Stress, worry and anxiety are words we use daily (especially now during the coronavirus pandemic). But do you consider their differences, their similarities and what to do about them?
Anxiety is an all-encompassing term that includes physiological symptoms, bodily sensations, thoughts and emotions. Your sweaty palms, shallow breathing, heart palpitations, tight neck muscles, upset stomach, repetitive thoughts, being on the verge of tears can all be anxiety.
Worry is the repetitive thoughts of a problem. The problem can be big, small, internal, external, realistic or not realistic. Have you ever had a headache and couldn’t stop worrying about whether or not the headache meant you had a brain tumor? What if… seems to roll around endlessly in your thoughts.
Stress is the body’s reaction to a problem or problems. This is also commonly referred to as the fight/flight/freeze mode of the sympathetic nervous system. This is ok for a quick, sudden or brief stressor, like a squirrel running in front of your car. But too often we are stuck in chronic fight/flight mode and our body suffers the consequences.
Worry, stress and anxiety all affect our immune systems. A little worry, a little stress and a little anxiety are actually good. It alerts you to get activated. Difficulties arise when you do not listen to the alert. The alert then gets louder and louder and louder until you listen. You have to take some sort of action to turn the alarm system off.
How many rolls of paper towels, rolls of toilet paper and Lysol sprays did you buy? What happened to your stress, worry or anxiety.
Supplement Tip For Anxiety
My favorite supplement with inositol is RelaxMax from WholeScripts. It comes in a powder form, either unflavored or cherry flavored. The cherry flavor is quite good actually. I mix 1scoop (up to 3 scoops) into 16 oz of water and drink it either at once or over 2-3 hours. It also has taurine, GABA, l-theanine and magnesium
Need to order supplements? Fullscript | Wholescripts
Need to order a test? Please visit my laboratory testing page to learn more.
_____________________________________________________
Dr. Laurie Goldman is a medical doctor, psychiatrist, and functional medicine practitioner who’s been in private practice since 1999. She founded Clear Path Wellness to help her patients reach their maximum state of mental and physical health using a personalized, comprehensive approach powered by the principles of functional medicine, which treats the whole person, not just symptoms.