Blog#64: Anxiety – An Emotion of
Our Times
The next seven blogs will address emotions, how they
relate to our world situation today, and how to help balance them. By addressing emotions constructively, we not
only improve our state of mind, we also improve our physical well-being, since
emotional excesses and imbalances can help precipitate problems like insomnia,
muscle spasm, headaches, constipation or diarrhea, ulcers, substance abuse, and
can even suppress the immune system, resulting in an increased susceptibility
to colds, flu, and possibly more serious ailments.
In the past six months or so, my colleagues and I have
seen a dramatic increase in the number of people suffering from anxiety. This is especially true of those in their
teens and early twenties. Some people
come to address physical complaints, but sometimes anxiety must be addressed
along with the physical complaint for lasting improvement.
Much of the increased anxiety I have observed may be
due to the current political climate and the increasing uncertainty about what
is true and what is fabricated. Increasing conflict and division within our
country helps foster this anxiety. In
the state of Illinois, we face many uncertainties, such as our state budget
impasse. For many people, the financial
future is not as certain as it once was.
As parties and politicians war with one another and
the country splits into more competing factions, these patterns impress
themselves upon the conscious and unconscious minds of our population,
especially our youth. Internalization of
this divisiveness can result in anxiety, both for the world’s future and for
our everyday existence. Overcoming
differences and working for the common good may seem like a pipe dream in this
increasingly divided country, but it is vital for the health and happiness of
the individual and the nation.
There are many things we can do in our daily lives to
address and alleviate anxiety. Improving
our nutrition can help, since a healthy diet and nutritional supplements, if
appropriate, can help the nervous system function better when under
stress. Good nutrition, including
sufficient B complex vitamins will help support the adrenal glands. And the better our nutrition, the more
clearly we will be able to think.
Getting regular exercise, whether this is walking, yoga, working out at
the gym, or doing demanding housework, house repairs and/or gardening, will
help keep the mind clear and the body healthier. Regular exercise can help
strengthen the muscles and bones, balance the blood sugar, keep the heart
strong, and oxygenize all the tissues.
Getting sufficient sleep and rest can help keep the mind clear and the
immune and endocrine systems functioning normally.
Certain ways of thinking and approaching problems and
challenges can help us stay calmer. For
example, when facing a problem, it can help when we take a moment to relax
physically and mentally, and then look at each aspect the problem and envision
ways to improve or fix that aspect. For
example, the upstairs neighbors’ kids play music loudly and jump up and down
early every morning. What to do? It will not help to get upset, nor will it
help to bang on the ceiling with a broomstick.
Instead look for attitudes or actions that can solve the problem in a
conflict-free way. Earplugs might be in
order. Self-hypnosis can help us learn
to experience the racket upstairs as a signal to relax more deeply into sleep
or as a signal to make us happy because the children upstairs are vital and
active. A visit upstairs might be
appropriate, maybe with some fresh-baked bread or an invitation to the family
to share a light dinner or to look at some photographs taken on a recent
vacation. During these interactions we
also could mention how we like to sleep in on Sunday and Saturday
mornings. It is important to have no expectations
of a change in the upstairs neighbors behavior.
Just build good will and then gradually, more and more often the kids
might be quieter on the weekends.
Taking care of oneself holistically and approaching
problems in a conflict-free way can help disperse anxiety and build a
foundation of calm. When appropriate,
structural alignment, acupuncture therapy and flower essence therapy are other
modalities that can help reduce anxiety by balancing the body, reducing or
eliminating pain, balancing the energy system, and calming and harmonizing the
emotions.
This blog’s offer:
consider coming in for chiropractic, acupuncture, or flower essence
therapy, if you feel they are appropriate for you. Or come in for a few sessions of
self-hypnosis and then apply the methods you learn in your daily life to
alleviate anxiety, increase calm and confidence, become healthier, sleep
better, or whatever else you might want.
