Treating Anxiety
Anxiety is a normal reaction to stress. It may help a person to deal with a difficult situation, for example at work or at school, by prompting one to cope with it. When anxiety becomes excessive, it may fall under the classification of an anxiety disorder. Anxiety can be accompanied by physical effects such as heart palpitations, nausea, chest pain, shortness of breath, stomach aches, or headaches. Treating anxiety take knowledge and a sensible approach to prevention.
Treating anxiety begins with understanding it's cause. Physically, the body prepares the organism to deal with a threat. Blood pressure and heart rate are increased, sweating is increased, bloodflow to the major muscle groups is increased, and immune and digestive system functions are inhibited (the fight or flight response). External signs of anxiety may include pale skin, sweating, trembling, and pupillary dilation. Someone suffering from anxiety might also experience it as a sense of dread or panic.
Magnesium deficiency is more common than you might expect, and when treating anxiety this must be taken into acount; surveys indicate that approximately 10 percent of "normal" individuals have less than normal blood levels of magnesium. E.B. Flink, author of "Magnesium Deficiency in Human Subjects: A Personal Historical Perspective," has listed numerous causes of magnesium deficiency. He classifies them into nutritional causes (dietary insufficiency, alcoholism); intestinal causes (diarrhea, malabsorption); excess loss of magnesium through the kidneys (due to disease or the influence of drugs, especially diuretics); endocrine and metabolism causes (hyperthyroidism, pregnancy, excessive lactation, high levels of serum calcium); and genetic and neonatal causes.
Although panic attacks are not experienced by every anxiety sufferer, they are a common symptom. Panic attacks usually come without warning, and although the fear is generally irrational, the perception of danger is very real. A person experiencing a panic attack will often feel as if he or she is about to die or pass out. Panic attacks may be confused with heart attacks.