Know the Symptoms of Anxiety and Stress

That dreadful expectation of a future threat is what kept our hunter-gatherer ancestors from becoming dinner. In the doses, those butterflies in your stomach prepare you for what’s coming. Research shows that anxiety can boost your performance, either driving you to face the threat head-on or finding a way to escape it - the fight or flight instinct.

In these days of smart homes and even smarter offices, the only predators chasing us are deadlines and PPT’s. But while it’s normal for you to be anxious before a presentation or a date, it is okay when you’re watching ‘Game of Thrones’?

Yes, if watching Shireen go up in flames, otherwise not. “If you are panicking when you encounter little huddles’ in life, like a crowded marketplace or a meeting with a new person, then you may just be an anxiety-disorder candidate,” Says Dr Senthil Reddi, associate professor, department of psychiatry, Nimhans, Bengaluru.

Women are biologically prone to being anxious and it could show up in greater intensity as a part of PMS, says Dr Hindi Anmol Vachan, researcher, general psychiatry, King’s Medical University, Lucknow. In some cases a chemical imbalance can also cause extreme anxiety, says Dr Samir Parikh director, mental health and behavior sciences, Fortis Healthcare, New Delhi. Be concerned about these worrywart habits if...

Consult a psychiatrist if you see a pattern of looking for ways to avoid new places and meeting new people. Or you fear being ridiculed, criticized or judged days before a meeting. This is known as the ‘anticipatory anxiety’. If your reaction to anxiety is more than just sweaty palms and woozy stomach, a cognitive therapist will help you resolve your fears.

Or a panic attack occurs when your body has a flood of physical and emotional reactions to anxiety. Physical reactions can range from palpitations to a spike in blood pressure. Emotional reactions include an over-whelming sense of fear or confusion. Many times this occurs when an individual associates the attack with the place it first occurred (such as claustrophobia in a lift). Find a doctor if you have been suffering from these crippling attacks for more than a couple of weeks. He will run a few tests to rule out a heart problem. It then may be diagnosed as a panic disorder. A combination of medicines and counselling can help ease the symptoms.