Irritable Bowel Syndrome Relief

Stress is the root cause while mental ailments such as anxiety, depression, phobias, panic attacks and their derivatives are all symptoms of stress. So, if you can eliminate the root cause and you will eliminate the symptoms. Actually it is similar to saying remove all the water from the world and you will not have any floods. It does not appear to be such a good idea any more does it? Water will always be there, so how do we work around the flooding problem? We build dams, construct barriers, re-route the rivers and what not to prevent the flooding.

Like the ubiquitous water, stress is everywhere. We need to find ways to work-around the harmful effects of stress. So although in this case we cannot eliminate the root cause, we can definitely learn how to mitigate the risks imposed upon our psychology and physiology. I will not delve into the physiological interpretation of stress in this article, however you can visit the resource link at the bottom of this article for further information. It is important to have that background however.

Why do we feel anxious?

As you know by now, anxiety is a symptom of stress. It is a natural response of your body, triggered by your brain to indicate that you there is some abnormality in your life at the moment.

The feeling of happiness and content is controlled by two neurotransmitters in the brain, called serotonin and dopamine. While serotonin is called the happy hormone, dopamine is responsible for your rationality and helps you maintain control of yourself. When you are under stress, the level of these very important neurotransmitters are lowered in your brain. That is what makes you feel “down”.

Often times, this under-the-weather mood can prevent you from thinking straight. When this happens your mind opens itself up to your imagination. Since you are feeling down, all negative thoughts start to cloud your imagination. Your mind starts to put the cart before the horse and anticipates a future event in simulation mode. Your mind gets immersed in that vision and you start to feel anxious. Think about any event in your life and try to remember how things went and you will be able to relate that experience to this explanation.

If you were late for an important client meeting, you start to feel anxious that the client may not be willing to meet you anymore, even though you’ve not met the client just yet? In an extreme situation, you become so very anxious that you feel compelled to break the speed limit and drive faster to your destination ��” that is an indication that you are not thinking rationally anymore. Where did all that dopamine go when you need it the most? If that’s not your day, you are probably pulling over soon, because those red and blue lights are flashing in your rearview mirror and the police officer wants to book you in. What happens? You are getting more late ��” more anxiety (did you ever have any dopamine in your brain?) and your negative imaginations run wild. Now you are probably thinking that your opportunity for making that sale is gone by now and your boss if going to get you fired. This is when anxiety gives way to a more severe form ��” panic. It just gets worse and worse.

Anxiety has also been traced to be genetic in nature. Children growing up in families where parents and adults are primarily complaining about everything all the time and are anxious about anything at all, are at risk of developing anxiety disorders themselves. Children have a fertile imagination anyway. As discussed before, children growing up in such negative minded families also get used to seeing that cart before the horse and as a result of which their fertile imagination also paints negative images in their mind. It becomes almost natural for children to worry about everything, since they see everyone in the household doing the same. When you are anxious, it inhibits free thought and a positive attitude towards life. This in turn inhibits creativity - that’s because you are not thinking rationally.

It is possible to arrest the proliferation of anxiety attacks in your life and to your subsequent generations only if you take action. In the next article I will discuss two of the more effective techniques for treating anxiety attacks.

About the Author

Jay Bose writes and coaches students on treating anxiety attacks and effective anxiety cures through his website StressAndAnxietyFree.com