Health Network News

What would our lives be without stress? We wouldn’t recognize them. And with stress comes being anxious and churned up inside, and then the inevitable for a lot of us; anxiety sweating. What a pain. Your life in general suffers, your clothes suffer, your relationships suffer all because you are one of the unfortunate ones who remain in silence and embarrassment with your sweating problem hoping against hope that some day you will find a way to stop all of this. Just remember this, that you are not alone in your misery; not by a long shot. Anxiety can be traced all the way back to the days of the cavemen when they were prominent on the earth and were out hunting for food. Don’t you think they experienced anxiety sweating when they were trying to just drag home a few square meals in the form of a wooly mammoth and suddenly found that their little pointed sticks were no match for the beast and all at once they were running for their lives. Sure they were anxious and believe me, they were sweating. Well, we go through the same thing in our lives: road rage, depressing jobs, dysfunctional families; maybe not as dramatic, but stressful enough to cause anxiety and as a result, profuse sweating.

So let’s examine some ways that you can get control over your life as it is today, and lessen the bouts of anxiety so in turn you can reduce the number of embarrassing times of profuse sweating that plague your day. One of the most effective ways of getting your life into a manageable pattern is to have a running schedule of some sort, so you know how your time is to be allotted during the weeks and what you have to get done in a timely way. That way, when something unexpected is suddenly thrown into the mix, you won’t collapse under the stress of it all and suddenly have an attack of anxiety sweating. And how about getting some exercise on that schedule too. There is nothing better for your peace of mind than to be fit physically and to feel good, not only about the way you look but actually feel good healthwise. Another good thing to try is biofeedback. This trains your mind and body to respond to commands you give it so if you are in the throes of a stressful set back, you can calm down, reduce your heart rate, and regulate your breathing by simply talking to yourself and bringing your stress level down so the sweating is not triggered.

Another factor you need to keep under control so your stress level doesn’t escalate to sky high levels, is your finances. There is nothing more frustrating in life than to have your finances totally screwed up and every time you go past the desk or table where you do the bills, you have a mini panic attack. And we all know what that leads to; yep, anxiety sweating. Just think of all the fun times you are missing out on because you are letting your life control you instead of the other way around; and that goes for all those jobs that you need to have done around the house that you keep thinking you will get to “some day”. Get on the stick and get them done. Make a schedule if you have to, but take some action. You will find that the more order you bring into your life, the more positive you will feel and the less stress and anxiety you will have.

Now we move to an area that can cause the most stresses in most folks’ lives: interpersonal relationships. How is your love life? Are you married, divorced, widowed, alone; what’s the story. How much of your waking time is spent worrying over your better half, or how to get out of an unhappy marriage, or how to plan the wedding day, or just not being popular on the dating scene. The more you let these factors control your thinking and your subsequent reactions to them, the more you will be susceptible to bouts of despair and the resulting anguish and anxiety that goes along with them. It’s time to take the bull by the horns if you are suffering in some kind of situation like any of these and take some action. Step back and look at the situation closely and evaluate what your options are and what you can do about them. Don’t think too much about it, you can overevaluate too; just stop waffling and become decisive and act. Remember we are trying to save your health here, and trying to stop all those bouts of anxiety sweating that have become regulars in your life.

Now we need to take into consideration just what is going on when your body reacts to stress and anxiety sweating in all its glory is the end result. We are still cavemen at heart. Genetically we have not progressed much from the days of outrunning the wooly mammoths and our bodies are designed to have just two choices on how to react to stress: stay and fight, or run like hell. We may have all the techno-stuff that our little hearts desire from cell phones to beds that react to us and cars that talk to us; but we still can’t manage the genetic programming that drives our inner core. When we are presented with a stressful situation, the body reacts by pumping out adrenaline from the adrenal glands so we can run like hell if we have to; but our more sophisticated brains say: “Wait a minute, this is not right, I’m going to do something about this and take care of the problem.” So we have an inner battle going on, and the body’s mechanisms are pumping out all kinds of chemicals that will help us either win the fight or make it over the next hill running our butts off. As a result, we sweat. The body is overheated with the fire of impending doom, and it is trying desperately to cool down and sweating is the means to that end. And because most profuse sweating of this sort is usually the result of some kind of stress in our lives that we can’t immediately squelch; then anxiety sweating is what rears its ugly head.

So what to do about all this. One of the best ways for relieving stress and gaining control over our daily lives is to slow down and start to interact with the natural world around you. Take a walk and really take a walk, don’t just amble along. Look and listen and smell, and you will be amazed at how much your system will calm down just by enjoying the pleasures that are all around us in nature. We are inherently connected to nature in everything we do, and when we let it flow into our senses, we revitalize that natural connection and it gives us the stamina to take on the stressors of the day. Our lives are filled with all kinds of techno gadgets and we need sometimes to just remove ourselves from that frenzied beeping world and slow down. “Stop and smell the roses” says a lot.

All being said and done: life is full of excitement, happiness, danger, and stress. You are the one that needs to take control and keep your life in balance so that the negatives don’t outweigh the positives. When there is too much negativity in your life and you have a hard time seeing the silver linings, then it is time you took stock of your way of living every day and examine it closely to see where you can make changes for the better and can make it a more positive experience. Opportunities are all around you and are there for the taking; you just need to recognize them, and recognize that you need to make changes that will allow you the freedom to grab some of them before they all pass you by. Life is one big parade, and there is no better way to live it fully than to stop standing on the sidelines with your anxiety sweating consuming you, and step into the line of march, get in step, feel the rhythm of the positive drum beat, free yourself of worries, and go for it.