How To Control Your Anxiety: Tips From An Expert

Spread the love

Parents and children often struggle with anxiety often known as Worriation. While everyone suffers from anxiety, not everyone suffers from an anxiety disorder. It starts affecting their normal life and routine, keeping them up at night. Many times, parents feel like they are losing it.

Dr. Lulu, a US Based pediatrician, author and coach has been helping parents and kids struggling with anxiety and self doubt, avoid self harm by learning to control their emotions and thoughts.

What is anxiety?

It is the mind and body’s reaction to stressful, dangerous or unfamiliar situations. It’s the sense of distress or dread you feel before a significant event. A certain level of anxiety helps us stay alert and aware, but for those suffering from an anxiety disorder, it feels completely debilitating.

While stress causes adrenaline release, it also causes cortisol release. While most people deal with stress in their life, for some it interferes with their daily functioning.

How to determine if it is a disorder?

Excessive worrying about things, prolonged worrying lasting for over 6 weeks, having trouble controlling worrying manifest as anxiety disorder symptoms.

If it becomes hard to control worrying, or if physical symptoms like restlessness, fatigue, irritability, concentration problems, muscle tension, and sleeping troubles persist and start affecting your everyday work and social life, it may be a disorder.

The lymbic system in our brain controls our thoughts, emotions, memory and motivation reinforcement. Overactivity or disregulation of the lymbic system due to excess adrenaline and cortisol release causes anxiety disorders.

Examples of anxiety disorders are:

· Specific Phobia

· Social Anxiety Disorder

· Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

· Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

· Separation Anxiety Disorder

· Panic Disorder

· Mutism

Symptoms in children

Excessive worrying about future events, separation from safe places such as a parent or their home, feelings of panic in certain situations (sweaty palms, heart racing and heavy breathing) are some of the symptoms of anxiety noticed in children.

A common checklist:

· Sleep disturbances and difficulty

· Difficulty concentrating, inattention, poor focus

· Agitation and restlessness

· Avoidance of certain places / people

· Tantrums, crying, meltdowns

· Neglect of personal hygiene

· Decline in performance at school

· Withdrawal from activities or relationships

· Weight loss or gain

· High expectations at school, sports, homework, performances

· Fear of recent COVID 19 pandemic

How to control and manage it?

Dr. Lulu suggests a 3 step technique of Acknowledge, Analyse and Act.

· Talk: to self, to other, to a therapist or a doctor

· Guided meditation sessions (available online and on apps)

· Breathe: practice the 4-7-8 breathing technique or focused breathing

· Aromatherapy

· Take a 15 minute walk

· Practise Yoga

· Listen to some relaxing music

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health disorders and are more common in children. But the good news is that they can be successfully treated by the right therapy and medication in severe cases.

Dr. Lulu can be reached at askdoctorlulu@gmail.com

Spread the love

This is that time of the year when virals and flu are already on your door. With this pandemic additionally, life has become hard and uneasy for almost everyone. In such situations, people tend to forget about their health, routine checkups and stay involved in their office and house chores — especially women!

Maybe they are designed to function like that — keeping others above self — which I say no to. You can’t care for others, family, work or kids if you do not care for your own health. And while you check off another task from your today’s to-do list, here I’m jotting down a few of the common yet unknown diseases that you may suffer from and remain unknown.

This is a reminder from us — to consider your health and fitness a priority!

Celiac Disease

Celiac disease, also known as coeliac disease, is an autoimmune digestive disorder triggering from gliadin or gluten. The common symptoms are diarrhoea, and others may include bloating, wind, fatigue, joint pain, low blood count, migraines, or depressive symptoms. A lot of people may not experience these symptoms initially, but if left untreated, it can lead to malabsorption of minerals and nutrients.

Osteoporosis

Another common yet unnoticed disease that doesn’t come with any signs or symptoms, Osteoporosis occurs due to bone density loss. People do not realize this condition until they have a bone fracture; a few, though, might experience loss of height or posture. The only manageable precaution is to supply enough vitamin D and calcium to your body to prevent bone damage.

Liposarcoma

A kind of cancer that grows in fatty tissue, Liposarcoma produces unnoticeable tumours which are collections of fat cells that develop below the skin. It could grow in your arm or legs for months or even years completely undetected and can reach to your lungs and livers if not treated in time.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

A group of lung diseases which is difficult to detect early on, COPD is another very common yet lesser known condition which cannot be cured. Emphysema and chronic bronchitis are common diseases under that. COPD Foundation claims coughing, tightness in the chest, and breathlessness as the early symptoms which people generally consider as a sign of getting older. Smoking is known to be the major risk factor for developing COPD.

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

A very common disease which affects more than 10 million Indians every year, the real cause behind the NAFLD is still not known by the researchers. It develops when fat builds up in the liver resulting in inflammation and liver cell damage or liver failure (cirrhosis). NAFLD is not caused due to the overuse of alcohol though and develops without any symptoms. It targets people who have type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, metabolic disorder, or obesity.

Deep Vein Thrombosis

As common in the West, DVT is not something new in India. A handful of studies show the rate of DVT varies from 3.7% to 17%, which puts Indian at an equal risk. DVT is a serious condition which is caused by the development of blood clot in your lower leg or thigh’s vein. If the blood clot gets loosen, it can damage your lungs. Tenderness, pain, redness or swelling in the affected area may occur, but there are high chances that you might not realize. It is recommended not to sit for long periods to avoid DVT. Few simple rounds of laps or stretching can also be helpful.

Glaucoma

A disease that rarely shows any symptom, Glaucoma is estimated to affect 11.2 million persons in India. The age group is 40 years and above. According to All About Vision, Glaucoma and related eye conditions cause optic nerve damage due to which the information to your brain is not carried, which further results in the loss of peripheral vision or complete blindness. A few of the things that may cause high eye pressure and Glaucoma are hereditary predispositions, diabetes, high blood pressure, eye injury or trauma, thin corneas, and extreme nearsightedness.

What are the other common yet unknown diseases you know of or have suffered from? Tell us in the comments below, and we will share it with our audience.