anxiety disorder exercises
Can an anxiety disorder strengthen your heart?
i had a severe anxiety disorder that swept me into panic attacks lasting upwards of twenty minutes each time a couple of times a day for nearly 6 months. During these my heart rate would often exceed 160bpm even as high as 200bpm. (went to the ER and everything is fine, had EKGs and so on) So anyways my doctor mentioned to me that atleast my heart is getting a good workout. And that made me think… isn’t an anxiety or panic attack similar to exercise? We tense up, our muscles do all kinds of weird stuff, our heart races etc. What makes me think this is i am fairly sedentary yet when I exercise my heart rate recovers very quickly, I can jog for a couple minutes and my heart rate will be 160bpm and less then one minute after I stop or when I sit down it goes back down to normal, around 80bpm. Sometimes I can even feel it get slower with a thump because it happens so suddenly.
I’ve been right there before with the 160-200bpm heart rate. I even got to where I could tell within 5 or so bpm what my heart rate was just by checking my pulse for a couple of seconds. I spent my fair share of time in the ER too, and saw several cardiologists. To answer your question, though, no it will not strengthen your heart. It will make it weaker. It’s not a healthy form of exercise you are getting. It is stress and strain on the heart beyond what is normal for exercise. The good news is that you can be in control of it.
I suffered with severe anxiety and panic disorder for years, to the point where I was sedentary and could barely leave home. Couldn’t drive a vehicle, go in a store, or do much of anything.
My biggest symptoms were dizzyness, head pressure, skipped heart beats, and lack of energy. I had a dozen others though, like eye floaters, stomach discomfort all the time, high blood pressure, chest pain, etc. I went to a lots of doctors, and saw just about every type of specialist possible, before I finally gave up and settled on it being anxiety. I went through a long process of behavior correction that was both self taught and taught by a good psychologist I had. Now I’m doing much much better. I own my own business now, can drive by myself (and just got back from a 6 hour trip), and stores don’t bother me anymore.
I know this all sounds crazy to someone who hasn’t experienced it, but to someone it has, hearing it from someone who has been there and made it through it, and found a way to make it go away can really help. I put together a program that’s a little over an hour long video course that goes through everything I went through to get where I am today. If you’re interested, you can find it at http://www.anxietycourse.com. There’s an introductory video there that gives an idea about what the program is about.