5 habits to learn how to control your nerves on a daily basis.

Several routines and habits to enhance the ability to control nerves.

Stress and anxiety are social, medical and psychological problems that require urgent social attention. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), some 260 million people worldwide suffer from some kind of anxiety-related problem. The pathological variant of this spectrum (generalized anxiety disorder or GAD) has a prevalence of 5%, or in other words, 5 out of every 100 people at any given time and place suffer from chronic anxiety for 6 months or more.

Anxiety is not only a physiological state that involves certain unpleasant sensations, but also translates into physical symptoms.. For example, the cortisol released during moments of continuous nervousness acts as an immunosuppressant, which results in increased vulnerability of the patient to infections. Prolonged stress also promotes sudden movements in the intestinal musculature, so abdominal pain is a very common symptom in these conditions.

From sleep problems to physical weakness, nervousness can manifest itself in the individual in a myriad of ways. Fortunately, this condition can be addressed: discover with us 5 habits to learn to control the nerves in your day to day..

Controlling nerves through new habits

Nervousness is defined as a temporary state of nervous excitement. When we are in an extreme situation (either physical or emotional), the hormone adrenaline acts on the body, by increasing heart rate, constricting Blood vessels, dilating airways and participating in the fight reaction of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). (SNS).

Cortisol promotes lipid, carbohydrate and protein metabolism, depresses the immune system and increases blood glucose levels. In the short to medium term, these hormones prepare us to sharpen our senses, flee or fight in a moment of danger. As you can see the physiological basis of nerves is completely normal at the evolutionary level.The body prepares us for a difficult moment.

However, if this condition is sustained or too powerful, it can become a problem. To avoid reaching the chronic limit, it is important to adopt habits that allow you to control your nerves more easily.

1. Exercise

During physical exercise, endorphins are released that cause well-being. In addition, due to the concentration required to maintain breathing and physical rhythm, sport helps patients to break negative thought cycles, due to the concentration required to maintain breathing and physical rhythm, sport helps patients to break the negative thought cycles that are generating nerves and anxiety in the first instance.

It should be noted that nervousness can translate into unconscious hyperventilation (breathing faster than normal), something known as respiratory anxiety. Exercising helps to normalize the rate of breaths per minute, as it is necessary to control the breathing rate perfectly during physical activity so as not to run out of air. While exercising, you become aware of your own breathing and modulate it.

2. Reduce your caffeine intake

Caffeine is an alkaloid that stimulates the central nervous system (CNS).. This compound increases blood pressure, acts as a diuretic (helps urination), promotes the release of acid in the stomach and, above all, through nervous stimulation makes the patient feel more awake temporarily.

According to the WHO, it is not appropriate to consume more than 300 milligrams of caffeine per day, the equivalent of 2 coffees. Higher amounts can promote stress and continued nervousness, restlessness, dizziness, palpitations and headaches. It is never recommended to consume more than 400 mg of caffeine per day.

3. Control your breathing

Hyperventilation occurs when the act of breathing eliminates more carbon dioxide in the blood than the metabolism produces, giving rise to a clinical condition known as hypocapnia. Although well tolerated by the body, the changes in blood pH brought about by this state can result in respiratory alkalosis, which presents itself in the form of dizziness, blurred vision, weakness and even fainting.

In the moments of a panic attack (when hyperventilation is very rapid), the patient is usually given a bag to breathe into, as this will incorporate into the patient's body the ability to breathe.This will allow the patient to incorporate more CO2 into his organism with each respiratory rate (by breathing air already inspired). In case the situation is not so serious but you still feel too fast, it is always a good idea to lie down, close your eyes and count the number of breaths per minute. The normal rate is 8 to 16 respiratory cycles every 60 seconds.

4. Write down your sensations

Something as simple as writing down your feelings on a piece of paper helps a lot to put your emotions and feelings into perspective.

We live in our own head (as redundant as it may sound) and, therefore, it is very difficult for us to look at the events around us from a subjective and impartial prism, it is very difficult for us to look at the events around us from a subjective and impartial prism.. There are many biases that act in every human mental process, highlighting above all of them the negativity bias: before 2 events of the same intensity, the negative one always weighs much more than the positive/neutral one.

For this reason, writing down what one is feeling at a specific moment on a piece of paper and rereading it a while later can help a lot to identify the problems and the train of thought of the individual. In addition, it will certainly help the patient to become aware that what was making him/her so nervous was, in the end, not something to worry so much about. Putting thoughts down on an unchanging medium such as paper helps a lot to put things in perspective in the medium to long term..

5. Do not self-diagnose and get used to seek professional help.

According to studies carried out in the health field, up to 22% of health professionals with chronic stress in extreme situations somatize their symptoms.. This means that, "seeking to channel emotions", the body may suffer abnormal physical sensations, such as pain in the stomach, abdomen, head and others. Up to 30% of visits to primary care are due to symptoms that have no apparent cause.

Symptoms of stress are normal, so if all the medical tests have gone well and the pain you feel is diffuse (not getting worse), try not to continually self-diagnose, as this will only make your nerves worse. Thinking about the presence of an illness increases anxiety, and anxiety encourages the appearance of physical symptoms without a clear organic cause. It is the fish that bites its own tail.

Summary

It is possible to keep your nerves at bay with a number of techniques from home, but you may have to ask yourself why stress and nervousness present themselves so intensely in the first place..

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), depression and other psychological conditions present with diffuse day-to-day discomforts that can be mistaken for "normal" or "expected" feelings. If you feel that something is wrong when it comes to controlling emotions, the best idea in all cases is to get in the hands of a psychological professional.