’ state.
Activate your Vagus Nerve by:
- Nasal Breathing. Breathe in and out through your nose whenever you are not eating, drinking, or talking. This alone will start to activate the Vagus Nerve and is a prerequisite for more focused Vagus Nerve exercises.
- Diaphragmatic Breathing. When you breathe the only significant movement should take place in your lower ribs and abdomen. Stand in front of the bathroom mirror and take a few breaths in and out. Do you see your upper chest, shoulders, or neck moving? If so you are chest breathing.
Start lying on your back and put your hands or a book on your abdomen just below your ribs. Breathe in through your nose and focus the motion to that area. When you can do it lying down, try sitting, and then standing.
- Vagus Nerve Breathing. There are a number of Vagus Nerve Breathing practices. They all have a few commonalities. All involve breathing in through your nose. All involve slowing the breathing down. All involve breathing lightly with decreased air per breath. Here is a good place to start.
- 1:2 Breathing: double your exhale relative to your inhale. Try a 3 second inhale with a 6 second exhale to start. Do this for a couple of minutes.
- Box Breathing: keep the ratio the same for inhale, hold in, exhale, hold out. Then repeat. For example; 3 second inhale, 3 second hold, 3 second exhale, 3 second hold out.
Anxiety, anxiety attacks, and panic attacks all become a pattern due to a neurological principle referred to as “Neurons that fire together, wire together”. Some trauma, stress, or likely repeated stress activated the anxiety response.
The solution is to wire another response. This is a process and all processes take time. You must commit to daily practice to overcome the existing anxiety and panic response. Notice how you feel before and immediately after the breathing practices. Keep it up.
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