If you have an anxiety disorder chances are that you have trouble sleeping sometimes or maybe all the time. This is because if you have insomnia you are predisposed to developing anxiety and depression and vice versa. As we all know insomnia is a sleep disorder characterized by your inability to fall asleep and or stay asleep. Learning to cope with insomnia is important for your long term health and does not necessarily require that you pop pills to fall into a soporific sleep state.

A new study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research argues that web-based self help programs work. The study took 213 participants and put them through a four week online course aimed at helping the participants with depression, anxiety and work related stress.

Having an anxiety disorder can take up a lot of your time. It can also cause you to lose out on having fun and doing things other than worrying. A great way to curtail this tendency is to make a plan, or blue print, of how you will spend your free time. Anxiety disorder (all forms of anxiety disorder included) can cause you to obsess about your problems all the time. Is it not enough that anxiety symptoms drain you of your energy and enthusiasm? Don’t let anxiety dictate to you what you will and will not do.

Stuff.co.nz reports that international pop star Justin Timberlake suffers from OCD. This is according to an interview that Timberlake gave to the website collider.com. In the interview Timberlake said he has a “complicated” mix of OCD and attention deficit disorder. Like the British soccer star David Beckham, Timberlake states that he has to make sure that things are lined up perfect and also makes sure that the fridge is stocked only with certain foods.

In boxing there is a saying that says all boxers have a plan until they get hit. I love that saying because it illustrates wonderfully my battles with anxiety symptoms. When I start feeling better I always make a plan about what I will do to control my anxiety, but as soon as my anxiety symptoms hit my plan would always fall apart as if Mike Tyson himself punched me square on the nose. That continued until I found a new plan.

photo credit: GregHickman

When it gets hot your temperature may not be the only thing that goes up. It has been noted by many anxiety sufferers that when it gets hot their anxiety symptoms spike.

“Worry gives a small thing a big shadow” – Swedish Proverb

The Anxiety Guru Show: Episode 4 Show Notes

1. A common symptom of anxiety disorder and PTSD is having disturbing thoughts.

a. It includes thoughts of harming yourself or others.

b. It includes dreaming of or envisioning violent or sexual themes in thought and dream.

c. Feeling of going crazy.

d. Fear that your going to die.

Lately the temperature has been increasing and my temper has been headed in the same direction. Whether it’s an anxiety disorder or PTSD, irritability is a very common symptom of people under stress for long periods of time. Sometimes this irritation is such a part of how you feel that everything bugs the hell out of you. It could be your girlfriend, boyfriend, spouse or even your dog that just drives you up the wall.

If you have dealt with anxiety symptoms for any amount of time you may have battled with heartburn. This is annoying and disruptive but not specific to you since heartburn is very common among people that suffer from anxiety disorders. Although some say that stress and anxiety have not been directly linked to heartburn, let me just say that those folks are wrong. I have read opposing positions that point out that when the body goes into fight or flight the ensuing flood of adrenaline causes blood to leave the stomach and this causes the muscles in your stomach to not contract normally. As a result, the body detects a malfunctioning digestive system and compensates by producing more stomach acid and this causes heartburn. Now that sounds like what’s going on.

So tonight I was washing the dishes and I felt a slight panic come over me. It started with my heart rate increasing and the feeling that I could not breathe very well. I continued to wash the dishes knowing full well that I was in the first stages of a minor panic attack. I allowed it to continue and kept washing the dishes. At this point I am not feeling good, but I kept on and began my breathing excercise. Slowly breathing through my nose and out my mouth, repeat. I told myself that today was a hard Monday, I am tired and stressed, there is no reason to be afraid. Of course I was not lying to myself, I was simply reminding myself that despite my minor panic I was completely safe.