By Mayo Clinic News Network (TNS)
DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I recently turned 45 and have been dealing with anxiety for several years. My feelings of worry, stress and fatigue have increased, leading me to avoid social events and limit activities I used to enjoy. My friend suggested I try something she called mindfulness meditation to help manage my anxiety. What is this technique, and how can I start doing it?
ANSWER: Anxiety is often described as sustained and excessive worry that a person cannot control related to the anticipation of a future threat, such as a traumatic event. At times, anxiety can significantly and adversely affect our daily lives, work, relationships and overall happiness. Anxiety also can manifest as an irritable, worried, restless and debilitating stress response lasting minutes to days. Most everyone has had anxiety surrounding a stressful situation.
Anxiety becomes an obstacle when it affects our day-to-day lives. Anxiety can negatively affect people at home, work, school and socially.
Emotionally, anxiety can appear as excessive worry, fatigue, irritability, panic attacks, paranoia, poor concentration, restlessness or sleep disturbances. Left untreated, it can increase a person’s risk for depression, even suicide.
Physically, anxiety can appear as chest pain, diarrhea, headache, increased heart rate, muscle aches, shaking, shortness of breath or sweating.
Left unchecked, anxiety can further strain our mental health, increasing the risk for poor communication and poor decision-making.
And for many people, anxiety is isolating, as you alluded to, because people do not want to participate in normal activities. Anxiety can affect your willingness to take new steps or adventures in life due to fear.
People have many different approaches for how they cope with anxiety. Mindfulness meditation is a technique where you focus on being intensely aware of what you see and feel in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. Practicing this…
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