Anxiety has and will affect everyone at some point in our lives in some form. Generalized anxiety disorders affect 1 out of 5 women in the United States.
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Anxiety has and will affect everyone at some point in our lives in some form. Generalized anxiety disorders affect 1 out of 5 women in the United States. Anxiety is our body’s response to stress, but what is truly the root cause of your anxiety? There might be more than one, and in most cases the problems we face are not so simple because there are a lot of reasons to be anxious. Studies show that when there are things out of our control it may cause anxiety. Unpredictable moments, the unknown, depression, the social pressure, social media, financial stress, hormones imbalances, thyroid disorders, substance abuse, caffeine and sugar intake, and the list goes on. Prolonged anxiety can take a toll on our health and wellness and overall mental health, so let’s dig in.
We all know that grief can induce feelings of anxiety and with that there are different things you can do to calm an anxious heart. This is extremely important as it relates specifically to women trying to conceive, miscarriage and pregnancy loss, infertility, pregnancy and of course motherhood. So let’s talk through what happens when you feel anxious and how to calm that anxious heart.
What happens to our bodies when we are feeling anxious? Common symptoms of anxiety may start with those butterflies, which in most cases isn’t a big problem. But there is a fine line between a normal response to healthy stress and unhealthy stress. Sometimes the anxiety will cause bigger problems. If your stress feels like it is taking over your life and you can not get control over it, and it is happening frequently, then it is probably more than your average stress, I would call this anxiety.
Anxiety can trigger our bodies naturally fight or flight response, creating adrenaline pumping blood to our lungs and hearts to help us run from a tiger if that is what we needed to do in order to be safe. That feeling can then start to feel like sweaty palms that then lead into heart palpitations or heart rhythm disturbances, then moving into more serious conditions such as a panic attack, increase your blow pressure and heart rate, or feel like a heart attack or could put you at risk for developing a long term disease or heart health issues. Other common symptoms include sleep issues, fatigue, sweating, gut disturbances, shortness of breath, a weakened immune system, weight loss, inability to eat, dizziness, lightheadedness, and headaches.
Speaking from my personal experience, anxiousness was something I dealt with daily through TTC (trying to conceive), miscarriage, infertility, and then pregnancy. It really was something I dealt with daily until I finally held my son for the first time. I know so many others going through various pregnancy or pregnancy loss experiences, who have felt the same. Today, most of the ways we “treat” anxiety is through medication, but it does not have to be your only option, natural remedies work better than just putting a Band-Aid on the symptoms. Medication always has side effects but there is also a time and place for it. However, knowing how to calm an anxious heart can help you avoid complications and long term health problems. Below we are sharing our learned tools, tips, and practices to relieve those symptoms and ways to “treat” anxiety.
If your anxiety gets in the way of your everyday tasks I would highly suggest implementing some of these tips. Below are some effective ways to slow your heart down so you can function at a normal level and slowly get back to yourself.
