When the Covid-19 started to threaten the world last year, it wreaked havoc not only in the economy of many countries in the world, but also it also had a psychological impact on large numbers of people for many reasons such as loss of loved ones, unemployment, and insecurity, among others.
In fact, "according to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics, showing that more than 4 in 10 U.S. adults had developed symptoms of depression or anxiety by the end of 2020, a sharp increase over the results of a comparable survey conducted in the first half of 2019" (https://www.statista.com/chart/).
Other studies also show that Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), a particular kind of anxiety, is chronic and highly prevalent among the adult population. One of the symptoms is excessive worrying and females are at greater risk correlated with being unemployed or a housewife or having a chronic medical illness” (https://www.psychiatrist.com/).
Another study revealed that “Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is also highly prevalent in females over 35 and older subjects but relatively low in adolescents. It is also associated with a significant economic burden owing to decreased work productivity" (https://doi.org/10.1002/da.10065).
Anxiety is just one of the many emotions we feel when stressors in the environment make us worry or be afraid excessively. Apprehension and nervousness when they become too much to bear may lead to mental health disorders.
The pandemic that brought about negative changes in most of our lives has greatly affected our emotions. Mental health is a big challenge these days among health experts in public health and for “40 million Americans who are affected by anxiety disorders which is the most common group of mental illnesses in the country” https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/).
What is anxiety, anyway? It is “defined by the American Psychological Association (APA) as"an emotion characterized by the feeling of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure"(https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/).
Another article published online by Oxford medicine online defines anxiety as “ multiple mental and physiological phenomena, including a person's conscious state of worry over a future unwanted event, or fear of an actual situation.” (https://oxfordmedicine.com/). The article also points out based on the definition given that “Anxiety and fear are closely related. “ However, they were distinguished from each other as “fear is an adaptive response to realistic threat, whereas anxiety is a diffuse emotion, sometimes an unreasonable or excessive reaction to current or future perceived threat.”
As you can probably observe in the definition given by researchers and experts of mental health, a common element of emotion is worry, and added to this is fear of present or future risks. As such, we have to take note of that worrying excessively is an emotion that we have to control as much as possible as it may affect our mental health.
The Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD is one of the anxiety disorders that are also common mental disorders and is defined as “a pattern of excessive worry on most days for a period of six (5) months. This worry is difficult to control.`` (https://oxfordmedicine.com/). Moreover, this mental disorder as diagnosed points "to adolescents who worry about a variety of events or life circumstances - usually school work, appearance, money, or their future."
There are different symptoms of GAD as given in the online article (https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/) such as the following:
- Restlessness
- Worrying uncontrollably
- Increased irritability
- Difficulty in concentration
- Difficulty in sleeping, falling or staying asleep
On the other hand, anxiety generally has such causes as:
- Stressors from the environment such as employment, relationships, family
- Genetics
- Medical factors, for example, effects of medication for other disease
- Brain chemistry
Treatments of an anxiety disorder include psychotherapy, behavioral therapy, and medication combined. On the other hand, treating mild anxiety disorder at home is possible with the help of the following actions (https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/):
- Adopt stress management - an organization of tasks to do could help reduce and control stress
- Adopt relaxation techniques such as meditation, deep breathing exercises, yoga, among others
- Seek the help of support groups such as family members, friends, and support group services available in the locality or online
- Do physical activities such as exercises to improve self-image and trigger the release of brain chemicals that would generate positive feelings and attitude
- Listen to music. it calms emotions and soothes the brain
Physical activities such as gardening, brisk walking, or exercising have been known to treat anxiety. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you have exercise equipment at home or possibly in your office. At FlexiSpot, there is a wonderful product that you can exercise and do your work simultaneously. The Sit2Go Fitness Chair makes them possible at your own pace and time.
This product has a lot of wonderful features and is an ideal workstation that supports your physical fitness regimen as well as to beat stress and anxiety. It has a breathable backrest that ensures comfort and a cozy sitting experience supported by a firm seat cushion that provides "no pressure" support. Complementing the design of this fitness chair is the calorie tracker and Cardio so you could check your exercise progress.
The comfortable seat is also height adjustable which can be done while seated with a one-touch lever. As such, even family members with different heights can use this fitness chair as you wish. The compact, streamlined body of this fitness chair sits on smooth-rolling casters making it easy to move it from one room to another or from indoors to outdoors.
Beating stress and anxiety is possible by refocusing your attention on positive activities such as exercising while you work and perform your job productively. And this will be made possible ideally with a Sit2Go fitness chair that can be placed in any corner of your home or outdoors as you wish.
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