Anxiety Symptoms, Types, Causes and Treatments

The Smell Of Lavender Reduces Anxiety

Lavender also has practically no side-effects in comparison to drugs like benzodiazepines and SSRI antidepressants.

The smell of lavender reduces anxiety, research confirms.

Lavender also has practically no side-effects in comparison to drugs like benzodiazepines and SSRI antidepressants.

Benzodiazepines, in particular, can cause headache, dizziness and an effect like being drunk.

Lavender, meanwhile, has a relatively quick relaxing influence and no other side-effects.

Dr Hideki Kashiwadani, study co-author, said:

“In folk medicine, it has long been believed that odorous compounds derived from plant extracts can relieve anxiety.”

The researchers tested linalool, which is a compound in lavender that has the relaxing effect.

Dr Kashiwadani explained:

“We observed the behavior of mice exposed to linalool vapor, to determine its anxiolytic [calming] effects.

As in previous studies, we found that linalool odor has an anxiolytic effect in normal mice.

Notably, this did not impair their movement.”

Lavender, though, must be smelt not absorbed into the lungs, to have its calming effect, the mouse study has found.

Mice that could not smell, though, were not relaxed by the linalool.

→ Read on: 4 herbs that influence mood and memory.

The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience (Harada et al., 2018).

2 Psychotherapies That Reduce Neuroticism Dramatically (M)

After just 12 sessions, anxious people had made large changes to their personalities.

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These Emotions Increase Alzheimer’s Risk

People with these conditions experience Alzheimer’s symptoms up to 7 years earlier.

Both depression and anxiety increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

People who are depressed develop the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia, two years earlier, the latest research finds.

Those with anxiety develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s three years earlier.

Having multiple mental health problems is linked to developing symptoms of the disease even sooner.

Dr Zachary A. Miller, the study’s first author, said:

“More research is needed to understand the impact of psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety on the development of Alzheimer’s disease and whether treatment and management of depression and anxiety could help prevent or delay the onset of dementia for people who are susceptible to it.

Certainly this isn’t to say that people with depression and anxiety will necessarily develop Alzheimer’s disease, but people with these conditions might consider discussing ways to promote long-term brain health with their health care providers.”

The study included 1,500 people with Alzheimer’s disease who were asked about their mental health.

The results revealed that the more mental health problems people had, the sooner they began experiencing dementia symptoms.

Three or more psychiatric disorders together was linked to developing symptoms more than 7 years earlier them.

Both depression and anxiety were linked to a history of autoimmune disorders.

Dr Miller said:

“While this association between depression and autoimmune disease, and seizures and anxiety is quite preliminary, we hypothesize that the presentation of depression in some people could possibly reflect a greater burden of neuroinflammation.

The presence of anxiety might indicate a greater degree of neuronal hyperexcitability, where the networks in the brain are overstimulated, potentially opening up new therapeutic targets for dementia prevention.”

The study will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 73rd Annual Meeting (Miller et al., 2021).

The Type Of Breathing That Fights Depression And Anxiety

Changing patterns of breathing improves mental health, concentration and memory.

Deep breathing can help reduce the symptoms of depression and anxiety, studies show.

It also has the power to increase concentration and memory.

Controlled yogic breathing has even been shown to help with severe depression.

But, it has to be done right.

Diaphragmatic breathing — colloquially known as deep breathing — involves contracting the muscles underneath the lungs.

Sometimes it is called ‘belly breathing’ because it feels like breathing from the belly.

In contrast, ‘chest breathing’ — using the muscles around the upper body — is less efficient.

Dr Melanis Rivera, a clinical psychologist who works at a student counselling centre, said:

“When you breathe with your upper chest, upper lungs, upper body, what happens is you are taking in less oxygen which is vital to your body and organs.”

This sort of shallow breathing is linked to anxiety, fatigue and muscle tension.

It can also lead to headaches and panic attacks.

Belly breathing is best done by breathing in steadily for four seconds from the diaphragm, then exhaling for six seconds.

Dr Nathaly Shoua-Desmarais, a clinical psychologist and biofeedback specialist, said:

“The misconception is the longer you suck in air the better, but it’s the longer exhalation that provides the most benefit.”

While it might seem odd that we need to train ourselves to breathe properly, Dr Shoua-Desmarais said:

“Babies use diaphragmatic breathing.

Somewhere along the way we develop bad habits that develop into thoracic breathing.”

Retraining ourselves to do something so natural, though, can prove difficult.

It is best to start with a 5-minute routine at first, said Dr Rivera:

“If you’ve been chest breathing for a good portion of your life and you suddenly tell your body, hey, let’s stretch out these lungs, you could feel dizzy or get a headache, even hyperventilate.”