Silver Spring, Md. — National Stress Øut Week, November 9-15, sponsored by the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, highlights the benefits of mind-body practices such as yoga, breathing and meditation to reduce stress and anxiety.
“As more scientific research emerges that affirms the mind-body connection, it becomes increasingly clear that anxiety and stress can negatively affect our health in many ways,” says Jerilyn Ross, MA, LICSW, president and CEO of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA). Common signs include headache, heart palpitations, chest and muscle pains, high blood pressure, skin rashes and sleep loss. “The good news,” says Ross, “is that there are many things you can do to get your anxiety under control to become healthier and live better.”
Visit the National Stress Øut Week website (http://www.adaa.org/
While everyone experiences stress and anxiety at some time, it is important to understand the difference between the anxiety triggered by a job interview, illness, romantic breakup or other stressor and an anxiety disorder.
What’s the difference? The stress and anxiety that help keep you and loved ones from harm, motivate you to prepare for an event, or are in response to threatening or sad news are normal and healthy. But persistent, irrational and overwhelming anxiety that interferes in your daily life may be a sign of an anxiety disorder.
Some 40 million adults in the United States live with an anxiety disorder. The term “anxiety disorder” includes generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social anxiety disorder (also known as social phobia) and specific phobias.
Feeling alone or frightened, many people and don’t realize that they can be helped. Anxiety disorders are highly treatable with psychosocial therapies, medication or both. Find out more about treatments at http://www.adaa.org/
