Ashe About Your Health: Don’t Panic

What’s got you stewin’, Bruin?

Everyone feels anxious or nervous it from time to time. In fact, it’s an evolutionary adaptation that’s crucial to survival, and, on some level, pretty much every animal is capable of feeling it. If you didn’t feel anxious when you saw a bear, or heard a lion roar, it might not occur to you to run in the opposite direction. And a little anxiety generally sharpens the mind and senses and even improves athletic, musical or academic performance to some degree.

But exactly what you feel – what you call “anxiety” – certainly varies from species to species and from human individual to human individual. Humans can experience anxiety as emotions that we can name (like fear, dread or worry), as well as physical symptoms that can range from a racing heartbeat, to chest tightness, to nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.

In a recent column, I discussed stress. Well, anxiety is sort of like the flip side of stress. Think of stress as the circumstances, conditions or situations, whether real or imaginary, that provoke some kind of reaction in us.

If that reaction involves emotional or physical symptoms we’d generally label as unpleasant, painful or undesirable, you might call it “anxiety.”

There are a few caveats before we get to dealing with “garden variety” anxiety.

First, when there really are no identifiable factual, perceived or imagined stressors, then we’re getting into the realm of psychological disorders such as Generalized Anxiety, Panic Attacks, even Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Agoraphobia. In these situations, it is highly advisable to seek out professional guidance in the form of counseling and sometimes prescription medications.

Second, there are a number of underlying, purely medical conditions that can produce symptoms identical to those of anxiety, such as an overactive thyroid gland, or even side effects of certain prescription or over-the-counter drugs (such as common asthma inhalers and decongestants). Those may need to be ruled out by a physician or nurse practitioner before making a psychological diagnosis.

Finally, symptoms of anxiety are frequently and especially in the college-age population – the result of voluntarily putting into your system various drugs or chemicals like excessive caffeine, non-prescribed use of stimulants (like Adderall), cocaine, marijuana (this is why it makes some people feel “paranoid”) and even alcohol.

Not putting food in your system regularly can do it too (i.e. skipping or delaying meals), or eating a junk diet too high in sugars and starchy carbohydrates and not enough protein. So it’s important to notice the relationship between your habits and your health, or rather, your potentially unhealthy habits and your disease.

You may not be able to control many of the most common stressors in your life, and it’s important to recognize what you don’t have control over, such as the weather, traffic, world events, the economy, natural disasters, your genetics and, oh yeah, other people.  But you have a lot of good choices for reducing the amount and the severity of anxiety you may feel as a response to all those things. Getting good quality regular sleep and regular exercise reduce anxiety.

And going to get some brief but relatively intense exercise in the case of acute anxiety absolutely works too. Meditation is an excellent tool to manage anxiety, as are tai chi, yoga, acupuncture, massage therapy and various other disciplines that combine meditative benefits with physical ones.

There are so many opportunities to try these activities ranging from student groups to classes to instructional videos, audio and actual books. Journaling is an excellent tool for reducing anxiety too.

And last but not least, talking openly, honestly and regularly to a non-judgmental and supportive friend or family member works wonders to calm the mind and the body.  But you knew that already, didn’t you?

Dr. David Baron is the executive director of the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center.