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Medical Video: Does stress trigger asthma?
People with chronic diseases often experience certain anxiety. However, it is important to distinguish whether anxiety is beneficial or disrupt your daily life. Useful anxiety can motivate necessary actions, such as taking steps to control chronic conditions, but excessive anxiety can worsen the condition.
Ongoing stress or difficulty coping with stress, can cause several problems for people with asthma, such as:
- trouble sleeping
- body less fit due to lack of exercise
- difficulty concentrating
- easy to get angry
- stay away from friends and activities
- changes in appetite for depression
When stress levels increase, so do symptoms of asthma, such as difficulty breathing, and coughing. With the increase in symptoms of asthma, anxiety also increases, causing deterioration in health.
If stress is severe, anxiety can turn into a panic attack, with symptoms such as:
- hard to breathe
- feel like being strangled
- heart palpitations
- trembling
- dizzy
- sweating
- heat or cold sweat attacks
- feeling fluttering or like coming out of collapse
- fear of death, craze or lose control
What can be done to deal with stress and anxiety?
Here are tips to help deal with stress and control symptoms:
- Eat healthy food. Sugar, caffeine and alcohol can increase stress levels. Avoid foods that contain these three ingredients.
- Deep breath. Try to breathe from the diaphragm as often as possible and watch your breath. When panicking or getting anxious, breathe slowly and deeply through the nose.
- Sports. Daily physical activity is a good step to overcome anxiety.
- Sleep. Many people do not have enough sleep. Sleep deprivation can reduce energy and emotional and physical resources to deal with stress. For better sleep:
- don't sleep until you feel tired
- follow a sleep routine
- use room only for sleep (and sex)
- don't exercise before bed
- avoid caffeine
- don't sleep during the day
- sleep and wake up at the same time every day.
- Reduce stress. Get to know the causes of stress and try to finish. Stress is a part of life, but there are things that can be done to prevent it more efficiently in time, such as dividing and choosing priorities. Facing challenges from asthma can also cause stress. Controlling it well can reduce your stress level.
- Change bad thoughts. Limit time to worry, for example, "After 15 minutes, I will stop thinking about this." CDs, DVDs and books are available that can help the process of changing minds. Mental health specialists with behavioral therapy can help.
- Relaxation. Relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing and yoga can help reduce stress. Classes, CDs, books and DVDs are available to learn this technique. Perform relaxation techniques 2-3 times a day for 15-20 minutes each time.
- Use positive sentences. Think of something soothing, like, "Calm down. I can handle it. "
- Ask for assistance. Family and friends are willing to help you. Keep in touch with the most important people who can help relieve stress and anxiety. Consider joining a support group to get to know other people who have similar situations and learn about their experiences.
- Look for professional help. If self-help techniques do not reduce stress and anxiety, consider seeking help from a qualified mental health professional who can provide a combination of cognitive and behavioral therapy, and can provide you with anti-anxiety medications.
