Stress Anxiety - Did you say stress or anxiety?

"Do you have stresses in your life," I ask?
"Duh," you say, "I have a PhD in the stuff."
I persevere: "What about anxiety, are you anxious?"
What?" you yell back. "Didn't I already tell you how stressed I am?"
PhD or no, stress is one of those intangibles; if you think you got it, it's yours. Not only that, it's not in your head. It's physiological. Anxiety is definitely related, but is not the same as stress. We use them interchangeably, as ‘you' just did, but it's important to keep them separate because we need to handle them differently.

In fact, I believe we can cut anxiety off at the knees by dealing with the first line of attack: stress!

Life is a series of stresses, and most of us feel we cope pretty well most of the time. But many of us don't recognize what happens to our bodies when we get stressed. Stress can be a physiological flash-in-the-pan.

Think tiger at the cave. Intruder at the door. Tiger comes, in a nanosecond body flips into flight or fight mode - pure stress pounding through every cell. Intruder rattles the lock on the front door. Zoom; our body bursts into total survival mode.

Can you say stress!

Stress anxiety - what just happened?

Our bodies are hardwired to cope with stress. That fight or flight job was delegated to our endocrine system, which knows to takes charge on a moment's notice.

Our hormonal balance shifts and neurotransmitters are released. Adrenalin charges through our body; blood drops out of our digestive system and into our brain and respiratory system; endorphins are released so we don't feel pain.

We go pale, we get red, we shake, our heartbeat increases, our belly hurts, our blood pressure increases, our palms get sweaty. We are on high alert, totally prepared for flight or fight.

It's not unhealthy to get upset, even alarmed on occasion. It's not unhealthy as long as our body has the opportunity to go back to a state of relative calm.

Tiger continues on past the cave and out of sight. Intruder hears the neighbor pull into the driveway and flees.

Stress anxiety - what happens next?

One of three things.

1. We go a little crazy, then we go right back to business as usual.
2. We breathe deeply, have a relaxing drink and slowly go back to business as usual.
3. We think we're okay, we don't do either 1 or 2, and our physiology stays up, but we go back to business as usual.

Actually either 1 or 2 will help with stress. The real troublemaker is #3 and without checking into our bodies it can happen more easily than you may imagine.

The simple fact is our flight or fight reflex is often entirely inappropriate for coping with the day-to-day stresses of modern 21st century life. It's overkill; most of us are not beating off a tiger at the mouth of the cave and generally we don't have an intruder rattling our front door.

But in fight or flight stress mode our body reacts in the same way to the many non-life threatening stressors as we would to an actual life-threatening situation.

A good example is the response to someone tailing us on the freeway. Studies show our physiology is exactly as if we sense someone pursuing us from behind with intent to kill.
I'm not suggesting we control this reflex. I am suggesting we learn to recognize our changed physiology due to a stressor and hang in there until we know we are back to a calmer state of balance.

Stress anxiety - when stress becomes anxiey

We could probably follow most people through a typical day and find stress triggers throughout the day. If this continues and we live with ongoing stress, it is very likely we will become anxious. There are a variety of definitions of anxiety, but they all contain both an emotional unease and sense of apprehension, frequently from an unknown cause, and a projection into an ominous, often ill-defined, future.

Anxiety is more generalized, often vague, and a miserable state to be in. Generally we know what is stressing us out - a bad grade, a mean boss, kids fighting, a notice of an overdue bill. Often we don't know what is causing our anxiety. This makes sense. Stress is primarily a physiological reflex; anxiety a free floating emotional state of worry and malaise.

Stress anxiety - an ounce of prevention ...

It's actually relatively easy to deal with stress once you get the principle down. It's more complex to deal with anxiety. Since the best way to beat anxiety is to stop stress, here are three easy tips for your stress management.

• Move!

The key is in the descriptor itself. We want to fight or take flight - our body is set to jet.
Whether flighting or fighting, we are moving. Beyond doubt, and as many studies have validated, movement is the most natural and healthy response to emotional and physiological upset. If you can't run or hop, at least shake. It not only helps the body return to a more relaxed state, it also helps deflect the potential of long-term trauma from a deeply upsetting event.

• Breathe

Sometimes we just can't move. But we can focus on the breath. Return the breath to an even in and out rhythm. Four counts in, four counts out till it slows. Bring it down to six. It's not physiologically possible for the body to be in a state of upset while the breath is slow and calm.

• After that ...

Know what soothes you. Listen to music. Repeat a mantra. Take a bath. Use self-hypnosis. Doodle. Keep at it until your physiology is balanced.

• Herbs help too

A deeply relaxing herbal tincture sends the relaxing qualities directly into the blood stream. An old and reliable flower essence is the now famous Bach Flower Rescue Remedy. It may not do the whole deal if your physiology is really up there, but it will definitely help. A relaxing tea is a support, but not enough for serious upset.

• Kiss someone you love

No joke. The longer and sloppier, the better. A study (that just happened to appear right before Valentine's Day) showed prolonged kissing (15 minutes) dramatically reduced stress levels.

Since we know what stress anxiety means in our own live we thought about it a lot. We studied rainforest herbs to find out what they can do for stress anxiety. We believe we put together a mix of unique herbs for a great anxiety remedy that we use all the time. We called it

A natural remedy for stress anxiety - Mellow Monkey

Its blend of rainforest herbs can soothe and relax you, with no side effects and no dependency. Yet you'll lower your stress level more effectively if you combine Mellow Monkey with some relaxation techniques and changes in your lifestyle. We consider it one of our best anxiety remdies.

Mellow Monkey is probably an easier addition than exercise, so start with that. Hopefully, Mellow Monkey, and twenty minutes in your "happy place" will encourage you enough to go to the gym.

Step by step, you'll find yourself relieved from stress anxiety moving towards being relaxed, happy, and healthy.