Anxiety is that overwhelming sense of fear, nervousness, apprehension and worry that accompanies certain situations. You may only face it when you think about a situation where you have something serious to lose, or it may be ever present as a result of your job, family or other issues in your life. The unfortunate truth about anxiety is that it can make your body more prone to injury. Let's examine some of the ways it can put your health at risk alongside one way you can protect yourself.
Anxiety Makes Muscle Strains More Common
Your body's natural response to stressful situations, which includes the feelings anxiety brings, is to tense up. While this phenomenon is natural, it's the prolonged periods of anxiety that can put your body at risk by making it easier for muscle sprains and other painful injuries more common. Experts at Physiomobility Health Group say that one way to reduce both your anxiety and risk of muscle injury is to seek massage therapy. This will help keep your muscles supple while increasing the amount of blood that flows to these overstressed areas.
Anxiety Can Damage Your Teeth
Another natural response to stress is the clenching of your teeth. While this is most noticeable when you're awake, you can continue clenching your teeth while you sleep due to subconscious cues learned from anxiety. One way to keep your teeth from grinding at night is to wear a mouth guard. Your dentist can usually recommend and manufacture a custom piece that will prevent your teeth from moving at night for a fee that is nominal compared to all the dental work you'd need.
Anxiety Makes Self-Control Difficult
When you undergo anxiety attacks, you're rarely able to control your emotions. This is even more dangerous if these attacks occur while doing something that requires a certain degree of self-control, which includes driving an automobile. Anxiety during these situations can leave you seriously harmed. The best way to deal with this type of harm is to learn how to better cope with your anxiety. There are vast libraries of self-help books and support groups designed to teach you how to do just that.
Anxiety Can Lead to Heart Disease
Your body enters the 'fight or flight' mode whenever a stressful situation occurs. When you undergo anxiety, your blood pressure increases, your blood vessels constrict, and your heart rate increases. Letting your body undergo prolonged periods where this occurs can lead to stroke, heart attacks and an increased risk of heart disease. To counteract this, you may want to add a supplement of omega-3 fatty acids into your life. They're good for promoting heart health and can lower your blood pressure when taken on a regular basis.
Anxiety Makes Your Immune System Weak
Have you ever wondered why the common cold is so prevalent in office situations? While some argue it's the sharing of office tools, others argue that it's due to the fact that anxiety has been shown to lower the immune system's ability to respond to germs. Meditation and other calming exercises can be key in managing how often anxiety attacks affect you while diminishing the severity of such attacks.
Anxiety can do more than just complicate your social life, it can ruin your physical health. The bright side about anxiety is that the negative side effects it brings can be dealt with through therapy, massages, meditation and other methods.