Are you Anxious or Excited?

Are you feeling stressed? It’s normal to feel stress or anxiety occasionally, particularly during circumstances like exams, interviews, and other short-term situations.

However, when emotional reactions are intense and occur frequently or become chronic, it can interfere with daily activities such as work, school, and relationships. According to a scientific review lead by the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Health Sciences in Toronto, acute emotional reactions can increase your risk of developing depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and other neuropsychiatric disorders.

The review was published in the journal Current Opinion in Psychiatry. The researchers looked at human and animal studies that included neuroimaging to investigate stress levels and anxiety in both healthy individuals and those with medical conditions. The review concluded that a stress can:

· Damage the immune, metabolic, and cardiovascular systems.

· Damage the hippocampus, which is important for storing long-term memories and guiding spatial navigation.

· Trigger the amygdala, the emotional response center of our brain, to go into overdrive.

· Cause the prefrontal cortex, the region of the brain responsible for regulating emotional reactions, to be less active.

The authors of this review state that reversing damage caused by stress in certain brain regions requires a proactive approach rather than solely relying on anti-depressant treatment and exercise.

There are several ways to control stress and anxiety. Anxiety and fears are primarily related to future circumstances and situations where your brain wants to prevent physical or emotional distress due to possible negative repercussions. Anxious people use their imagination to transform their thoughts into a paralyzing dread. However, this doesn’t have to happen.

Here are some steps to take to turn your anxiety around:

1. Assess the current circumstances and their effect on your feelings. On a scale from 0 to 10, where 10 represents the highest anxiety and 0 indicates no anxiety, consider where you fall. Anxiety can be seen as energy moving through the nervous system.. Anxiety and excitement are the same feelings physically. The difference is our attitude towards them.

2. Imagine what your life would be like if you transformed your anxiety into excitement. Instead of feeling anxious and stressed, you could feel energized and ready to take on the world. Instead of being paralyzed by fear, you could be motivated by possibility. Instead of being held back by doubt, you could move forward with confidence. When you turn your anxiety into excitement, you unlock a world of possibilities. You become open to new ideas and opportunities, and you become more resilient in the face of challenges. You become more willing to take risks, and to try new things. As a result, you are more likely to achieve your goals and live a fulfilling life. So next time you’re feeling anxious, try to picture what your life could be like if you relabeled that feeling of anxiety as excitement. You might be surprised at the difference it can make.

3. Take the first action step. Take control of your life by doing one small thing today that moves you towards your goal. Taking the first step is often the most difficult part of any process. But it’s also the most important. Without taking that first step, you’ll never make progress. So, what’s holding you back? What’s preventing you from taking action? Don’t let fear or doubt hold you back. Believe in yourself and your abilities. Trust that you can do it and take the first step. Doing just one small thing will help give you a sense of security and ease.

According to Albert Einstein, “Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It only changes from one form to another.” By relabeling your feelings from anxiety to excitement, you can reduce your stress levels.