Figuring out the triggers and the root causes of your anxiety is the second step in properly managing your anxiety. I recently wrote an article about becoming aware of anxiety symptoms. If you haven’t read the article yet, I encourage you to check it out then come back and read this article after wards. The article will give you an idea of the symptoms associated with the various triggers we will talk about today.
As I sit here typing this post I realized that everyone is different. We all live in different cities, have different cultures and are going through different life events and situations at any given time. Since anxiety triggers are often related to a chemical imbalance in the nervous system, life experiences, or both…I think it is important to outline how I have come to understand the way it all plays out.
It is my understanding that both genetics and life events come into play, life events however being the dominate factor in most cases. It looks something like this:
Genetic Predisposition + Life Events = Anxiety Outcome
GENETIC PREDISPOSITION
It is my opinion that we are all born with some sort of chemical predisposition. Whether it be tilted in your favor or not. If you look at it as a balance, some people may be born with the balance being tilted more towards being prone to heightened anxiety while other people may have a balance that is neutral or tilted the other way. Whatever the case may be, there isn’t much you can do about it — so there is no use complaining about the type of DNA your parents gave you. Like the game of poker you are dealt a certain hand, and it is up to you to play it the best way you can. In terms of anxiety management, playing the best hand you can play is all about creating the right life events/environment or at the very lease understanding the life events or environment that may be causing your anxiety triggers.
LIFE EVENTS
I’m a firm believer that the environment you surround yourself in controls your way of thinking and behavior much more than your chemical predisposition. Like I mentioned above I firmly believe that we are all born with some sort of chemical predisposition. Whether that predisposition is tilted to be easily prone to heightened anxiety or not, your environment can impact you in either direction.
Let me give you an example. I was born into a family who has a genetic history of being prone to heightened levels of anxiety, depression…etc. My childhood; although being amazing (my parents rock), was still full of highly stressful events. These stressful events and situations in my life tipped my chemical disposition far to the side that was prone to heightened anxiety. And because at the time I had no clue what anxiety or a panic attack was, I develop negative thoughts around my symptoms which literally fueled the fire which resulted in countless days and night of feeling “out of it”, shortness of breath, tension in chest, sweaty palms, tinkly hands, dizziness, rapid heart, and thoughts of dying or heart attacks.
Let me give you another example, using myself again. Let’s say that I was born, again into my current family with the same chemical predisposition of being prone to heightened anxiety. But this time instead of going through times of highly stressful events, I never experienced any highly stressful events or sudden changes. Would this have helped prevent my anxiety from being heightened? In my opinion, absolutely. However it still doesn’t mean that as I grew older, perhaps even into my adult years; that I could not be faced with some sort of event that could tilt the balance and make me experience heightened levels of anxiety. I’m actually glad it happened at a young age ( first anxiety attack was at age 8). Although I suffered with mismanaged anxiety for most of my childhood and young adult life, I’m happy it happened sooner than later. At least now I am 26 and have been able to manage my anxiety successfully for over three years by simply understanding its symptoms, its triggers, my thought process, and my responses to it all.
Some of the triggers I have found to heightened my anxiety are:
- Constant negative stress in life (childhood) re: family challenges, money issues, sibling rivalry, family members bouts with depression.
- In my young adult years – constant negative stress of life ( fear of failure and at the same time the fear of success). The feeling of not having control of my time, sudden change of plans, consumer debts.
- I also realized that coffee, alcohol, energy drinks, and a diet high in sugar also triggers my anxiety. Prior to knowing about anxiety symptoms, I’d enjoy a coffee — and later that day wonder what the heck was happening to me, little did I know the coffee (caffeine) was triggering my anxiety, combine that with negative though patterns around the physical symptoms and yikes … I thought I was going to die or have a heart attack.
These are just some of the triggers or events that I noticed heighten my anxiety. Knowing that these things heighten my anxiety, I no longer create any sort of negative thought process around the physical symptoms they make me experience, instead I know what is going on, and no longer think that I’m having a heart attack, am going to lose control, or die. What a relief!
Here are some other life event triggers that may effect you:
- Some medical conditions such as anemia and thyroid problems can cause symptoms of anxiety.
- Coping with a serious physical illness like cancer can make you anxious.
- Concern over diagnosis and treatments can lead to excessive and overwhelming anxiety.
- Certain drugs such as caffeine, alcohol, diet pills, and stimulants can cause anxiety.
- Constant negative stress in life (such as worries about one’s job) can lead to general chronic worry and anxiety.
- Many anxiety disorders run in families and likely have a genetic predisposition
ACTION STEP
The goal of this post is to give you a generic idea of what could be triggering your heightened levels of anxiety. Only you know what you are going through. Everyone is different. We all come from different backgrounds, live in different environment, and have experienced different life events
Take a moment and think of what is going on in your life right now and what you may have experienced in your past — also take a close look at what you are eating and/or drinking. Are you doing through a divorce? A bad relationship? A new job? The feeling of not being able to get ahead? Maybe a new baby? Do you drink a lot of sugary sodas? alcohol? drugs? How was your childhood? Did you maybe lose a parent? maybe you moved a lot? Had an alcoholic father or mother? Only you know what your past was like. Take a moment and and think of all that has happened and all that is happening to you currently. You will begin to realize that often times many of these life events tend to tilt your balance and make you experience high levels of anxiety.
Jason Herrington
Tricking The Triggers
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