Generalized Anxiety Disorder Symptoms

If you’ve been diagnosed by your doctor with general anxiety disorder, don’t convince yourself that you have a clinical illness—you don’t. This disorder doesn’t mean that you have a physical or mental illness. Your brain is fine, and your body is fine. You’re suffering from a sensitized, anxious state.

You have probably come across this list of generalized anxiety disorder symptoms many times before.

• Nausea
• Dizziness
• Exhaustion
• Vision problems
• Cramps
• Intrusive thoughts
• Feelings of unreality and depression
• Sleep disturbance
• Difficulty concentrating or mind going blank

But what do these symptoms really mean?

When talking generalized anxiety disorder symptoms, we are really talking about fear manifesting in different forms. Fear cuts us off from life. It takes us out of our natural God given flow and into a stagnant state where we feel removed from the world around us.

Imagine life as a fast flowing river heading towards the sea. Fear is an obstruction in that river causing stagnant pools of water, where life no longer flourishes. The manifestation of that fear can be generalized anxiety disorder symptoms.

In order to end these symptoms, you need to remove those obstructions from your life and restore your natural flow.

Things that hold those obstructions in place are things like overreacting to the symptoms of anxiety. Panic Away will teach you exactly that. The more you can learn to not react to the symptoms the more you find yourself in that flow. It involves making very small changes in key areas of your life that will nudge you from fear, back into life.

Finding Natural Anxiety Relief

Even when you’ve made significant changes to your lifestyle and have accepted the fact that you experience panic and anxiety attacks, a panic attack can happen at any time and throw you for a loop.

Many people that experience panic attacks on a regular basis find it difficult to undertake new activities, maintain a healthy social life, and participate in activities that will improve their lifestyle because they are afraid of having another panic attack and being unable to cope with its effects.

The good news is, there are several ways to re-balance or “ground” yourself after a panic attack naturally, and you can practice these strategies so that having a panic attack is no longer something you fear – this is natural anxiety relief at its best.

One of the best ways to cope after a panic attack is to allow yourself to feel anxious. Do not beat yourself up for having a panic attack. Tell yourself that you are perfectly safe and that it is normal to feel anxious for a few hours after an attack. We want to stimulate natural anxiety relief and to achieve that you need to process the anxiety by moving with it, not against it.

Take several deep breathes and find yourself a quiet and calm place to sit down and relax for a few minutes. After a panic attack you must not focus on the feelings of fear but move your attention to the present moment. Focusing on the fear only makes you feel anxious longer so try your best to move your awareness elsewhere.

Tell yourself that your body is perfectly capable of handling this anxiety and that you have nothing to fear. The next time it happens you are going to move with the experience by not resisting it. Moving with the fear dramatically reduces its impact and is the most effective way to end anxiety naturally.

You want to do everything possible to calm your nervous system and stimulate natural anxiety relief. Pay attention to what you are eating for the rest of the day, so that you can ward off high levels of anxiety. It is important to avoid consuming alcohol, coffee, or sugary foods and drinks after a panic attack.

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Simple Ways to Overcome a Fear of Driving

Many people who have generalized anxiety disorder, and those that experience high levels of anxiety or panic attacks on a regular basis, struggle with sustaining a productive and balanced lifestyle. Simple activities such as driving a car or going shopping can create very strong feelings of anxiety, and may even lead to a panic attack. A fear of driving or driving phobia is a common side effect of anxiety disorders for many people, but there are some ways to overcome it so that day-to-day living doesn’t become so overwhelming.

Driving phobia is defined as an intense fear of driving a motorized vehicle. Some people develop driving phobia after they have been in an accident, but others develop this intense fear of driving a motor vehicle for no specific reason at all.

It doesn’t really matter what causes driving phobia in your particular situation. The best way to overcome it is to address that you have it, and use some specific anxiety reduction techniques that will help you reduce or eliminate your fear of the activity, naturally.

I talk more about effective anxiety reduction strategies and techniques in my book, Panic Away. You can use some of these techniques to overcome a driving phobia. Here are some tips for overcoming driving phobia:

1. Allow yourself to feel anxious. Do not beat yourself up if you start to feel anxious. Expect it and then when it arrives do not fight against it. Allowing the anxiety to be present with you on your journey stops the internal conflict.

2. Practice deep breathing before you get in the car. Undertake some deep breathing exercises to clear your mind and increase oxygen to the brain. When you’re feeling fearful, your breathing may be shallow and this can trigger more anxiety.

3. Avoid caffeine or sugary foods before driving. Stimulants may keep you awake, but they can also trigger a panic attack and increase anxiety.

4. Practice in a comfortable and safe setting. If you’re fearful about driving on the freeway for an extended period of time, practice driving on an open stretch during non-peak driving hours like a sunday so you become more familiar and comfortable with the territory.

5. Remember you can always pull over. If you start to feel overwhelmed, remember that you can always pull to the side of the road to take a break. This can help you overcome driving phobia and the extreme level of anxiety you feel about the situation.

6 Tips for Anxiety Free Sleep

If falling asleep has become one of the most challenging parts of your day, you’re not alone. Thousands of people that suffer from anxiety and panic attacks find it very difficult to end their day comfortably and may not be getting enough high quality sleep on a regular basis.

Sleep deprivation not only makes you more irritable and tired the following day, but may also be the reason why you’re experiencing high levels of anxiety on a regular basis.

Fortunately, there are some ways to sleep better tonight, and every night. I talk more about ways to break out of an unhealthy sleep deprivation cycle in my book, Panic Away.

Here are some other ways you can encourage deep sleep and get the much-needed rest you need:

1. Don’t force it. Try and avoid thinking about not being able to sleep when you’re tossing and turning at night, and just relax. Say to yourself “If I sleep I sleep great -if not I will always manage”. Forcing sleep is more than likely to backfire and make you feel more anxious about your situation.

2. Exercise more. Exercising regularly is a proven way to enjoy deeper sleep. Try exercising in the early morning or late afternoon so that it’s easier to wind down near the end of the day.

3. Steer clear of caffeine, alcohol and soft drinks. These substances can compromise the quality of sleep you can enjoy on a regular basis.

4. Practice deep relaxation exercises. Take the time to meditate or do some type of light stretching exercise before bed so that you can induce a state of deep relaxation. This will help you enjoy a better quality of sleep more consistently.

5.Have a warm bath 20 minutes before bed. Add several drops of lavender oil to help your muscles relax.

6. Maintain a regular sleep schedule. Try and go to bed and wake up at the same time so your body adapts to a healthy cycle.