Anxiety and Brain Health
Introduction: Anxiety disorders affect millions globally, including many in Uganda. If you experience constant worry, racing thoughts, or panic attacks, you’re not alone. At Kampala EEG Lab, we help you understand what’s happening in your brain.
Anxiety is a natural response to stress, but when it becomes excessive and interferes with daily life, it could be a sign of an anxiety disorder. Common triggers include trauma, stress, brain chemistry imbalances, and genetics.
How it Affects the Brain: Chronic anxiety can alter brainwave patterns. EEG testing can detect these irregularities, providing insight into your mental health and guiding therapeutic approaches.
EEG for Anxiety: While not a standalone diagnostic tool, EEG helps identify brain dysfunction that may be contributing to anxiety symptoms. It’s especially useful when symptoms are unexplained or resistant to therapy.
Risk factors
These factors may increase your risk of developing an anxiety disorder:
- Trauma: Children who endured abuse or trauma or witnessed traumatic events are at higher risk of developing an anxiety disorder at some point in life. Adults who experience a traumatic event also can develop anxiety disorders.
- Stress due to an illness:Having a health condition or serious illness can cause significant worry about issues such as your treatment and your future.
- Stress buildup: A big event or a buildup of smaller stressful life situations may trigger excessive anxiety — for example, a death in the family, work stress or ongoing worry about finances.
- Personality: People with certain personality types are more prone to anxiety disorders than others are forexample perfectionism,low self esteem etc.
- Other mental health disorders: People with other mental health disorders, such as depression, often also have an anxiety disorder.
- Having blood relatives with an anxiety disorder: Anxiety disorders can run in families.
- Drugs or alcohol: Drug or alcohol use or misuse or withdrawal can cause or worsen anxiety.
- Brain chemistry: Imbalances in neuraltransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine can contribute to anxiety disorders.
- Hormonal imbalance: Hormonal imbalance such as those experienced in pregnancy and menopause ,menstration can lead to anxiety in some individuals.
Prevention
There’s no way to predict for certain what will cause someone to develop an anxiety disorder, but you can take steps to reduce the impact of symptoms if you’re anxious:
- Get help early: Anxiety, like many other mental health conditions, can be harder to treat if you wait.
- Stay active: Participate in activities that you enjoy and that make you feel good about yourself. Enjoy social interaction and caring relationships, which can lessen your worries.
- Avoid alcohol or drug use: Alcohol and drug use can cause or worsen anxiety. If you're addicted to any of these substances, quitting can make you anxious. If you can't quit on your own, see your doctor or find a support group to help you.
- Physical exercises: Physicals help in the regulation of stress preventing further accumulation of unpleasant feelings.
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