Excessive worry, restlessness, insomnia, sweating, palpitations? Everyone has experienced these states at least once in their life. However, it can be just a fleeting moment in our lives or it can be our daily torment, which means that we are dealing with an anxiety disorder.

The feeling of fear and worry about a stressor is normal, it is called anxiety and has nothing pathological, because fear within normal limits makes us be creative and try to find solutions when we are faced with challenges caused by various stressors. However, when fears and anxieties persist, altering our daily lives and when physical symptoms appear, we talk about anxiety as a medical problem.

Symptoms

Mental health experts say that there are several types of anxiety:

• generalized anxiety, phobias (fear of flying;

• fear of going to work, fear of heights);

• social anxiety (fear of being in a crowd or being judged by others);

• panic disorder and separation anxiety (caused by the loss of a loved one, a divorce).

All are characterized by a series of common symptoms of a psychological nature – restlessness, panic, nervousness – and of a physical nature – trembling, palpitations, cold sweats, feeling faint, sleep disturbances, malaise.

Causes

The main causes of anxiety are daily stress – a problem at work, at school, in the family – a past trauma, chemical imbalances in the brain or other mental health problems.

Once installed, anxiety should not be ignored, because it negatively affects our lives by altering our quality of sleep, nutrition, relationships with others, and performance at school and at work.

Untreated, anxiety causes high blood pressure, heart and gastrointestinal problems or can turn into a serious and difficult-to-manage mental problem.

When to see a doctor

A diagnosis of anxiety can only be made by a psychiatrist or a psychotherapist. Either of these two can accurately determine the severity of the anxiety as well as the therapeutic intervention plan, a plan that must be adapted to the particularities of the person.

It is necessary to see one of these specialists when the symptoms:

• last for several weeks;

• worsen from one week to the next;

• affect your work, school, relationships or sleep.

Treatment

Once we see a doctor/psychotherapist, we will receive specialized help consisting, most often, of psychotherapy sessions and, where appropriate, of medication that can only be taken based on a prescription from a specialist.

However, there are a number of adjuvant treatments that can help us combat anxiety in the initial stages. These include:

• herbal teas with calming effects - chamomile, lavender, St. John's wort, lemon balm, mint.

• foods such as nuts, seeds, seafood, green leafy vegetables, fermented foods (yogurt, kefir) for probiotics, and complex carbohydrates

• daily breathing and meditation exercises that have the role of calming us physically and mentally

• calming breaks; When you have too many tasks to do at once, take a quiet break by retreating to a corner, not to think about what you have to do, but to observe the things around you with detachment.

• physical exercises alternated with muscle relaxation exercises, these relieve both physical and mental tension.

The following should be avoided:

• coffee, sugar and alcohol, to keep energy levels and mood stable and not increase agitation

• negative news from offline and online media that can stress us out and make us even more agitated through their negativity; an Israeli study from a few years ago showed how much exposure to negative events increases physical and mental discomfort.

Prevention

All of the above adjunctive solutions are just so many ways to apply them daily, even when we are not stressed. Adopting a healthy lifestyle that involves a balanced and healthy diet combined with physical effort, playing a sport, walking in nature, socializing, and meditation exercises can keep anxiety away from us.