ANXIETY IN 2024

2024 is turning out to be rather spectacular in how it is inducing mass anxiety. Right now, we are living in unprecedented times, from global climate change and the recent and incessant heat waves affecting the world to the strong shift toward political populism that is occurring in Europe and especially the United States. And all this is happening as we ourselves are dealing with the very real challenges of the aging process. Anxiety is becoming more and more prevalent. It has become extremely important to arm ourselves with tools which help us deal with this uncertainty about our future, personally and as a country. This article features natural remedies in particular to combat feelings of anxiousness.

First let's look at what anxiety actually is.

Definition: Anxiety is defined as a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome. It is different from the feeling of fear or depression. 
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Characteristics of anxiety:
  • It is often a free floating feeling that pervades everyday life sometimes with a specific threat in mind but also sometimes a general sense of distress. In other words, you can wake up anxious and for no particular reason.
  • Focus is difficult to maintain. We become distracted often and it is hard to concentrate on only one thing.
  • It can and often does upset other physical functions like ability to breathe deeply, digestion, exacerbation of pain. 
  • Anxiety usually occurs in response to potential future outcomes.
Fear: In contrast, fear is a sudden and intense feeling in response to a threatening incident. Fear almost always causes us to make the wrong decisions. Fear of falling is a very common feeling that many older adults experience. Fear can be fairly easily countered through specific action, while anxiety is more evasive and pervasive. 

Depression: This has a commonality with anxiety in that it is frequently a omnipresent and generalized feeling. When we are depressed, our breathing in particular is literally depressed as our lungs are withheld from expansion. Some call depression anger turned inward. We prevent ourselves from literally living. We loose interest in everything. We in effect become frozen in time.

Solutions to countering these 3 feelings are quite different. You can find out more about how all 3 affect our lives in the Building Better Balance article Fear, Anxiety, Depression.

Fear is generated in response to a sudden event, while anxiety occurs when we worry about that event happening again.

How Western medicine deals with anxiety:

In past decades anxiety was thought of as a mental illness issue. Therapy was often recommended to get at the root of the problem. But in recent years, Western medicine has turned instead to treating anxiety with pharmaceuticals, centered upon use of various antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs. This means that we often do not get to resolve the causes of our anxiety. Psyche drugs as well can have onerous side effects. For example, a popular antidepressant Prozac, which was once the most prescribed drug in the United States, can have the particularly troublesome side effect of precluding sexual climax. Anti-anxiety medications can cause an even greater experience of anxiety. Many of these drugs are addictive. They can be difficult to find the right medication and dosage and are often hard to withdraw from when we want to stop taking them. Natural solutions can be far safer and oftentimes more effective. But natural solutions take time to learn proper practices. Modern life demands more immediate solutions to our own personal detriment.
(Regarding drug side effects, one recent study, reported just this week, showed that a number of antidepressants caused excessive weight gain. In a country where 42% of adults are obese this side effect is particularly problematic. From the New York Times 7/2/24: ​New Study Shows Which Antidepressants May Cause Most Weight Gain.)
In my own case, over the years I have tried a number of different medications to treat anxiety. None have worked. All had side effects which were considerablely worse than the problem. One example was Zoloft which actually not only increased my level of anxiety but also caused night sweats so bad that I had to change clothing 4 times a night. Another example, gabapentin not only did not work but caused my hip joints to collapse from time to time. 

But some people find these drugs to be life savers. If that is the case for you then Bravo! It is quite wonderful that you have found something that really helps you. For myself, natural solutions have been the only course to take.

My own story processing anxiety:

In 2011: For 25 years I taught exercise for those older through a program sponsored by Sonoma County's local junior college which sent teachers to skilled nursing homes, assisted living facilities, independent senior residences and senior centers to lead classes on site. At its zenith, the program sponsored 340 sections, where some sections met daily or multiple times per week. It was a vibrant program that resulted in at least 2 classes being taught within these facilities daily, classes in exercise, history, autobiography and other subjects. When the 2008 Great Recession occurred several cutbacks resulted in a severe diminishment of the offerings and at one point the program itself was in danger of being terminated. It survived but many of the teachers lost their jobs including myself. I had to quickly convert my classes into private ones with a result of income being halved and those private classes became vulnerable to being cut by program directors who would often experience suddenly reduced budgets. 

At the same time, my husband's work was also threatened. His hours were cut and at one point, the company he worked for almost went under altogether. In 2011, a severe earthquake and tsunami took place in Japan which resulted in several atomic energy plants undergoing potentially catastrophic developments due to loss of electrical power which regulated the cooling elements of the plants. It became possible that a world wide disaster might result.

I became incredibly and uncontrollably anxious over these events.
In 2024: More recently, I sustained a back injury which threatened my dance career, something that is fundamental to my physical and mental health. For several months I was not able to practice normally and questions arose in my own mind over the future for myself as an 80 year old professional dancer. Anxiety became a daily companion, one that exacerbated the injury as well, especially because my normal means of alleviating anxiety were denied to me because of the injury. Learning to control the anxiety itself became paramount. 
Each of these intense episodes got resolved in different ways as I will discuss below.

Several current events have provoked enormous anxiety.

Climate Change: As of this writing, California is in the midst of an intense and long heat wave. As of July 1, 2024, Sacramento is forecast to experience the following high temperatures for the next 14 days: 109, 112, 109, 110, 109, 105, 105, 102, 102,103, 101, 100, 99, 97. Redding, which is normally very hot anyway in the summer is forecast as follows: 110, 112, 113, 118, 118, 115, 113, 112, 111, 111, 109, 108, 106, 104. Here in Santa Rosa where I live, the temperature as of this writing reached 105. A normal temp for this time of the year would be 82. The entire state except for the narrow band of land at the coast is going through similar scenarios. In general we are 10-20 degrees warmer than normal. The heat has been difficult for about a month now and this is very early in the season for these extremes. One has to wonder if global climate change is not responsible. Future potential outcomes are worrisome.
Politics: Usually I do not discuss politics on this web site. And some reading this will vehemently disagree with my point of view. But I believe that we are in the midst of an existential crisis of major proportions. The US Supreme Court has recently issued several rulings that in effect dramatically changes how our government operates, including giving the President astonishing power to act above the law if they so desire, defying the very foundations of The Constitution. One of the presumed nominees for President, who regularly threatens others has now been given extraordinary range to act out his personal vendettas while displaying little interest in governance itself. The more outrageously and abusively he acts and talks the more popular he has become. 

Many feel the principles which the country used to value seem to have been turned upside down. Concepts taught by Jesus himself are out of date. Love thy neighbor as thyself has become an old fashioned sentiment. The values of empathy, being kind, serving your country and the very principles of democracy are not always present. These changes are not reflected everywhere in this country but far too many now reject them. I am 80 and have read extensively about politics my entire life and I have never observed a more corrosive time.

Political events in Europe are also gravely warning of the future. It seems that the era of good governance which emerged after WWII is being extensively threatened by these intense threats from the right in many places in the Western democratic world.
Each of these intense episodes is incredibly anxiety producing.

The process of aging itself produces substantial anxiety.

What a challenge itself it is to get older! We have to work hard to overcome the natural effects of some of these challenges particularly:

The deterioration of our health unless countered:
  • Walking becomes more difficult and our balance deteriorates. It becomes harder to do the things we love to do.
  • We loose our hearing and eyesight becomes compromised.
  • We have to endure more medical interventions including the diagnosis of chronic conditions and serious illness.

Loneliness: And on top of that we get to watch while those we care about face untold difficulty and death. I will never forget listening to my mother talk about how hard it was to watch her friends die. This is even more intense when it is our life long mate.

How can we deal with these difficult and challenging issues?

First, this is how I have been able to resolve my own anxiety:

In 2011, after my anxiety level shot up over the nuclear crisis in Japan, I sought help from my doctor. At that time, Kaiser Permanente was trying out a new system. They attached psychologists to each primary care physician's office who could see patients immediately for very quick consultations. For 20 minutes I spoke with one of these with remarkable results. At first I felt this psychologist did not understand my situation at all. She seemed cold and uninterested. But then in the last minute or two she and I came to an understanding about what I should do. It was then that I decided to "write my book", a promise I had made to my dearest late friend several years before. It turned out that "my book" was the series of DVDs that comprise Building Better Balance. For six months I developed, recorded, edited and produced this series of 4 balance classes in our garage! I would get up at 1am each night and film (to avoid street noise being recorded). I created all the production values of the set, did all the copy-setting and created all the images with help from a professional photographer. I ended up with a product that I am incredibly proud of, a series of videos that not only look absolutely wonderful but also consist of exercises and explanation that has ended up helping hundreds of people. One example came from a friend who used the DVDs every day for over a year to great benefit. Another came from a senior residence which showed the DVDs to residents all during the pandemic with the result that the dozens of people participating improved their balance substantially.

In other words, my anxiety completely left me when I turned my attention toward a valuable creative effort.

More recently, in 2024, as my back healed, I formed lasting friendships with many women through sharing about my difficulties. I had always done poorly with female friends and thought that I just didn't have the right personality to develop that kind of friend. Reaching out so substantially to the women in my community has resulted in a vibrant supportive structure for myself. During this time I also became more proficient at several natural remedies, among them doing deep breathing exercises along with exploring painting as a creative effort. I am now often anxiety free. I have found that dwelling on my own problems and focusing on the unknown future of politics was a big source of my anxiety. I no longer do that. I take things one day at a time and resist the urging of so many to panic over the unforeseeable future.
As far as the anxiety that aging presents I have come to the conclusion which I share extensively through teaching, lecturing and writing that being active is everything. I listen to my own body and do whatever feels good and is good for a healthy dancer. I adjust my routines based on whatever I am going through with incredibly satisfying results. And most important of all, I don't listen to the naysayers over the dismal attributes of aging.

Natural solutions to relieve anxiety: Click on green highlighted titles for other Building Better Balance articles on these subjects.

Anxiety is actually a thought process problem: 
  • Worry about future consequences: We really know nothing about what will occur based on what is happening now. 
  • Many people jump to conclusions, skipping important steps in the thought process.
  • Rapid escalation of emotion: Concern about events over which we have no control often grows exponentially in our head very quickly. Be careful in discussing things with others when things get heated. People will jump on a particular subject and that quick response becomes contageous. Others' words ignite similar emotional responses creating upset all around.
Instead:
  • Cultivate slow and deliberate thinking: Take breaths between thoughts, especially before responding to inflammatory rhetoric of others.
  • Think only about the present: "Just for today, do not worry."
  • Take things one step at a time: Do not skip steps.
  • The Serenity Prayer says it all: "Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference."
  • Turning our troubles over to a higher power is extremely helpful, whether that is God or life force energy or some other belief.
  • A valuable affirmation: "All is well. Everything is proceeding just as it should. Out of this situation, only good will come. I am safe." Keep repeating this to yourself, especially if you don't believe it.
Deep breathing exercises are more beneficial in reducing anxiety than anything else. They take very little time and are effective immediately. Here are several examples but you will find many deep breathing exercises if you do an Internet search on the topic. Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D. especially advocates this not only to address anxiety but for significant overall improvement of health as well. See How to Breathe.

Counted breath techniques vary but all have proven effective: Inhale, hold the breath and then exhale. The relative timing is what is important, not the absolute timing. 
  • 5/5/7: Inhale for 5, hold for 5 and exhale for 7.
  • 4/7/8: Advocated by Dr. Weil, inhale for 4, hold for 7 exhale for 8.
  • In general, extend the exhalation.
  • Inhale through the nose and exhale through an open mouth.

Curled tongue breathing: Experiment with this unique way of breathing. When you inhale, do so through a curled tongue. Bring the sides of the tongue together creating a "tunnel" through which the breath passes into the body. Exhale through an open mouth, relaxing the tongue. This process automatically delivers the breath more deeply into the lungs and without tension. Not everyone can curl your tongue. If you can't, no bother. This method simply won't work for you. If you can, the result can be quite amazing. Try it. You'll love it! The Miracle Breath has more information.

When Breathing is Difficult details how to reduce anxiety when you have problems like asthma that makes deep breathing difficult.

​Panic Attacks explains other resources for slowing the heart rate, thereby reducing anxiety.

I found Rescue Remedy's pastilles (gummies) particularly helpful in reducing anxiety. Rescue Remedy is a brand name of a flower essence substance. It is a natural product that contains no chemicals or drugs.

Other important recommendations:

  • Stay hydrated: Make sure you drink 8 glasses of water daily. Dehydration often masks as depression. If you are feeling depressed, drink a glass of water and see if it helps.
  • Exercise: Moving physically is a great remedy for anxiety. It's especially helpful to get outside. Taking a walk is a great anxiety reducer.
  • Focus your mind: Do not let yourself be distracted. Structured meditation is one of the best and most effective remedies because it focuses the thought process.
  • Reduce inflammation: During tense times deliberately eat a more anti-inflammatory diet. The top 5 anti-inflammatory foods are AABBC: almonds, avocados, broccoli, blueberries, carrots. Anti-inflammatory over the counter drugs like Advil can help to reduce anxiety as well. But these should be taken with caution, especially if you have any kidney problems. See Inflammation for more information.
  • Do something: Sitting and thinking about the issue will only make things worse. Take your mind off of your troubles by doing something, anything. Creative projects are especially wonderful because they will result in great satisfaction.
  • Help someone else in need: I think this is actually the real route to personal happiness. It makes you feel good about yourself while at the same time taking your mind off your own troubles.
  • Develop a positive attitude about aging: Aging is not a question of things naturally going downhill. That only happens if you do nothing to prevent it. The aging process can be incredibly fulfilling and satisfying and interesting. Don't buy into the common myths about aging. There is always something you can do to improve your situation, no matter how dire it is.
  • Look for the silver linings: There are always pluses and minuses about everything, even tragedies. Reject thinking about the negatives and instead look for and concentrate on the positives.
  • Stop watching or reading the news: News reporting is often pervasively sensational and geared to generating emotion. See Deflame for how to deal with toxic politics.
There will be many who refuse to believe that all is well. Many who are in panic mode, unable to breathe, angry, upset or worried to the core. Please, please take a walk outside. Look at the vastness of the universe. Calm down. Then take an unruffled look at what you can actually do about the things you are worried about and do them. Let the rest lay and trust that powers greater than ourselves will always be there flowing and taking care of business.

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can and
the wisdom to know the difference.

All is well.
Everything is proceeding just as it should.
Out of this situation, only good will come.
I (we) are safe.

Published July 4, 2024.