Anxiety is one of the most common mental health problems in the world. It can affect people of all ages and genders. For guys, feeling anxious can truly wreak havoc on their self-esteem and confidence. Over time, recurrent bouts of panic can lead to a disorder. While there are several specific disorders related to anxiety, such as OCD, many men suffer from GAD, which is short for generalized anxiety disorder. Understanding what causes the condition and how to treat it can help in living a happier life.
What are the Symptoms?
Anxiety can cause you to feel nervous, on-edge, panicked and have a general sense of dread. For some, the condition is caused by constant intrusive thoughts, which may seem difficult to push away. Some of the most common symptoms associated with being overly anxious all the time include:
- Feelings of dread or foreboding
- Panic attacks
- Feelings of unreality, like everything around you are a dream
- Intrusive thoughts
- Restlessness
- Dizzy spells or feeling lightheaded
- Exhaustion and feelings of fatigue
- Trouble concentrating
- Sweating or chills
- Having a sense of impending doom or danger
The body naturally works on a fight-or-flight response. If you are continually nervous, your body will begin to enter this state whether you’re aware of it or not. Unfortunately, because there is no external threat, it can be scary to feel all of these symptoms without knowing the exact cause. Thankfully, feeling this way doesn’t have to be permanent and you can make changes to improve your life.
What are the Causes?
There are many different factors that can contribute to feeling overly anxious all the time. One of the most common triggers involves some type of trauma. For soldiers returning from war, they might go through bouts of PTSD, depression and anxiety. For others, they might have had a recent death in the family or were involved in an accident. In some cases, this type of thinking can stem from being alone too much. People who tend to isolate themselves may go through periods of intense mental health conditions. It’s believed that some disorders are genetic, so they could potentially run in the family.
Conditions That Can Worsen Due to Your Mental State
Feeling nervous and anxious all the time can be an issue for other things in your life. People who are constantly feeling afraid may put on weight or lose a significant amount of weight because of their stress. For guys, constant panic can lead to the need to find highly effective solutions to erectile dysfunction and other sexual health problems. Because you’re constantly in a nervous, panicked state of mind, you may feel that you have no energy or that you’re just too stressed to handle other aspects of your day.
Tips for Living a Happier Life
There are many remedies for anxiety and other mental health disorders. First, it’s important to recognize that there is a problem and that you may need help to treat it. For some individuals, reading self-help books and really working on lessening the intrusiveness of this can be profoundly helpful. For others, they may find it beneficial to talk with a counselor or therapist. Your doctor may prescribe medication to treat the problem, though some people argue that taking things like antidepressants simply covers up the issue rather than actually getting rid of it.