Extreme or sustained anxiety leads to potentially damaging physical effects on our bodies. During times of anxious thoughts our bodies takeover and begin travelling through three phases of stress. 

First, the body goes into fight or flight mode. This is the initial and immediate response to perceived threats If we’re anxious our bodies assume danger is near. You experience a surge of energy and adrenaline which gives you the strength to fight off danger or run for safety. 

For most people, once the initial worries are passed, our bodies return to normal and we are able to rest and recover. However, if your mind continues to experience anxiety, your body enters the second phase of stressed response where the body continues hormone secretion to assist with a sustained response to a threat. 

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By attacking the attacks before it becomes a real problem, you are not necessarily curing yourself of anxiety, panic or panic attacks but you are preventing it from becoming an unmanageable problem. 

Many people will try to tell you that they can cure your panic, your anxiety, your depression or any other unpleasant feeling you may have. The truth is these feelings are not curable; they are natural feelings that are part of our lives. They tend to crop up when the situation warrants. 

Your brother dies, you get depressed, you lose your job and you get anxious. This is the way things work. How they don’t work is that you get in panic  when you’re in the produce section because you’re unsure about what to make for dinner or you have anxious feelings when sitting at home with your family or getting your nails done at the salon. These are unusual and unnatural times for anxiety to crop up and for attacks to strike. 

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Unfortunately, reading a couple of pages won’t cure your problems. Anyone who suffers from true anxiety and panic knows the crisis isn’t going to go away overnight. In fact, fear will always be present in your life unless you decide to live in a bubble and even then there is stuff to be anxious about. 

Worries help us even while taking a toll. It often makes you work harder, prepare more and perform better. It is our body’s way of telling us to get into gear or protecting us in cases of emergency. Walking down a dark alley is sure to be anxiety provoking, your body becomes highly attuned to danger and prepares to fight or flee in the event of an emergency. 

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Susan was relaxing like she did every Saturday morning at the nail salon. She had her feet in the tub, the massage chair activated and was getting a great pedicure. She was talking to the other ladies in the salon about the weather for the upcoming weekend, and the upcoming holidays. 

Suddenly, her skin started to itch, it was on fire. She adjusted her feet, maybe the water was too hot. Sweat beads appeared on her forehead, she felt her back and underarms grow moist with sweat. Susan sat there paralyzed, her heart was racing so fast, the beating was so hard she felt like her chest was going to explode. She couldn´t breathe. Oh My God! She thought, I´m having a heart attack. The walls were closing in on her, everyone was looking at her, people must think she´s crazy. 

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Our parents, our childhood and our life experiences, all influence the way we handle personal turmoil. For some people, the way they handle the bumps of life is directly influenced by how they saw other people handle these occurrences while they were growing up, particularly their parents. Some people are simply born with personalities that are more or less able to cope with stressful life events. This doesn´t make you a good or bad person; it just makes you human and it is a wonderful thing that we are all unique rather than just carbon copies. Once you understand the source of your reaction to specific anxiety filled events, you will be better able to handle panic attacks that are threatening your peace of mind.  

You´ve experienced a panic attack and have probably been terrified by the experience. The rapid heartbeat, the difficulty breathing, the sweating, the tightness in your chest and the tension of your muscles throughout your body probably lead you to believe that the emergency room was necessary.

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Dealing with the aftermath of a panic attack is not easy. After this incredibly disturbing episode, it´s difficult to concentrate on anything but avoiding a repeat episode. The fear of being stricken again is enough to cause avoidance of a range of different activities, even activities you once enjoyed. Regaining your confidence is an important first step in dealing with anxiety and its consequences. 

The beginning stages of a panic attack are unmistakable. Your muscles start to tighten up with tension, your heart starts to race, your brow begins to sweat and you have trouble breathing.

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Panic Disorder is a serious problem and a condition recognized by the American Psychiatric Association that affects millions of Americans. This condition takes a panic attack a step further. Not only must you have experienced two or more attacks, you must also have had those attacks followed by a prolonged period of excessive worry over the possibility of another attack occurring. 

Anxiety attacks don’t occur because you are obsessing over something but rather they happen spontaneously, out of the blue, in places and among people you wouldn’t ordinarily associate with extreme apprehension. That is what makes these episodes so scary, the sheer unpredictability can be very troubling and cause the worry that turns these isolated instances into a disorder. 

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Panic attacks can strike at any time in our lives. They can initiate in childhood, young adulthood or when we are fully grown adults. Regardless of when they occur, they are shocking, terrifying events that leave many people doubting their physical and mental health. Many people think they are going crazy or in the throes of death. This problem, experienced by millions of Americans, leaves strong residual feelings of anxiety that have a profound affect on our lives. 

Panic attacks are one of the truly scary events in life. An attack can involve any number of terrifying symptoms, some of which include, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, sweating, choking, numbness, particularly in the extremities, hot flashes, dizziness and a general fear that you are out of control or losing your mind. 

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Panic attacks are frightening! They are worse than being chased by Mike Meyers or pursued by Freddy Krueger. These acute episodes are particularly frightening because they can strike so unexpectedly. 

The symptoms and effects of severe anxiety can mirror actual medical problems, leading you to fear for your very life. Moreover, you lose control during an attack and can easily become the source of ridicule. The humiliation that people who contend with this problem feel is one of the main reasons that their lifestyles are so dramatically affected by this condition.

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One day, you wake up, look around and realize that your life has spun out of control.  Your life, once so normal has become like a nightmare. Your job, your personal life, your family, your peace of mind has all been disturbed and you feel powerless to make any change or improvement.
 
The source of this disturbance is the anxiety that has invaded your life and come home to roost in a seemingly permanent manner.
 
Everyone experiences panic; we would simply be robots if we didn’t. While these feelings of distress may be normal in small, isolated doses, they should not be a pervasive, all consuming fire that threatens your sanity with every step and action.

For anxiety sufferers, the feelings of distress are constant companions that cannot be shaken, that cannot be reasoned with and cannot be easily tamed. The resulting stress from having to contend with such an overwhelming dread leaves many sufferers exhausted and miserable
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Sustained angst can have physical manifestations that can severely affect your health.  Some of these affects include:

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