We are a culture of busy people: we have co-workers, internet dating, friends, landlords, bills, kids, traffic, and a million other little stress-inducers to tackle on a daily basis. Feeling stress itself is truly your body’s natural response to these things; if we never felt stress, we might never get anything done. With that in mind, a little bit of stress can be good.
But what happens when we don’t deal with the issues as they arise but instead choose to internalize them, medicate them (with booze, trashy TV…whatever your escape of choice happens to be) and let them pile up in the “to do” file of our minds? Those little stressors can end up turning into one general case of anxiety.
Anxiety is a much bigger and badder beast than simple stress. Stress is usually tied to something specific, whereas anxiety may have no identifiable beginning and end, making it much trickier to navigate. Once things get to the point of feeling overall heightened anxiety, it takes lots of people lots of time, lots of pills and lots of therapy bills for the issues to weed their way out.
While I can appreciate that pharmacology is a helpful choice for some people, there are also plenty of clever little ways to rebalance and calm your mind that don’t leave you dependent on anything but yourself for mental stability and lessened anxiety:
Exercise
Working up a sweat does wonders for your body and mind. Your heart and booty will thank you, but so will your state of mind. Physically relaxing your muscles is an excellent stride towards overall stress reduction but when you work it out, you also release tons of your brain’s natural happy chemicals. And you wonder how some people get actually addicted to exercise.
Being in the habit of moving your body regularly keeps your body and brain balanced and happy. Not to mention that the very act of focusing intensely on small mechanical movements (yoga, anyone?) can be very meditative and successfully get you out of your stressed head for a little while.
Hang out with babies
Okay, don’t misunderstand me here: babies give me the icks sometimes. And children of any age can be loud, smelly, dirty and needy. So I’m certainly not advising actually having a new baby friend of your very own to cure your anxiety blues.
However, all that said, being around young children can be great for you. Think about what they do: sleep, eat, play, utilize creativity and curiosity in everything they do and then wash, rinse, repeat. They’re a perfect mix of stalwart independence and knowing how to depend on others for the things they can’t do for themselves. In short, they know what’s important.
Spending enough time around kids (friends’ babes, nieces and nephews, etc.) can totally re-center you and soon you’ll know as well as they do that most things that are worrying you just aren’t worth the worry.
Sex
Ahh, my personal favorite. If you and your partner are rock stars who have crazy cardio-sex, you’ll find that working up a sweat together gives you the same benefits of exercise. But you all reap the unique rewards that come from physical closeness with someone else; your brain pumps out mega doses of smiley-happy-lovey chemicals (okay, yes, I could tell you the real names but I find they’re more memorable by what they make you feel). You get even more when you have an orgasm…plus the tension and release of that sexual gold medal is a big insta-chill. So whether you’re going it alone or with a partner, keeping an active sex life is a super effective (and, um, amazingly enjoyable) way to beat anxiety.
Rusticbink
59 / Male
Comments: 2
Posted on November 12, 2009, 2:04 pm
fulling physical and emotonal needs all contribute to a satified life . spiritual needs need to be fullfuled too. this is the greatest need,the need of complete acceptance and forgivness.
God Bless your Heart, Bink
