Jatin woke up several times in the night from a stomach ache. His numerous trips to the bathroom convinced him that the chicken curry he had for dinner did not suit him. From that day on, he avoided chicken curry from that particular restaurant even though his stomach problems still arose once in a while.
The first step to living a healthier life is being able to identify signs from your body that something might be wrong. For example, sighing excessively is your body’s message to you that you are overworked and stressed. Memory lapses is your body’s way of telling you that you have not slept enough. Similarly, with emotional health, your body also sends you clear signals.
When you can identify what your body is telling you, you increase your self-awareness regarding your own health. This in turn can help guide you to make lifestyle changes to live healthier.
Many South Asians are not aware of the signs their bodies send them to indicate that they are feeling anxiety. In fact, anxiety is one of the emotional experiences that has the most concrete and predictable symptoms associated with it. The sooner you can recognize the signs of anxiety, the faster you will be able to make life changes to manage the anxiety before it becomes too overwhelming.
Anxiety always presents itself on three levels:
Behavioral – Pacing back and forth, tapping your foot or wringing your hands are examples of behavioral expressions of anxiety. For others, anxiety presents as talking excessively or faster than normal, tapping fingers or pulling your hair.
Cognitive – These are the thoughts we have in our minds when we are nervous. For many South Asians, when they are anxious they begin to worry. Thoughts about situations going wrong or not being able to manage a stressors. Other South Asians have negative thoughts about themselves, thinking things like, “I am going to fail” or “I can’t do anything”.
Physiological – South Asians especially are best at identifying body related symptoms when it comes to any emotion-based health issue. Common somatic complaints with regards to anxiety include upset stomach, increased heart rate, rapid, shallow breathing and sweating.
By knowing your body better, you will be more accurate at identifying the source of the trouble and can make life changes accordingly. Often, South Asians mistakenly attribute body symptoms to the wrong cause. Jatin assumed that his stomach problems were due to food. However, if he stopped and looked at his life, he would notice a pattern. Every time there was a large social gathering coming up, he would experience GI troubles the night before. By acknowledging that his symptoms are anxiety-induced, instead of cutting out food from his diet, he can learn to manage the core issue which will result in long-term changes and a reduction of anxiety related symptoms.
How do you know if you are feeling anxious?