What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is a normal feeling and it is the feeling of panic or fear. When we face stressful situations, our trigger or our anxiety can be triggered / set off.
Anxiety is when our brain is trying to tell our body to run away because it is a stressful situation and we start to panic as we are trying to get away from it. It can be caused by worring – it can be about small things but we find that they are taking over or it can be big things that we need to get a hold on.
What are the symptoms of anxiety?
You might start out just feeling generally anxious, but if your symptoms get worse or last longer than they should, it could be time to get some support. Symptoms include:
- feeling nervous, on edge, or panicky all the time
- feeling overwhelmed or full of dread
- feeling out of control
- having trouble sleeping
- low appetite
- finding it difficult to concentrate
- feeling tired and grumpy
- heart beating really fast or thinking you’re having a heart attack
- having a dry mouth
- trembling
- feeling faint
- stomach cramps and/or diarrhoea/needing to pee more than usual
- sweating more than usual
- wobbly legs
- getting very hot
If you experience any of these symptoms above, it doesn’t mean you definitely have an anxiety problem. However, if any of them are affecting your everyday life, it’s a good idea to tell someone you trust about how you’re feeling.
What do we do about anxiety?
Anxiety can be a sign that something that is going on in your life is not right and it might mean that you just need some time to figure it out. If you are feeling like you are out of control, then you should seek help from your doctor.
How to treat anxiety?
There is no magical cure for anxiety as everyone has it differently. A few tips are to focus on yourself – we all love a little self care whether it might be going a walk to having a nice bath – take some time back for yourself. You will find that if you focus on getting yourself back to feeling better, then the problem doesn’t seem to be as bad as it was to start with and then you are in the mind frame to tackle it clearly and happily. Also, meditation can be a good way to centre yourself and find your inner calm.
A useful method is un-boxing your feelings. Write down what is bothering you and draw a box around your feelings and then that feeling is trapped. When you are ready to face that problem, then take away on of the lines. Trapping your problem can be a great way to move on from the problem and let you focus on what you need to do to be able to focus on you to be able to fix it.
But if you feel that you cannot cope and it is taking over then you should seek doctor help.
Accessing Support at College…
We all struggle with mental health at times – it is just like when we get sick. Trust your instincts – if you feel that you need help, then seek help. You know you best!
All students at DGC have access to Spectrum Life.
Spectrum Life is a game changing mental health and wellbeing solution to improve health and wellbeing.
Through Spectrum Life you have 24/7 access to mental health and wellbeing support, which can be initiated via WhatsApp, SMS, email and requesting a call back.
