We most often become anxious to know the reason behind our sudden anxious behaviors. Anxiety is a fruit of existence which habitually ripe with our age. This reminds me of the famous quote from T.S Eliot, who said “anxiety is the handmaiden of creativity”.
Know about anxiety
Let us know the origin of such an unexplainable feeling, which haunts many of us at least once in a lifetime. “Anxietas” is a Latin word from which anxiety term is derived. The literal meaning of anxiety is throttle/choke or upset or trouble that is omnipresent in almost every human being. Mental health science describes anxiety as a situational emotional behavior and occurs in a range of disorders. The intensity of anxiety disorders can vary from mild to severe and negatively affect mental health and cognitive responses. Mild to moderate anxiety is common in every individual in a stressful condition to adapt to the situation and provides a trigger to face the challenge. Hence, it is proved that you can be a victim of it at any point in time.
Anxiety disorders are associated with a wide range of psychological conditions, like panic disorder that may or may not associate with agoraphobia, panic, social anxiety, phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, acute stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and non-specified anxiety disorder. [1]
How physical health illness raises anxiety level?
Good health and good sense are two of life’s greatest blessings. Good health can help us to get an anxiety-free life. To maintain physical health we must follow some common tips to avoid an unnecessary load of ailments.
Individuals suffering from ill-health often have irritated mental condition, which build-up stress and causes anxiety. For example, how anxious do you become when you see sudden rashes in your skin? You must be surprised to know that allergy and anxiety have some correlation. Nutritionists found that anxiety symptoms worsen during food allergen attacks. Excessive anxiety even turns to depression. [2] Childhood anxiety has a direct link with food allergies. [3] Not only food allergy but aeroallergen trigger allergic rhinitis. Attack of asthma also directly impacts mental health by releasing stress-related hormones and alter immune system functioning.
But anxiety is not a solution. Allergy testing is the only way to identify the particular allergen for an individual. Depending upon the test result, avoidance of particular food and exposure to aeroallergens can reduce the onset of allergy and associated stress burden and anxiety. [2]
The Body, Mind, and Spirit are interconnected
The body, mind, and spirit can help to explain human beings in their entirety. The body is the materialistic part that dies. The mind helps the body to live, think and show emotions. Whereas the spirit remains an integral part of body and mind. According to the philosophers and religious beliefs, the spirit has no boundary. It can stay alive after the end of the body and mind.
Body, mind, and spirit have a connection with the personal peace and general wellness of an individual. General well-being maintains in collaboration with physical, psychological, and spiritual health and may all of us understand the overall homeostasis between physical and psychological parameters.
Let us find out what science says all about them. The clinical researchers explain personal world has a significant impact on the thought process of an individual about the outer world. Researchers also believe that our mental setup towards the surroundings influences the personal perception of the outer world. Besides personal thought processes, the environment of a particular surrounding plays a vital role in the mental status of any individual.
Emotional and cognitive well-beings are related to mental health. A healthy mental condition has the ability for the utmost utilization of emotional and cognitive functioning. Understanding reality along with attentiveness, memory power, and processing speed are vital to brain functioning. All these mental abilities have a direct relationship with physical health. [4] Moreover, psychoneuroimmunology researchers also discovered stressful emotions can modify white blood cell functioning.
On a lighter note, stress is bad and cannot burn calories to keep you toned. Let us find out what all the bad things that stress can do to you. Stress reduces the responsiveness of white blood cells against viral infection and invasion of cancer. Vaccination cannot work efficiently in stressed people. The delayed wound healing is a significant health issue in overstressed conditions. An even overstressed condition that is more common in anxiety-affected individuals can trigger some autoimmune disease condition. [5]
How is your health? This easiest question denotes an overall health condition of the external and internal body, rather than only the physical fitness. A strong intuition arises from our awareness which has an intricate association with physical health that creates a health concern when something goes wrong in our internal system. The strong association of neuroendocrine and central nervous systems plays a vital role in the organ functioning of the body. However, physiological functioning, such as immune functioning automatic physical process and does not depend upon our consciousness. For instance, a microorganism invades our physical health immediately antibody production starts. But the rate of production may depend upon mental health conditions. You may experience that your physical exercise training program restores a sense of personal control. All these examples indicate the relationship between physical and mental health.
Spirituality is much broader than this. It is a rational understanding of the inner and outer world. Spirituality creates a tendency to develop a meaningful sense of relatedness to every aspect of life. Spirit empowers our strength and prevents us from devaluing. Do not always relate spirituality to religious connections. Our family, friends, community, and even social involvement influence spirituality. Spirituality has a direct impact on mental as well as physical health. There are symbolic expressions present in the dance ceremonies of different traditions which can help to bypass the mind and directly link to the inner spirit. In cognitive behavior therapy, practicing meditation establishes the connection of spiritual peace, inner power, and recognition of situations. Thus, the mind, body, and spirit jointly help us to regain the sense of personal power and wholeness.
References
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3146193/
- https://www.cchrflorida.org/can-anxiety-attack-symptoms-be-caused-by-food-allergies/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5641835/
- http://alfredadler.edu/sites/default/files/Stoffel%20MP%202013.pdf
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5263188_The_mind-body_connection_not_just_a_theory_anymore