How To Control Your Anxiety: Tips From An Expert

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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

Highlights

Covid-19 has been wreaking havoc in our lives for a year and pandemic experts and doctors are still updating us with ways to tackle the protocol of prevention, combating the virus, and post-recovery.

There has however been a rise in complications for people restarting their routine exercises, and doctors are of the opinion that patients should not start vigorous workouts and physical exercise and training for at least 3 months post a Covid-19 infection.

You know your own body better than anyone, how it normally feels when you walk up the stairs when you run when you bike so those things harder for you and you feel a change in your body then that should raise a red flag.

Spread the love

Covid-19 has been wreaking havoc in our lives for a year and pandemic experts and doctors are still updating us with ways to tackle the protocol of prevention, combating the virus and post-recovery. There has however been a rise in complications for people restarting their routine exercises, and doctors are of the opinion that patients should not start vigorous workouts and physical exercise and training for at least 3 months post a Covid-19 infection.

According to a report in The Times of India, “Intense physical activity of any kind is not recommended immediately after the patient recovers from Covid-19. The lungs that are recovering from the infection cannot keep pace if you immediately start intense physical activity. If the patient was suffering from severe Covid-19, there are chances that they might go into lung fibrosis and suffer complications,” said Dr. Vinay Shekar, head of general medicine at Gandhi Hospital.

Patients have weakened organs after the infection and any stress can affect the quick recovery of the same because the lung damage needs time to restore back to health. Basic breathing exercises, low-intensity walking, and stretches are recommended but any physical training should be started in phases and under professional or expert guidance after approval from the physician, cardiologist or pulmonologist.

Doctors and scientists are still learning the long-term effects of COVID-19. The virus damages the heart, brain, lungs, and kidneys in some and while many are quick to recover for many others recovery is not so fast. Fatigue, dehydration, loss of energy, body pain are some symptoms that linger long after the infection has subsided.

For people who are particularly active and sportspersons, getting back to their old routine should be a slow process and monitored to avoid any serious complications or damage to the body. Even with that proper nutrition and hydration should be followed to make sure overall health is maintained.

How to restart your fitness journey according to Dr. Schaefer, Cleveland clinic

Listen to your body. If you’re experiencing symptoms like chest pain or heart palpitations, stop exercising immediately and consult with your healthcare provider.
Take it easy. Don’t try to “power through” like you used to. Athletes of all ages should follow a gradual progression to get back into exercise. You’ll need to build up the time and intensity of your workouts.
Be patient. Even if you were training for a marathon prior to becoming infected, you’ll likely discover that your body has changed a bit, which warrants extra caution. Don’t push too hard on a body that is still trying to recover.

Health complications that can arise post Covid -19 recovery

Myocarditis is an inflammatory response of the heart due to a viral infection, such as COVID-19. It can cause swelling in the heart muscle making rigorous activity more difficult and sometimes, even deadly.

Student athletes (and any active adult) should complete a supervised, graduated return to sports progression as they head back to practice, training or exercise. This progression is often referred to as Return to Play (RTP) and involves seven stages.

Symptoms to look out for while working out

Chest pain or heart palpitations.
Nauseous.
Headache.
High heart rate not proportional to exertion level or prolonged heart rate recovery.
Feeling lightheaded or dizzy.
Shortness of breath, difficulty catching breath or abnormal, rapid breathing.
Excessive level of fatigue.
Swelling in the extremities
Syncope (passing out).
Experiencing tunnel vision or loss of vision.

You know your own body better than anyone, how it normally feel when you walk up the stairs when you run when you bike so those things harder for you and you feel a change in your body then that should raise a red flag.