Archives for May 2018

Like most people, you’ve probably experienced a certain level of social anxiety. You may not always feel comfortable socializing in large groups. You may prefer to spend time alone or one-on-one with a longtime friend. You may find your palms sweating before you speak before a crowd or your heart racing in case you’ll be called to answer a question in class or in the workplace.

But if the anxiety you feel in social situations is so intense that you’re overwhelmed to the point of avoiding social interaction altogether, you may be experiencing a social anxiety disorder.

What Is A Social Anxiety Disorder?
Social anxiety disorders are the third most common mental health issue in the U.S., behind depression and alcoholism. People who suffer from what used to be called “social phobia” often feel as if they’re being evaluated and judged in a negative way by everyone around them. This can give rise to feelings of:

• Inferiority
• Humiliation
• Embarrassment
• Inadequacy
• Depression

Social situations can become so stressful that sufferers take great measures to avoid person-to-person contact. They’ll often have trouble making and keeping friends, communicating with colleagues, and maintaining romantic relationships.

Shyness Vs. Social Anxiety
Social anxiety is not your garden-variety shyness. Shyness can be a matter of temperament, and it can usually be overcome. Social anxiety, on the other hand, is debilitating and requires the help of mental health professionals to diagnose and treat.

Suffers are so afraid of putting themselves in the spotlight that they experience physical symptoms of extreme stress, such as:

• Nausea
• Trembling
• Blushing
• Racing heart
• Sweating
• A mind that “goes blank”

They also tend to avoid eye contact and speak softly, as if they could wish themselves smaller and unnoticeable.

Treatments For Social Anxiety
Treatments for social anxiety tend to fall into three categories.

• Psychotherapy, in particular Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), can help sufferers learn techniques to modify their thinking and behavior to cope better.
• Support Groups, where suffers can listen to others who have similar anxiety issues and discuss methods of handling the condition.
• Anti-Anxiety Medications, as a way to give immediate relief until behavior modification and other methods can be learned and implemented.

It takes consistent work and persistence to overcome social anxiety, but with the help of experienced mental health professionals, you’ll be well on your way to a less stressful life.

Do you ever find yourself, in times of stress, polishing off a pint of ice cream, scraping the bottom of a bag of salty potato chips, or gorging yourself on candy? Binge-eating is a common reaction to stress. Unfortunately, the foods chosen are usually of the empty-calorie type, causing blood-sugar spikes and plunges, which just exacerbates your sinking mood and adds guilt to anxiety.

Whether you’re grappling with constant daily stress or facing an extreme situation, what you eat can make a big difference in how well you cope. Check out these five healthy foods that help reduce garden-variety stress.

Berries
Sweet, snack-worthy, and stuffed with antioxidants, blackberries, black raspberries, blueberries and other dark-skinned berries contain anthocyanins which help in your body’s production of dopamine. That neurotransmitter helps modulate your brains’ reward and pleasure centers to regulate emotional responses to many stimuli, including stress.

Nuts And Seeds
Sunflower seeds, almonds, cashews, pine nuts, and pumpkin and sesame seeds contain healthy amounts of magnesium, a mineral necessary for many vital cellular functions, including the regulation of hormonal responses and the production of serotonin. Low levels of serotonin have been linked to depression, as the neurotransmitter is one of several tasked with regulating mood.

Green Vegetables
Yes, your mother was right when she told you to eat your vegetables. Broccoli, brussel sprouts, asparagus, okra and most leafy green vegetables contain high levels of folate, a natural form of Vitamin B9. The vitamin helps your body produce certain mood-regulating neurotransmitters, like dopamine and serotonin.

Fish Oil
It’s not an old wives’ tale: There’s a reason why grandmothers tried to spoon-feed your parents cod liver oil. Fish oils contain Omega-3 fatty acids, long since shown to have beneficial effects on skin, cardiovascular, and mental health. That doesn’t mean you have to pinch your nose and take bad-tasting medicine, however. Foods that are high in omega-3 fatty acids include:

• Salmon
• Sardines
• Walnuts
• Eggs
• Winter squash
• Spinach
• Purslane
• Cauliflower
• Linseed Oil

Protein
Blood-sugar spikes can exacerbate an already stressful mood into an angry or irritable one. There’s a biological basis to being “hangry.” When your blood sugar is low, serotonin receptors are suppressed, causing irritability and a quick trigger to temper. The best antidote isn’t empty calories, which will only cause a blood-sugar crash later, but protein-rich foods which take longer to digest and emit a steadier supply of sugar into the blood. For a double benefit, choose proteins that also contain tryptophan, an amino acid necessary in serotonin production. These include turkey, cottage cheese, almonds, yogurt, and dried dates.

In the modern-day world, it’s all but impossible to remove stress from your live. But there are ways to cope with it. Eating well is just one first step to good mental and physical health.