Symptoms Of Anxiety

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Some anxiety and stress in life is good.. To be a little worried about a test will motivate us to study; A little nervous energy during a presentation can be transformed into a more engaging enthusiasm. Even a fearful state of mind is useful in truly dangerous situations, where we need to take steps to protect ourselves. But in day to day situations, excessive anxiety is counterproductive - the slight but persistent feeling of paranoia can make you feel constantly nervous and awkward, and prevent you from doing things that you need to do. Excess stress, aside from leading to debilitating conditions like anxiety, can also be outright dangerous as it suppresses the immune system, increases blood pressure, and is associated with a wide variety of diseases. Of course, it doesn't make sense to start becoming hypochondriacal about that, but your physical health is just one more reason to start now with taking measures to reduce your stress and anxiety.

Before we move on, remember that all of the symptoms that we talked about so far can be fully attributed to anxiety. However, don't use that information as a method of diagnosis. Get a physical examination from a medical doctor to confirm that your symptoms are not indications of a more serious condition. Knowing that what you're feeling is a completely normal result of anxiety can be a great relief, and a good first step to calming yourself.

It's for this reason that many anxiety books and programs spend an enormous amount of time talking about symptoms. A lot of comfort can be gained by knowing that what you're experiencing is not unusual. So if you think that you'd benefit from additional confirmation about your particular symptoms, you might want to do additional research or consult with your doctor. You may have some of the symptoms we discussed, all of them, or perhaps others that weren't mentioned. There are many more. I've just tried to cover some of the more common ones here. We could literally spend hours discussing all the ways in which anxiety displays itself in various sensations and behaviors. But I know from personal experience that it's not really necessary to figure out all the mind-body connections before working on anxiety. So even if you do take additional steps to satisfy your concerns, also start moving forward with the techniques that we'll be discussing. The stress that you may be adding to the situation you're worried about is probably not doing anything to help it. And you may find that as you start learning how to cope with anxiety, whatever the symptom is that's bothering might just disappear.

The truth is, while it's helpful to confirm that your symptoms are being caused by anxiety, without managing the anxiety itself, with time you'll probably just find other sensations to become concerned about. In the same way, if we attempt to avoid or eliminate all the situations that inspire anxiety in us, sooner or later more will come along to take their place, and we'll eventually find our lives confined to a very limited number of safe places and safe people.

NEXT PAGE: Learning to conquer anxiety with Self Therapy