Anxiety and Stress go hand in hand. They have a symbiotic relationship meaning that they both feed off each other.
What’s the difference between anxiety and stress?
Anxiety has specific mental and physical symptoms, and is clinically identifiable. Follow this link for an explanation of anxiety symptoms. Stress on the other hand is a much more common phenomenon. Stress also much more commonly expresses itself as anger, irritation, short patience and irritability. Anxiety, on the other hand, tends to manifest itself as fear, hyperventilation, dizziness, feeling dislocated, or having stomach discomfort.
Both Anxiety and stress have been related to IBS .
If one lives constantly in a state of stress then anxiety and even an anxiety disorder are likely to follow. However this is not the case for everyone. Some people “thrive off stress” in the same way that adrenaline junkies effectively thrive off anxiety. but that does not mean that daily stress is good for you. In fact it is much better for you to be able to unwind and de-stress. While stress might motivate you through the day and give you a buzz, when the working day is over your body needs a chance to relax.
The same tricks that help you overcome anxiety cam help you deal effectively with stress: meditation and yoga, exercise, herbal supplements and everything else mentioned on this site.
One of the main features of stress may be difficulty in getting to sleep. Insomnia can be caused by muscle tension, dwelling on the events of the day or worrying about the future or by having too many stimulants in your system.
Caffeine is an obvious candidate for removal if you want to sleep better. It can stay in your system for as long as twenty hours (although it effects different people in different ways.) Also, some people think they are unwinding from stress when they have an alcoholic drink. This is in fact not the case. Alcohol actually becomes a stimulant after it is broken down by your liver and this is one reason why many anxiety sufferers get anxiety with a hangover or even while drunk!
Have you heard of Rhodiola helping with anxiety?
Rhodiola is said by some to help with anxiety. My personal experience was that it made me a bit more hyped, and although I it didn’t make my anxiety worse, i was worried that it would, so I stopped it. If you have any experiences with it, pop back and let us all know what happened. Think it would be great for CFS.