Posts Tagged ‘heart attack’

Stress Management 101: Learn To Take Care Of Your Mind

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Stress Management 101: Learn To Take Care Of Your Mind And Body

In today’s world, it seems that almost any topic is open for debate. While I was gathering facts for this article, I was quite surprised to find some of the issues I thought were settled are actually still being openly discussed.

Stress can greatly stir our body’s normal function; especially if we dont pay attention to the warning signs. Parallel if we deny the sensations we are feeling on our bodies, we can surely stroke that our physical and mental state is breaking down. It is very important for an respective to learn to watch out for the warning signs that stress is already taking control of your system and you need to learn the ways to take care of your body to avoid a total breakdown.

Watch Out For The Danger Signs

Stress often starts out in our minds before it starts to show some cipher on our bodies. Keep in mind that both are linked and one leave show some effects of the other. A stress – free mind is often linked to an unavailable and healthy body, but a mind riddled with problems will surely result to a deteriorating health.

It is very important for a person to watch out for danger symbols you’re body is nearing the limits of its tolerance to stress. Often times, we will feel some minor aches and pains in various parts of our body when your mind is getting burdened with outright the stress and problems it is subjected to. If left unchecked, it might result to sleeping and behavioral problems, lack of breath, or even a potential heart attack when it is already above the danger level.

Mentally Covering With Stress

The mind shows the first signs of stress and will later let slip itself to your emotional and physical state when left unchecked. Incarnate is requisite that we learn how to calm our minds when under the throes of stress and learn to focus our thoughts in order to push the problems out and learn to relax when you need to.

This might take some effort if it’s your first time to undertake stress management. But there are some techniques you can use to simplify the progress and helps you learn it bit by vivacity. You can start by listening to your favorite air to help focus your thoughts. Try singing along with the lyrics or hum the tune to yourself to divert your attention away from your problems.

Breathing Exercise

Another method is to focus on your breathing. You can start some exercises which involves breathing in and out in specific intervals. This might take some getting used to on your introductory try but you cede be able to focus on your breathing immediately after some practice.

And, this exercise will ensure that your body, as well as your mind bequeath get enough oxygen for it to function properly. We usually hyperventilate or suffer short breathing when stressed so it’s best to practice some breathing exercise to help you cope with it.

Eat The Right Fast food To Fight Stress

We need to take care of what we eat if you plan to fight stress head – on. It is essential that our body gets enough nutrients for it to function properly and avoid a breakdown when our mind is getting bombarded with problems. Avoid eating foods that are high in cholesterol and try to focus more on integrating a healthy lifestyle of fruits and vegetables. You might not know it, but healthy foods can also help you in dealing with stress. Closest all, if you’re not burdened with body pains so you can focus extra in helping your mind cope with substantive.

Don’t limit yourself by refusing to learn the details about stress. The more you know, the easier it will be to focus on what’s important.

Panic Attacks Out With the Myths

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Misinformation does not only create vague pictures of a condition but will also likely cause people to believe things that do not actually exist. Among those conditions that typically receive serious amounts of myths are psychological and behavioral disorders, partly because psychological conditions are often hard to understand and seem mysterious. In this article, we would try to debug the myths of one of the more common behavioral conditionspanic attacks.

People with panic attacks are crazy. Crazy is never a good term for people with psychological conditions and people with panic attacks are hardly crazy. They may seem deranged and a bit psychotic for some people when they experience attacks of panic and terror but this does not suggest that they are.

As if to add to the insult, people with panic attacks are sometimes perceived to have schizophrenia, the most advanced form of psychosis which is marked by severe auditory and visual hallucination as well as aggravated delusions and dysfunctional thoughts. Clearly, there is no relationship between people who feel like they are “going crazy” when undergoing attacks and people who have advanced (and even minor) psychological conditions.

People with panic attacks lose control. Wrong. Panic attacks do not rob a person his sense of control. While a person’s thoughts may seem distorted for a while during attacks due to physical symptoms that lend themselves towards this possibility such as shortness of breath and heart attack-like symptoms, this does not mean that the person is losing grip of the reality. Anxiety which normally accompanies panic attacks is a body’s way to tell you that something is going wrong. Since this is a defense mechanism, it is not dangerous to anyone, not even the person undergoing the panic attack.

It is good to remember that panic attack happens only in the mind, it may, in fact, be unnoticeable for people surrounding the person during the attack. What exacerbates the attack is the person’s conscious thought that it could cause embarrassment or harm to other people. It is the sense of losing control of one’s self that makes the condition worse, a thought that is manufactured in the brain, never the total lack of sense of control.

People with panic attacks have chronic heart disorders. While this may be partly true due to the link between mitral valve prolapse and panic attacks, this does not make the assertion entirely valid. People have good reasons to believe that they are having heart attacks or heart failures when they experience episodes of panic attacks since some of the symptoms of both conditions are similar. But such symptoms are perfectly rational when seen from the viewpoint of elevated fear.

For example, people subjected under conditions that stimulate fear experience tightening of the chest, faster heart beat, profuse perspiration, shortness of breath and increased respiration. All these signs are also symptoms of heart attacks which make it easy for most people to believe that instead of having a disorder of the mind, they are having dysfunctional hearts. But then again, similarity in symptoms does not make two completely different conditions alike.

Myths often offer a semblance of the reality that is not hard to believe in. But do not be fooled. Knowing what is the exact truth and not the half lies may serve you well when dealing with conditions that root from and are aggravated by thoughts.

Help Someone Having a Panic Attack

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Panic attacks often occur to anyone without warning. So whenever someone had an attack, it is important that you know what to do.

Understand what a panic attack is. A panic attack is a sudden surge of overwhelming fear or anxiety. It is manifested by several signs and symptoms. During an attack, a person experiences increased heartbeat or palpitation, chest pain, hyperventilation or shortness of breath, stomach churning, upset stomach, trembling and shaking, muscle tension, sweating, dizziness and light-headedness, hot or cold flashes, tingling sensation or numbness, fear of dying, going crazy or losing control and feeling detached from the surroundings.

Seek for emergency medical help. It is important to call for a health professional especially if a person experiences an attack for the first time.

Identify the cause of the symptoms. The signs and symptoms of panic attack are similar to medical conditions. Hyperventilation or shortness of breath can be a sign of asthma. Chest pain, increased heartbeat or palpitation and sweating can be a heart attack. Talk to the person and determine if the symptoms are caused by other medical conditions. When in doubt, a health professional will be a great help.

While waiting for help, find the cause of attack. Once it is established that the cause of the symptoms is really a panic attack, find the source of the panic and take the person away from it. Do not make an assumption about what the person needs. A person who is suffering from the attack may know exactly what to do or has medications which will get him through the attack, so it is best to ask.

Don’t surprise the patient. Be predictable with your movements. Do not grab, hold or restrain. Keep him calm and stay calm yourself. Reassure the person that everything is going to be fine but do not dismiss his fear by saying “it’s all in your mind” or “don’t worry about it” or “you are overreacting.” Take note that the fear is very real to the victim so it dismissing the fear has no effect or can even make the matter worse.

Help the patient to control his breathing. Many patients breathe heavily during an attack; others hold their breath. Using deep breathing technique is a very effective way to purge the symptoms of a panic attack as well as calm the patient down. Guide the person and tell him to breathe in for 3 slow counts. Then ask him to hold his breath for 3 slow counts and breathe out for another 3 slow counts. Do this several times until the person is calm. You can also advice him to breathe into a paper bag. This way, he will re-breathe his carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide helps correct the blood acid level that had been disturbed by excessive breathing. But be careful when using paper bags since they may trigger another fear.

Stay with the person throughout his ordeal. Never leave a person especially if he is having difficulty in breathing. Be patient. They may act rude or unfriendly but remember that it is temporary and will go back to normal as soon as the attack is over.

Do not forget that for the patient, the thoughts are real. Reassure him the help is on the way. Never allow the patient to do things that will put his life at risk.