STRESS.... anxiety and stress does a number on you body both mentally and physically. I found therapy to be great stress reliever as well as learning to focus. Find a safe place a comfort zone in your mind....and when you feel the anxiety and panic starting to creep in bring you mind to your safe place. If you brain get stuck and you can't focus on your safe place.... watch your breathing ....count your breathing.... inhale...exhale! It does help.... Write down your positive in your life. Reread them when your anxiety strikes. Hope this helps.

I wish I would know.... :( I'm the type where my anxiety can last for days, weeks, even months... with symptoms... I went 5 years okay, last year it him me bad. This time I'm on medication so it's been easier to cope, but still I can't function well... I hate it so bad.

Think about it. When you are happy and have happy thoughts . Doesn't your body feel great . Your smiling, you are shoulders are not tense, every muscle in your body is relaxed. Now give yourself a sad thought. You slump, you feel weak, may lose your confidence, tired. And know a Scary thought, you eyes become dilated, you may blink mopre are not blink that much, your not smiling or frowning, your look a little paralylized, your shoulders are up to your ears, your on alert, readeing to fight or flee, your legs become stiff and your stomcach is in knots. s.
See how the mental signals make our body react. It affects every part of our body. The good news is that when we are scared or tense our body can't stay that way and whether we like it are not it will get tired are worn out and sleepy .

Some would argue that breathing has a lot to do with it. When you don't breathe calmly (from the stomach with a slow pace), you fail to get the supply of oxygen you need and activate parts of your nervous system that would help calm you. Also, you're going to be tense physically, causing discomfort.

Problem for me has been, the physical discomfort from anxiety and stress has limited my ability to exercise like I'd like to, which has increased (or at least left stable) my anxiety. I often have a lot of tension in my lower abdomen and sometimes on my side, and breathing helps. I'd just like to stop the vicious cycle and start to get active again.

a mental issue becomes physical because we are in control of ourselves at all times. if we choose a bad emotion, a poor image, lousy self-talk, then, that gets manifested in our body.

that is why we are to be good stewards of our whole selves. it is our job. anxiety is completely optional. there is nothing that says that life must be hard, miserable, or scary. these are our masterpieces to make as fun, exciting, and adventurous as we would like.

what faithfull 777 wrote was entirely true and inspiriing. "there is nothing that says that life must be hard, miserable, or scary. these are our masterpieces to make as fun, exciting, and adventurous as we would like. " I thank you for that quote. So true. Who says you have to make life so damn hard!

It's chemistry. Adrenaline raises heart beat, blood pressure, causes muscle spasms, digestive difficulties, etc, and the more we stress about it the more it happens.
There is a good book about internal dialogue which everyone with depression and anxiety should read. It's "Feeling Good" by Dr David Burns. If you read nothing else, read the chapters on the ten cognitive distortions (negative, self sabotaging, internal dialogue). Then read the following chapters on how to dispute this internal dialogue. Knowing the dialogues makes you aware of it when it happens and knowing the disputes gives you the weapons you need to shut them down. With a little practice, you'll discover in a few short weeks that your anxiety subsides and physical symptoms will fade away. It's a simple matter of breaking one habit and replacing it with another. Break the habit of self sabotaging internal dialogue and replace it with the habit of external vocal disputes. Before you know it, your internal dialogue changes to the positive disputes you've been verbalizing and depression and anxiety become nothing more than a bad memory.