anxiety Archives - Center for Holistic Medicine

Have you ever been stressed about going on a job interview and felt butterflies in your stomach? Or felt so worried about relationship problems or financial fears that you start to feel nauseous?

It’s no secret that our mental health can have a direct impact on our physical health, yet many people don’t realize just how much anxiety and stress can make our physical pain even worse.

“Stress, fear and anxiety definitely have an impact on someone’s physical health,” says Dr. Mitchell Katz, a chiropractor at the Center for Holistic Medicine. “Stress is that hidden factor that sometimes is difficult to identify but is always lurking in the shadows.”

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, people with anxiety often also suffer from chronic pain disorders, such as fibromyalgia, migraines, back pain, and arthritis.

And a 2008 study published in the journal Depression and Anxiety said that patients who complained of muscle pain, headache or stomach pain were 2.5 to 10 times more likely to screen positively for generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder or major depression disorder.

But why, exactly, does stress and anxiety lead to physical pain?

The reason is two-fold: muscle tension and hormones.

According to the American Institute of Stress, when we are stressed, our muscles tense up, causing tension headaches and migraines as well as pain in the neck, back and shoulders.

Stress and anxiety also triggers our hormones to have a stress response, causing them to pump more adrenaline and cortisol into our blood stream. And this leads to inflammation, which has been linked to everything from irritable bowel syndrome to increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, fibromyalgia, arthritis and more.

Sometimes, having physical pain can actually be the cause of people’s anxiety as well, especially when they’re worried about how bad the pain will be, how long it will last and how much it may cost them in medical bills.

That’s one of the reasons Dr. Katz says he always tries to be positive with his patients and focus on how they will be able to get better, rather than amping up their fear.

“Doctors can create anxiety in a patient without even realizing it,” he says.

For example, Dr. Katz says he remembers one time when a teenage girl came into his office who had been told she had a bad case of scoliosis. “She came in hunched over with her shoulders rounded. Her body language basically screamed, ‘I have scoliosis. I’m ruined,’” he said.

Dr. Katz examined her spine, and then said, “I gotta tell you, just looking at you visually, whatever the degree of curvature you might have, I suspect that the x-rays will show it to be extremely minor.”

As soon as she heard the good news, it seemed like her pain miraculously disappeared, all because she wasn’t filled with anxiety anymore. “She left the office a completely different person,” he said.

That’s what made Katz realize how powerful an affect fears can have on our bodies.

“The mind is a very powerful instrument and it can be very helpful and it can be very problematic,” he says.

Want to relieve your pain by reducing your anxiety? Here are a few things to try:

Deep Breathing
Learning how to breathe deeply from your diaphragm and how to slowly and methodically count your inhales and exhales is a wonderful way of calming the body and reducing stress. Try breathing in for four and breathing out for a count of four, repeating until you feel very relaxed.
Mindfulness Meditation
Meditation is free, easy to do and you can do it pretty much anywhere, so there’s no excuse not to try it. Simply sit upright on a chair and set your timer for a few minutes. Try to empty your mind of its normal worry and chatter and instead focus on what is going on in the present moment – the sound of a car going by, the sound of the air conditioner, the feeling of your feet on the ground.
Yoga
Stretching doesn’t just feel good – it is beneficial, too. Stretching helps increase blood flow throughout the body and can help release toxins and reduce inflammation that may be causing pain. Read more about the benefits of yoga.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
To do this technique, focus on one part of your body and try to squeeze it as much as you can. Then release it until it is fully relaxed. Then repeat with all of the other parts of your body until you feel completely relaxed.
Schedule an Appointment with a Therapist
Often, our worries can loom large in our heads, but when we share them with others, we can get a new perspective and feel less anxiety. Talking with a therapist one-on-one is a great way of feeling more grounded and can help relieve both physical and mental pain.

When you’re feeling depressed and anxious, seeking support from a therapist is always a good idea. But sometimes, there may be physical reasons that you’re feeling depressed and anxious, too. Turns out that our modern lifestyle – stress, an overload of medications, and unhealthy diets – affects the health of our gut, which can have a big impact on our moods.

“The gut is sometimes considered the second brain,” says Katie Bogaard, a naturopathic practitioner at the Center for Holistic Medicine. “In fact, more serotonin is produced in your gut than in your brain.”

According on a 2015 article in the New York Times, micro-organisms in your gut secrete chemicals – such as dopamine, serotonin, and gamma aminobutyric acid (GAMA) – which are used in our brains to regulate our mood.

However, in order for your gut to produce the right neurotransmitters to keep anxiety and depression at bay, your gut has to have the right level of gut flora. When this gut flora is out of balance – by taking too many antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, or other medications – our guts can’t make the needed neurotransmitters, leaving us feeling depressed.

Stress can also contribute to leaky gut syndrome, also known as intestinal permeability, which is when toxins from your gut escape through tiny holes in your intestinal walls and get into your blood stream. Studies have shown that your body’s immune system response to those toxins can also cause depression.

“Our modern lifestyle — stress, the standard American diet, and antimicrobial and antibiotic use — can make us all at risk for intestinal permeability,” Bogaard says. “And once someone has intestinal permeability, it sets them up to be susceptible to a slew of different issues, including depression and anxiety.”

Of course, your diet plays a big part in affecting your mood as well.

“When you’re depressed and not feeling well, people will reach for comfort foods like carbohydrates and simple sugars that generate serotonin when serotonin is low in your brain,” Bogaard explains.

Unfortunately, while eating those comfort foods do make us feel momentarily better, they actually cause more harm than good. As soon as the sugar high is gone, we feel depressed again.

Why? Because in addition to causing our blood sugar to spike and then crash, sugars and refined carbohydrates use up B vitamins to create energy – the same B vitamins we need to sustain good moods.

In fact, studies have shown that diets high in sugar, fat and processed foods are linked to higher instances of depression, while diets consisting of lean meats, fish, whole grains, nuts and veggies can improve our moods.

So what are some ways that you can change your diet to avoid feelings of depression? Here are a few suggestions (and make sure to consult your doctor before getting off of any anti-depressants):

Avoid Sugar
As mentioned above, sugar can wreak havoc on our moods by taking us on and endless cycle of ups and downs throughout the day. Avoid refined sugar and opt instead for whole fruits, which provide fiber that can help delay blood sugar spikes.
Avoid Caffeine
Did you know that caffeine has a direct impact on our neurotransmitters? It increases dopamine and acetylcholine, making us feel more alert and motivated. But it also decreases GABA, which is designed to calm our thoughts when they’re racing out of control. So with less GABA, we’re likely to feel more anxious. Plus, if you’re someone who likes to put sugar in your coffee, you’re facing even more crash-and-burn feelings.
Eat Protein at Every Meal
Bogaard says combining protein with whole grains at each meal is a great way of keeping your blood sugar more stable throughout the day and avoid the mood roller coaster.
Eat a Healthy Breakfast
“People who don’t start their day well balanced will be craving sugar all day,” Bogaard says. Ditch the Danish or cereal for an omelet with veggies to feel full and balanced throughout the morning.
Get Lots of Vitamin B and D
Both vitamin B and vitamin D deficiencies have been linked to depression, so it’s important to get enough of both of them in your diet. Make sure to fill up on lean proteins like chicken and fish, as well as lentils, almonds and spinach to get enough vitamin B, and spend time in the sun to soak up more vitamin D.
Take a Supplement
Bogaard recommends taking either tryptophan or 5HTP, both of which can boost your serotonin levels, or taking a combination supplement such as Cerenity for anxiety or Cerevive for depression, both of which contain several different nutrients that support the production of neurotransmitters in your brain. However, if you’re already on an antidepressant, be sure to consult your doctor before taking any additional supplements.

Are you feeling overwhelmed with work, relationships, and life? Go take a hike.

Studies have shown that spending time in nature can not only help with depression and anxiety but also lower our blood pressure, reduce our risk of diabetes, heart disease, asthma and more.

“Taking a hike and getting away from the grind and the hamster wheel of life helps people clear their minds and their bodies,” says Daniel Levi, LCPC, a mental health counselor at the Center for Holistic Medicine.

Although scientists aren’t sure exactly why taking a hike in the woods is beneficial — is it increased oxygen? a positive association with the color green? — the benefits to your mental health are well proven.

According to a 2015 study from the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, people who walked for 90 minutes in a natural area, as opposed to an urban area, showed decreased activity in a region of the brain associated with a key factor in depression. And an earlier study by the same researchers found that taking a 50-minute walk in a natural area vs. and urban area helped reduce levels of anxiety and rumination.

Similarly, a Japanese study at Chiba University found that when volunteers took a 15-minute walk in the woods vs. the city, they had a 16 percent drop in the stress hormone cortisol, a 2 percent drop in blood pressure and a 4 percent drop in heart rate.

Levi says taking a hike in nature can help you on both a physical and emotional level. Here are 5 reasons why taking a hike is good for your anxiety.

Exercise is Good For Your Brain
Doing any sort of physical exercise is important in maintaining proper brain functioning. Exercise increases blood flow to your brain and increases serotonin levels, which works like a natural antidepressant.“Sometimes I joke with my clients that they need 15 mg of exercise a day,” Levi says.Many health care professionals recommend doing 25 to 30 minutes of moderate intensity cardio three times a week for optimal mental health — anything from hiking and biking to swimming, rowing, water aerobics and yoga. However, if you suffer from intense anxiety, Levi says it’s best to avoid any cardio workout that’s too intense because that can trigger a fight-or-flight response and actually increase your anxiety.
Hiking Helps You Connect With Your Spirituality
While any cardio workout is good for your brain, finding a way to combine your workout with spending time in nature is even better because you will be able to slow your mind down and connect with your spiritual side.“The more a person connects with themselves spiritually, the better they feel,” he says. “When a person connects to their spiritual self they feel more grounded and clearer, and for many people nature has the effect of drawing them back to their inner root. Hiking in nature can help people hear their own inner voice and get clear about what needs to change and who they are.”Levi says when we feel anxious, we feel isolated and disconnected from others, and being in nature can make us feel more connected to the larger world, even when we’re alone. “The natural environment can bring us back to unity and harmony, helping us find our place here,” he says.In fact, when Levi was 16 he did a four-month backpacking trip in Utah and Colorado, and by the end, he says he never felt so clear about his own heart and mind. “I remember that they made us go to 24 hours solo,” he says. “Alone in the forest with nobody else around was scary ‏but very awakening.”
It’s Close… And Free
You don’t have to fly to Colorado or hike up a mountain to feel connected to nature; just head to the beach or a nearby forest preserve. “I’m surprised at how many people don’t know about the Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve or the Openlands Lakeshore Preserve in Highwood,” Levi says. “You don’t have to drive all the way to Michigan to get back to nature.”
It Helps You Let Go of Your Worries
Levi says by getting out of the house and away from social media and the hamster wheel of life, you can begin to be freed from the worries and thoughts that are in your mind.However, be careful to really make yourself present in the moment. Be sure to turn off your cell phone and make a conscious choice to let go of your worries for a few minutes.“One of my favorite spiritual teachers says, ‘You are where your thoughts are, so make sure your thoughts are where you want to be,’” Levi says. “Just because you’ve left the stressful environment doesn’t mean you’re not still there!”To get the maximum benefit from your hike, Levi recommends taking a deep breath and saying an intention out loud before you start. “Say something like, ‘I’m going to take 10 minutes to connect with myself.’”
It Gives You Perspective
If you do get the chance to go on a more dramatic hike, there’s nothing quite like reaching a lookout point and peering down into the valley below. “When you hit one of those bigger peaks, it’s like ‘woah,’” Levi says. “You really feel a sense of accomplishment and it gives you a sense of perspective so you can really see the forest for the trees.”If you’re having trouble getting started, Levi recommends using the “Just Show Up” tool. If you can’t commit to taking a hike for 30-minutes three times a week, Levi suggests committing to going to the forest preserve or park, getting out of your car for 30 seconds, and then going home. He says those who do that for a week to 10 days will almost always find they can get started in building a regular exercise habit.“I’ve yet to see anyone come back and regret that they took the time to do so,” he says.

Interested in hiking? Join Daniel Levi’s new “Hike Off Your Anxiety Group” starting in mid-May. The group will go on hikes in a forest preserve near the Center for Holistic Medicine on weekday mornings. (Specific days and times TBD). Call 847-236-1701 or email info@holistic-medicine.com to sign up!

Daniel Levi, LCPC, is a full-time psychotherapist at the Center for Holistic Medicine. He works with clients suffering from anxiety, depression, relationship problems and much more. He uses a cognitive approach, but also integrates many other techniques and modalities from a wide variety of therapies and spiritual traditions.

Tag: anxiety

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How Your Gut Can Affect Your Mood

How Taking a Hike Can Help with Anxiety