Category: Anxiety

The Natural Foods That Decrease Stress Risk By 23%

One of the easiest ways to reduce the risk of stress and anxiety.

One of the easiest ways to reduce the risk of stress and anxiety.

Eating vegetables daily is linked to a lower chance of anxiety and depression.

The study of over 65,000 Australians found that the more vegetables they ate each day, the lower their risk of suffering from anxiety and depression.

Women in particular seemed to be sensitive to vegetable intake.

Vegetables had a stronger protective effect on women than it did on men.

Binh Nguyen, the study’s first author, said:

“We found that fruit and vegetables were more protective for women than men, suggesting that women may benefit more from fruit and vegetables.”

Women who ate 5-7 servings of vegetables each day were 23% less likely to suffer from stress than those who had 0-1 servings per day.

Dr Melody Ding, study co-author, said:

“This study shows that moderate daily fruit and vegetable consumption is associated with lower rates of psychological stress.

It also reveals that moderate daily vegetable intake alone is linked to a lower incidence of psychological stress.

Moderate fruit intake alone appears to confer no significant benefit on people’s psychological stress.”

Related

The study was published in the journal BMJ Open (Nguyen et al., 2017).

One Free Activity That Instantly Reduces Anxiety & Saves Butterflies (M)

Citizen science may be one of our most powerful tools for both conservation and mental health.

Citizen science may be one of our most powerful tools for both conservation and mental health.

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The Type Of Breathing That Fights Depression And Anxiety

Changing patterns of breathing improves mental health, concentration and memory.

Changing patterns of breathing improves mental health, concentration and memory.

Deep breathing can help reduce the symptoms of depression and anxiety.

It also has the power to increase concentration and memory.

Controlled yogic breathing has even been shown to help with severe depression.

But, it has to be done right.

Diaphragmatic breathing — colloquially known as deep breathing — involves contracting the muscles underneath the lungs.

Sometimes it is called ‘belly breathing’ because it feels like breathing from the belly.

In contrast, ‘chest breathing’ — using the muscles around the upper body — is less efficient.

Dr Melanis Rivera, a clinical psychologist who works at a student counselling centre, said:

“When you breathe with your upper chest, upper lungs, upper body, what happens is you are taking in less oxygen which is vital to your body and organs.”

This sort of shallow breathing is linked to anxiety, fatigue and muscle tension.

It can also lead to headaches and panic attacks.

Belly breathing is best done by breathing in steadily for four seconds from the diaphragm, then exhaling for six seconds.

Dr Nathaly Shoua-Desmarais, a clinical psychologist and biofeedback specialist, said:

“The misconception is the longer you suck in air the better, but it’s the longer exhalation that provides the most benefit.”

While it might seem odd that we need to train ourselves to breathe properly, Dr Shoua-Desmarais said:

“Babies use diaphragmatic breathing.

Somewhere along the way we develop bad habits that develop into thoracic breathing.”

Retraining ourselves to do something so natural, though, can prove difficult.

It is best to start with a 5-minute routine at first, said Dr Rivera:

“If you’ve been chest breathing for a good portion of your life and you suddenly tell your body, hey, let’s stretch out these lungs, you could feel dizzy or get a headache, even hyperventilate.”

One Habit That Dramatically Reduces Financial Anxiety (M)

Struggling with financial anxiety? You are not alone — but one unexpected strategy might help.

Struggling with financial anxiety? You are not alone -- but one unexpected strategy might help.

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This Is The Most Common Mental Health Problem

The factors that predict recovery from the most common mental health problem.

The factors that predict recovery from the most common mental health problem.

Anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental illness.

However, a study provides hope for recovery for those with anxiety disorders.

Fully 72 percent of people with a history of an anxiety disorder were free of it in the last 12 months, the research reveals.

On top of that, 40 percent were in excellent mental health and 60 percent had no other mental health problems.

A key to recovery from anxiety disorders is having at least one person to confide in.

This provides a sense of wellbeing and security which can triple the chance of recovery, researchers found.

Professor Esme Fuller-Thomson, the study’s first author, said:

“We were so encouraged to learn that even among those whose anxiety disorders had lasted a decade or longer, half had been in remission from GAD for the past year and one-quarter had achieved excellent mental health and well-being.”

The conclusions come from a group of 2,128 Canadians who had Generalised Anxiety Disorder at some point in their lives.

Professor Fuller-Thomson says the results are hopeful:

“This research provides a very hopeful message for individuals struggling with anxiety, their families and health professionals.

Our findings suggest that full recovery is possible, even among those who have suffered for many years with the disorder.”

People found it harder to recover from anxiety if they were depressed, had a history of substance misuse or had insomnia.

However, they were more likely to recover when married and having someone they could share their experience with.

Ms Kandace Ryckman, study co-author, said:

“For those with anxiety disorders, the social support that extends from a confidant can foster a sense of belonging and self-worth which may promote recover.”

Spiritual or religious beliefs also increased the chance of recovery by 36 percent.

Professor Fuller-Thomson said:

“Other researchers have also found a strong link between recovery from mental illness and belief in a higher power.”

Related

The study was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders (Fuller-Thomson et al., 2019).

Why Depressed-Anxious People Stay Underconfident — Even When They’re Actually Doing Well (M)

Confidence does not always follow good performance, especially in depressed-anxious minds.

Confidence does not always follow good performance, especially in depressed-anxious minds.

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These Emotions Bring On Alzheimer’s Symptoms Years Earlier

People with these conditions experience Alzheimer’s symptoms up to 7 years earlier.

People with these conditions experience Alzheimer’s symptoms up to 7 years earlier.

Both depression and anxiety increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

People who are depressed develop the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia, two years earlier.

Those with anxiety develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s three years earlier.

Having multiple mental health problems is linked to developing symptoms of the disease even sooner.

Dr Zachary A. Miller, the study’s first author, said:

“More research is needed to understand the impact of psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety on the development of Alzheimer’s disease and whether treatment and management of depression and anxiety could help prevent or delay the onset of dementia for people who are susceptible to it.

Certainly this isn’t to say that people with depression and anxiety will necessarily develop Alzheimer’s disease, but people with these conditions might consider discussing ways to promote long-term brain health with their health care providers.”

The study included 1,500 people with Alzheimer’s disease who were asked about their mental health.

The results revealed that the more mental health problems people had, the sooner they began experiencing dementia symptoms.

Three or more psychiatric disorders together was linked to developing symptoms more than 7 years earlier them.

Both depression and anxiety were linked to a history of autoimmune disorders.

Dr Miller said:

“While this association between depression and autoimmune disease, and seizures and anxiety is quite preliminary, we hypothesize that the presentation of depression in some people could possibly reflect a greater burden of neuroinflammation.

The presence of anxiety might indicate a greater degree of neuronal hyperexcitability, where the networks in the brain are overstimulated, potentially opening up new therapeutic targets for dementia prevention.”

The study will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 73rd Annual Meeting (Miller et al., 2021).

This Anxiety Treatment Is Easily Better Than Stress Management

In comparison, a ‘stress management’ actually increased stress, the researchers found.

In comparison, a ‘stress management’ actually increased stress, the researchers found.

Mindfulness meditation helps to decrease anxiety, according to the physiological evidence.

Meditation reduces the body’s inflammatory response as well as causing a striking reduction in levels of stress hormones, new research finds.

In comparison, people who took a stress management course actually saw an increased response to stress.

Dr Elizabeth A. Hoge, the study’s first author, said:

“Mindfulness meditation training is a relatively inexpensive and low-stigma treatment approach, and these findings strengthen the case that it can improve resilience to stress.”

The research included 89 people who had been diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder.

Half were given an 8-week mindfulness meditation course, the other half a stress management course.

Because the courses were very similar in most respects, the participants were not aware what the researchers were hoping would work.

This helps reduce a well-known effect in psychological research called the ‘expectancy bias’.

This is the idea that when people expect to get better, they magically do.

It is akin to the placebo effect.

Before and after the two different courses, participants were given a stress test.

This involved giving a short speech to an audience.

Dr Hoge explained:

“We were testing the patients’ resilience, because that’s really the ultimate question—can we make people handle stress better?”

The researchers monitored key markers of the stress response in the blood.

They found that those who had taken the stress management course saw a slight rise in physiological stress levels in the second test.

In the meditation group, though, participants showed large drops in the stress response at the second test.

Not only that, but people reported feeling much less stressed after the meditation course.

The study was published in the journal Psychiatry Research (Hoge et al., 2016).

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