Anxiety

This is a feeling of unease, worry or fear. Its our body’s natural response to stress. Everyone faces anxiety at some point – some mild, some quite severe. It often affects more women than it does men.

Many things cause anxiety such as work, health, stress, money issues. Anxiety can make you feel scared, nervous and sick, as well as physical symptoms such as sweating, heart beating faster.

There are several types of anxiety disorders such as Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Panic Disorder, Phobias and Separation Anxiety.

With GAD, you may feel extreme and unrealistic worry and/or tension - even if there's nothing specific to trigger these feelings. Most days, you worry about various topics such as work or health, but in most cases that worry continues from one thing to the next - leaving a build up of stress and anxiety.

Panic Disorder is where you get intense and sudden panic attacks. These are usually a much more intense feeling of anxiety than other types of anxiety disorders. Sometimes these panic attacks come from triggers, like facing a situation you dread.

Phobias are an intense fear of certain situations or objects. A specific phobia is an intense fear of a particular object or situation, it may cause you to avoid everyday situations. These phobies can be from animals (such as spiders), blood, flying, heights, injections and many more.

Separation Anxiety is a condition mostly found in children or teens, but it can also be found in adults too. It's where a person has anxiety around the idea and action of being separated from someone they feel closest to, usually someone of a strong bond or connection.

Top tips for calming down anxiety:

• Breathe (focus on slowing down your breathing)
• Staying active
• Listening to music
• Admit that you are anxious
• Challenge your thoughts
• Change your focus
• Meditate
• Good sleep
• Staying away from items that heighten anxiety such as caffeine, alcohol or drugs