To Make Sense Of The Fear

An anxiety condition usually presents itself with episodes of mild to extreme bouts of unexplainable fear. This is due to the body dealing with doses of adrenaline and cortisol which are usually released at times we’re not expecting. Unfortunately, we sometimes try to make sense of this fear by attaching our own fabricated reasons and thoughts to it. Mild fears such as going to the shops, or suffering from a persistent headache, become exaggerated fears which can be moulded to explain why we are feeling so anxious. Going to the shops suddenly becomes too dangerous, and the headache is the sign of a brain tumour. Furthermore, this unexplainable fear has been the reason why so many people have taken unnecessary trips to the emergency department, or rang for the emergency services because they are convinced they’re having a heart attack or that they’re going insane. We try to make sense of the fear by attaching a worst case scenario to explain it. This fear causes us to take up all sorts of irregular behaviours. This includes pacing around a room, finding it difficult to relax, scanning our body and environment for ’problems’ and trying to work out why we feel the way we do. The fear can also channel into a person’s fear of panic attacks. This is another example of applying reasons to attach to the fear as a means of making sense of it. The imbalance occurs as a result of a poor thought routine, which confuses the brain into thinking when and where is the best time to become ready to activate the ’fight or flight’ response.

Concentric Circles Of Ever Decreasing Size

This would explain why fear can suddenly overwhelm us from nowhere, or that we become unusually fearful of a circumstance that wouldn’t usually warrant such a response. Fear is one of the main barriers that can hinder a positive change when tackling anxiety. I unfortunately felt a degree of comfort knowing that anxiety was the only constant in my life. I felt that if I tried to change, or do things differently, than I would make my ’condition’ worse. Take note that this is completely irrational and borders on the absurd. Fear prevents you from doing things that you have learned to be dangerous. The feeling where breathing becomes an added effort and all of our attention is suddenly focused on our breathing. This can be misconceived as feeling like we’re not getting enough oxygen, or it can create a panic reaction because we question why we’re breathing so abnormally. Irregular breathing usually occurs when we feel panicky and anxious, but can also happen when we’re feeling physically encumbered by things such as stomach bloating or tiredness. Almost every anxiety sufferer has been concerned about breathing at some point when living with the condition. When we are anxious our heart rate usually increases, so to compensate for this we breathe in more oxygen. Throughout the day we begin to shallow breathe because the anxiety has caused us to take in more oxygen than what’s required.

What Goes On

However, many mistake this natural shallow breathing as the feeling that we’re not getting enough oxygen, so we then begin to breathe in more and we begin to hyperventilate. The body can’t produce the carbon dioxide it needs to get rid of in time so we can find ourselves hyperventilating for quite a while. During a panic attack it’s very common for someone to hyperventilate and it can often prolong the panic attack. That’s why so much importance is placed on breathing when dealing with anxiety and panic. It can also alter the way we think and provide difficulty when trying to focus. The short term benefits of controlling our breathing are helpful and that’s why it’s promoted so widely, but I personally feel that too much importance is placed on trying to ’control’ the breathing because it can apply heavy pressure on the anxiety sufferer. I feel that focusing on abnormal breathing often creates a negative effect, as it can often lead to panic and hyperventilation. Although it causes other symptoms, shallow breathing isn’t particularly dangerous and you’ll actually find that it ’disappears’ when you deal with the core of the problem. It’s an anxiety problem, not a breathing problem. Heart palpitations are a sudden fast beating of the heart that seems to occur either unexpectedly, after some form of physical exertion, or triggered by a negative thought. They can happen as frequently as every day, every week or just once in every while. Heart palpitations can also present themselves as a fluttering sensation in the chest and sternum area, and also the feeling that your heart has skipped a beat.

Everybody Knows

Heart palpitations can happen to anyone and usually pass unnoticed to the majority of people. However, they can intensify and increase in frequency when they’re considered a problem by the common anxiety sufferer. The link between worrying specifically about the palpitations and the frequency of them isn’t mutually inclusive, but when we do persistently worry about them we are easily lead into states of hyperawareness because we fear them occurring again. This is called being left in a state of apprehension, which causes our bodies to become tense and we’re ultimately left in an irrational state of hypersensitivity waiting for the next palpation, flutter, skipping a beat to happen again. There are various reasons why differences in the rhythm of the heart can occur. There are many causes that trigger a heart palpitation, not all of which can be identified prior to a palpitation occurring. I taught myself that they weren’t going to cause me any harm and that although they were scary, it was ultimately down to factors associated with my anxiety that were causing them. To help further my aim I changed my diet, quit smoking, cut out caffeine and drank more water. Firstly, stress and anxiety often cause us to make drastic changes to our diet. It’s important to note that these pains can alter in the way they present.