Posts Tagged ‘Sympathetic Nervous System’
Learn the Most Typical Signs Of Anxiety Attacks
July 19th, 2009
The signs of anxiety attacks will vary quite a bit between people. In addition to that, the severity of the symptoms will be different as well.
This article will discuss the most common signs of anxiety attacks, how to tell the difference between this condition and other conditions that mimic it, as well as the most successful treatments for panic attacks.
Before we cover the signs of anxiety attacks, though, we first need to briefly talk about what occurs with this condition so the symptoms and treatments make sense.
Within healthcare, a panic attack is actually classified as a psychological problem. But this is actually not completely true, because this condition is actually more of a problem with the nervous system than it is mental.
Stress is the most common trigger, but panic attacks actually occur because of the way the individual’s nervous system responds to that stress.
Basically, a person who suffers with panic attacks experiences a much more intense reaction to what would make many of us nervous. In order to understand this, we need to first have an understanding of the parts of the nervous system that are involved when we experience stress.
They are called the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS). Instead of making this boring like a text book, let me tell you a story to explain how this works.
Let’s say that a bear enters the room as you’re reading this article. Your brain will perceive the bear as stress, because it threatens your life (and I don’t know about you, but I’m a little on the chunky side, so I’d make a pretty good meal for that bear).
Your brain is hard-wired to survive, so at this moment, it has to make a decision – do you run from the bear or fight it? Either way, the body needs to be ready for this extra activity, so your brain will turn on the Sympathetic Nervous System.
This part of your nervous system prepares your body to either fight or flee – so your blood pressure raises (you need lots of oxygen going to the muscles so they can make you run fast or fight), your heart beats faster, you breathe more deeply, and many other things.
Once the bear is gone, the brain turns on the other part of the nervous system that I mentioned (the Parasympathetic Nervous System), which does the opposite – it calms you down.
When an individual suffers with panic attacks, this response is intensified – so, there might only be 1 bear in the room, but your brain thinks there’s actually 5 bears. This is where the problem exists.
So, with that said, what are the signs of anxiety attacks? Well, the signs of anxiety attacks are different for each person, and they can be experienced to different degrees.
Some people will have very minor panic attacks, so may not even realize what is occurring. Others have full-blown, very intense attacks that make them fear they may be dying.
Click here (signs of anxiety attacks) to continue reading this article, where you’ll discover the most common signs of anxiety attacks, as well as the most successful treatments available for relief from this health problem.
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