There are thousands of people from all walks of life who like an occasional drink, and indeed, drinking in moderation can provide many benefits. However, the problems start when we begin to overindulge in alcoholic drinks. The body can be affected in many different ways by alcohol abuse; it’s not only alcohol and anxiety attacks that are linked. Alcohol can affect your health adversely in many ways, for example it can damage the kidneys and the liver, or it can lead to dependency. It can even affect the way your mind functions.

Drink too much alcohol and you will also find that you are unable to operate to the best of your capabilities. This happens because if you overindulge in alcohol, the feeling that we know as a hangover is actually caused by the nutrients and minerals in your body being diverted to your liver, away from where they should be, because the liver requires them to try and break down the alcohol in your blood stream faster. Along with this feeling of grogginess, drinkers also feel dehydrated from alcohol and anxiety attacks can result from this.

Alcohol and anxiety attack symptoms are basically the same as that of any regular panic attack, with sufferers experiencing the shakes, terrible fear, seating, clamminess and horrible nausea. You may notice that you only have these kinds of attacks after a heavy bout of drinking, or you may at least notice they are more common after such episodes. If so, then alcohol and anxiety are definitely partners here, and so you should cut back on the amount of alcohol you consume to stop panic attacks from happening.

There are a number of medical professionals right now who feel that alcohol and anxiety attack sufferers are usually people who started off with regular panic disorder, and then turned to alcohol as a way of trying to fight these off or otherwise lift their depressive mood. However, drinking alcohol as an anxiety cure is the biggest mistake you can make. People with panic disorders tend to be very susceptible to chemical imbalances in their body, and drinking large quantities of alcohol will cause significant amounts of these, thus exacerbating their panic problems.

Doctors have known about this link between alcohol and anxiety for years now. Over-consumption of alcohol is able to change the chemistry of the brain, enhancing the likelihood of anxious people suffering from panic attacks. And not only is it the drinking that is bad, as alcohol withdrawal can also lead to the same symptoms.

If you suffer from panic disorder and like to have a drink to make you feel relaxed, perhaps you would be better off cutting out the alcohol altogether and seeing if this can help lessen the bad experiences you are having.

alldisorder.com/anxiety-disorder/alcohol-and-anxiety-attacks

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The Wake-Up Routine
The morning is probably no one’s favorite part of the day, particularly if you stayed up the night before to watch Leno or Jaws for the seventeenth time. Remember: Stress and anxiety wreak havoc on your immunity. Enter your day happy and relaxed, and you greatly increase your chances of a healthy, productive day.

1. Go to sleep with your blinds or curtains halfway open. That way, the natural light of the rising sun will send a signal to your brain to slow its production of melatonin and bump up its production of adrenaline, a signal that it’s time to wake up. When the alarm goes off, you’ll already be half awake. Even better: Go to bed early enough so that waking up when the sun shines through your window still gives you the recommended seven hours of shut-eye. If you maintain this routine, it’s likely that you can start relying on your biological clock rather than an alarm clock.

2. Set your alarm 15 minutes earlier. This way, you don’t have to jump out of bed and rush through your morning. You can begin your morning by lying in bed, slowly waking up. Stretching. Listening to the news headlines. Mentally clicking off what you’re going to wear, what you’re going to do, what you’re going to have for breakfast. It’s just as important to prepare yourself mentally as physically for your day. These few minutes in bed, before anyone else is up, are all yours.

3. Stretch every extremity for 15 seconds. Try this even before you open your eyes. Lift your arm and begin by stretching each finger, then your hand, then your wrist, then your arm. Then move on to the other arm. Then your toes, feet, ankles, and legs. Finally, end with a neck and back stretch that propels you out of the bed. You’ve just limbered up your muscles and joints and enhanced the flow of blood through your body, providing an extra shot of oxygen to all your
tissues.

4. Stick a chair in the shower and sit in it. Use one of those plastic chairs you can buy at any hardware store. Let it warm up under the spray for a minute, then sit in it and let the spray beat on your back. It’s simultaneously relaxing and energizing, like getting a water massage. After a couple of minutes, you can swing the chair out of the way and commence with washing.

5. Read a motivational quote every morning. This can provide a frame for the day, a sort of self-talk that keeps you motivated in the right direction as opposed to the negative thinking of the morning news. Another option: Use a motivational mantra that provides a meditation-like burst, or read or recite a poem that helps you focus. A good one to use: Rudyard Kipling’s “If.”

6. Take a vitamin. Keep a multivitamin out on the kitchen counter right by the coffeepot so you remember to take one every morning. More than 20 years of research led to a major recommendation in one of the country’s premier medical journals suggesting that every American take a multivitamin as part of a healthy lifestyle.

7. Eschew any decisions. For truly relaxing mornings, reduce the number of choices and decisions you make to zero. Go about this two ways: First, make your morning decisions the night before: what clothes to wear, what breakfast to eat, what route to take to work, and so on. Second, routinize as much of your morning as possible. Really, there’s no need to vary your breakfast, timetable, or bathroom ritual from one morning to the next.

8. Cuddle with your kids. Few things are more stressful in the morning than waking up an overtired fifth grader or a snoring high schooler. Yet this is one of the few times you can catch your child still vulnerable. Sit on his bed and gently smooth his hair as you softly waken him. Or, if you’re dealing with a very young child, lie beside him and gently hug him awake. Such a moment will send a quiet surge of joy through your entire day and will become all too rare in all too short a time.

9. Spend 5 to 10 minutes each morning listening to music or sitting on the deck or porch just thinking. This allows the creative thinking that takes place during the night to gel and form into a plan of action, grounding you for the day.

10. Wake to the smell of coffee. Really great coffee. Buy the absolute best coffee you can afford — fresh beans are preferred — and put twice the amount you’ve been using into your coffee maker, the one you bought specifically because it has an alarm that can be set to start brewing times. The strong scent of strong coffee will pull you out of bed like a fishhook in the back of your pajamas. Plus, if you’re going the caffeine route, morning is the best time for it. Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant that acts in many ways like other stimulant drugs such as amphetamines, waking you up and increasing your muscular activity. Even better: A study of 18 men found that caffeine improved clear-headedness, happiness, and calmness, as well as the men’s ability to perform on attention tests and to process information and solve problems.

11. Brush your tongue for one minute. There’s no better way to rid yourself of morning breath and begin your day minty fresh and clean. After all, more than 300 types of bacteria take up residence in your mouth every night. You think a quick brush over the teeth is going to vanquish them all?

12. Take a baby aspirin. There. You’ve just significantly reduced your risk of a heart attack. In one study of 220,000 doctors, those who took an aspirin every day for five years slashed their heart attack risk nearly in half. Of course, check with your doctor first to make sure this is okay for you.

www.rd.com/living-healthy/24-ways-to-brighten-your-morning/article15916.html

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I am writing this article to share with you some of the things I have found out on my journey to being naturally anxiety free.

There are many things you can do to cure and even relieve anxiety naturally. There are herbal remedies, exercise/breathing techniques and thought processes. Those are generally the best ones and are most widely used to help relax the tension anxiety can cause.

You may have noticed already that your anxiety is a vicious cycle of worried thoughts. Whether or not you’re aware of what you’re worried about, that’s what it is. In my case, I have a general idea of what is causing my anxiety but not exactly. I am pointing this out because anytime you feel like you’re going to have anxiety, your mind expects it and you believe you’re going to have anxiety and BOOM, panic attack. You must control those thoughts from becoming too active. When it’s not on your mind, you’re not having anxiety. That’s why you will hear some say go out and ride your bike or get up and walk around, talk to someone, go jogging, or go to the gym. That’s the physical part of curing anxiety which we will talk about later on.

Lets talk about herbal solutions to curing anxiety.

Herbal remedies are fun. I always loved the idea of being able to go to the store and buying certain things that would help cure my anxiety. People have said that Passion Flower is a great herbal solution to anxiety. I’ve also read drinking Green Tea can help from a few places as well. All these might claim they cure anxiety but you’ll have to find out on your own to see what works best for you. There are many natural sedatives that won’t knock you out and make you feel like a zombie for the entire day. They will only help reduce the high levels of anxiety which is caused by your subconscious mind which makes it feel so uncontrollable.

Here’s a list of natural herbal anxiety sedatives:

L-theanine – produces a feeling of tranquility
Passion Flower – reduces anxiety and promotes a positive outlook.
Valerian – calms both mind and body
Magnesium Taurinate – calms the mind and supports mental wellbeing.
Niacinamide – contains anti-anxiety properties.

And others as well.

Physical exercise is also a great way to take your mind off things. Being active and getting exercise helps by expelling your excess negative emotions and adrenaline. You will feel more relaxed and enter a more calm state of being, explained in hippy terms. Here’s the technical reason why getting exercise helps reduce anxiety.

“Exercise increases blood flow to the brain, releases hormones, stimulates the nervous system, and increases levels of morphine-like substances found in the body (such as beta-endorphin) that can have a positive effect on mood. Exercise may trigger a neurophysiological high-a shot of adrenaline or endorphins- that produces an antidepressant effect in some, an anti-anxiety effect in others, and a general sense of “feeling better” in most.”

- Michael H. Sacks, M.D.: Exercise For Stress Control

Need I explain more? Just find something active to do on a nice day or evening. I like to ride my bike, play tennis, go swimming and also have a gym membership which is perfect. Enjoy staying active and you’ll have better mental but also physical results.

For professional help Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can be very effective. The whole idea behind this therapy is to control your negative thoughts before they attack. You ultimately need to retrain the way to think. When you think about, it’s the same thoughts, same cycle, brought on by the same negative thoughts which can repeat itself over and over unless you retrain your brain.

Certain bad situations or potential good situations that are overwhelming, etc. might be uncomfortable to you which will cause you to have worried thoughts which can generate into anxiety and even panic attacks. This is not a method that happens over night but it very very effective because that is the key, to avoid those thoughts that make you anxious.

Some things I would do to deal with anxiety for the time being is breath deep and slowly. I know you’ve heard that before but it works and works great. I also like to call friends or businesses and talk about something fun. I also try to think positive. Think “This is not something to be anxious over because this (put something positive here) is going to happen and it will be soooo cool!”

The main thing you must understand is that anxiety is an uncomfortable, negative, irrational thought that needs to be turned into something positive and put aside. Retrain your brain to understand and accept. There are many natural cures for anxiety and there are many many great methods out there to choose from to help you accomplish your goal to getting rid of anxiety.

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