The symptoms of anxiety and stress are driven by the same chemical reaction (adrenalin/cortisol release).

Stress is a normal response to a perceived threat and anxiety is largely caused by worry.

 In fact, ‘anxiety’ and ‘stress’ are just two different words to describe virtually the same experience - the symptoms of a higher heart rate, sweaty palms, churning stomach, inability to concentrate, reliance on stimulates such as alcohol, smoking or food to relax and let go and remove the discomfort.  All these symptoms, and others, are explained by the physiological changes that occur when the mind and body experience stress or anxiety.

If there is one difference between anxiety and stress, it is that anxiety is usually perceived as more short-term, whereas stress can last for weeks, months, or even years. The body has no way of telling the difference between an imagined threat and a real one. 

Can the mind create symptoms of anxiety and stress?

In short, the answer is yes.  Have you ever had the experience of thinking that you are late for work or you simply need to be somewhere at a specific time?  The heart starts to race, you feel uptight, short of breath, irritated, in a frenzy, become impatient and short tempered with others or even yourself. 

You start rushing around like a “bull in a china shop” trying to get ready, and suddenly you stop and check the time on the clock and you become aware that it can’t really be the time that you think it is as it is still dark outside. You check what time it is again and realise that it isn’t time to get up as yet.  So you settle down again and relax.

Thinking that you were late sent alarm signals to your body and it went into overdrive.  Your system went into stress mode, anxiety causing symptoms such as racing heart, churning stomach, sweating, etc just as if you were facing a real threat.  When you realised that all was well and you had not overslept your whole body calmed down.

Anxiety makes your body think that there is a real danger, it is the thought that produces the feelings and of course the body responds with the symptoms.  This can be disturbing on many levels, another example is:

• if you are in a shop, a meeting or chatting to an old friend - your heart will begin to race, your palms get sweaty, and clear thinking will become impossible as your brain makes you focus on the source of the threat. The longer term effect is the suppression of the digestive system, immune system difficulties and suppressed sex drive as these are considered by the body to be long term survival needs and are shut down or reduced in the short terms in aid to support the body.

That worrying thought that creates anxiety causes uncomfortable feelings as well as physical symptoms:

• Feelings of not being able to cope;
• Not able to think logically, clearly or to resolve concerns;
• Lack of concentration;
• Thoughts that you will pass out or say something ridiculous;
• That you want to escape and run away;
• And that you are worthless, no good and hopeless.

Stress symptoms make us stronger, more aware and stupid!

To defend ourselves or our family we need to be able to respond immediately with extra energy and strength so your body prepares you to stand and fight or run with flight.  It does this by:

• Increasing your levels of oxygen levels within the body and assist in taking more blood to your limbs so that they are stronger;
• Constricting the blood vessels so they can pump more blood and oxygen;
• Heightening your senses so you can hear, smell and see better;
• Stopping you accessing your rational mind so you act on instinct instead of thinking things through;
• Suspending all non-essential functioning - you don’t need to digest food or have sex if you are in ‘defend and protect’ mode; and
• Bypassing your conscious mind as your brain prepares for immediate action

With your body ready for action you become faster and stronger – for example - a middle aged woman had a ceiling collapse on her whilst relaxing in the bath and managed to force the door open when two burly ambulance men had been unable to move it!

How to reduce your stress and anxiety symptoms:

A way to reduce symptoms of stress and anxiety is to change the way that you think and feel about situations – this will then change the chemical message that your body receives and this will switch off the fight or flight response and your body will become calm.

Hypnotherapy can assist greatly in reducing the fight/flight response, therefore, through guidance and hypnotherapy Karen will be able to assist you with ways to over

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As humans, we have developed incredibly amazing imaginations that we use to tell ourselves how things could have been different in the past, or how they could be different in the future.

If we don’t perform well at a particular task or activity, it’s only natural to think of all the “most wonderful solutions” that could have been offered after the event is over or if we are having financial difficulties, it makes sense to fantasize about the different ways one could earn extra money or if you are like most people, if we cross paths with someone that we really like and would like to have a relationship with, we can imagine what it would be like to go out with them and develop that relationship.  We imagine things that are ‘not reality’ all of the time, the imagination can help us learn from our mistakes, be more creative about solutions to problems, and inspire us to take action.

However, there are a couple of problems that can arise from wanting reality to be different from how it actually is. The most obvious problem is, if there is no possibility of changing things. If someone has passed away, you cannot wish them back to life, if you twist your ankle the day before you are due to run a marathon, you cannot safely run that marathon without the risk of further injury, or when a relationship breaks down, there might be things you could do to overcome the difficulties and re-establish the relationship, however, there is also a real possibility that the relationship is over.

Refusing to accept reality in these situations and furiously imagining how you want things to be different, is a waste of mental and emotional energy on an unsolvable problem.  It is like setting a computer an impossible task and getting it to churn away on the process night and day until it overheats and breaks down.  Resisting reality in these situations only wears down one’s resilience.

The second problem that may occur with wanting reality to be different is that even when there are things that can be done to improve a situation, a person can end up making things a lot harder on themselves by worrying too much about it.  To return to the “task/activity” example, if you don’t do it well the first few times, it’s useful to give some time and thought as to how you could do it better next time, however, if you are continuously beating yourself up for days or even weeks later, getting all tensed up, filled with guilt about it night and day, then you are over straining the mental computer again, and you are likely to make yourself less creative, less optimistic, and less productive than you would otherwise be.

Also, accepting reality doesn’t mean lying down and resigning yourself to anything that happens. Even when trying to cope with one of our many battles in life, if you can accept that some parts of the situation aren’t going to work out as you would like and readapt and change the way you work with the situation, it is still possible to go on to win the battle.  For example: you can accept the present reality of a financial loss and still plan for exactly how you will recover from that loss in the future.                                                                                                                   

Therefore, allow hypnotherapy and counselling to assist you to:

learn to rein in that problem-solving, fantasising part of yourself and bring it under your direction. This fantasising part of the brain can be very useful much of the time, however, it can also be a terrible leader.  As much as it is interesting and sometimes useful to know how reality could be different, things in life are most effective when you are able to calmly accept how reality is right now and then creatively and intelligently make plans for how you want things to go in the future.

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Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Vegetarian

Frittatas are one of my favourite dishes, and I am forever playing around with the endless possibilities of ingredients and flavours. This particular recipe came about due to a craving for pizza (!) and a die-hard commitment to keeping things clean and healthy. So, frittata and pizza gave birth to Frittazza! I promise it will hit the spot. All the flavours are there, just without the crust! And of course, packed with highly bioavailable egg protein… it’s a winner for breakfast, lunch or dinner! 

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

• 12 organic eggs
• 35g goat’s feta
• Olive oil for sautéing
• ½ brown onion, peeled and sliced
• 100g bocconcini or buffalo mozzarella, sliced
• 50g semi sundried tomatoes, halved lengthways
• 5 pitted Kalamata olives, sliced
• 8-10 fresh basil leaves
• Pinch dried chili flakes
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Crack eggs into a mixing bowl and beat. Add the feta and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Heat a little olive oil in a deep oven proof frying pan approximately 28cm diameter. Add the onion and sauté for 3 minutes or until translucent.

With the frying pan still on medium heat, pour the egg mixture on top. Arrange the bocconcini (or buffalo mozzarella), sundried tomatoes, olives and basil leaves on top. Sprinkle with chili flakes.

Transfer pan into the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until eggs are cooked through.

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.

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