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Is there an antidote to anxiety? "I'm very frightened," said Julie White. But she has a remedy: the stretching and deep breathing of yoga. The practice is so calming that after the terror upgrade, White made an upgrade of her own--from one class a day to two. she says, "Yoga is my tranquilizer."
You may find the lotus pose hopelessly warm and fuzzy in the face of terror. But there are a host of activities, from working out to going for a massage, that can temper the anxiety. Many of these techniques have been used for decades, if not centuries; now advances in science are showing they can reduce the hormones associated with stress and even affect brain activity. The common trait among all: maintaining control and recognizing that our concerns are a natural response to the world we live in.
The first step toward combating fear is identifying it. Keep in mind that headaches, stomachaches, sleeplessness and rapid heartbeat are all symptoms of anxiety. Confront the emotion head-on by naming it, even saying, "I feel fear about this," says Saki Santorelli, executive director of the University of Massachusetts Medical School's Center for Mindfulness. Acknowledging anxiety makes us less passive, less vulnerable and, as a result, more able to cope.
Understand that fear is a component of stress, the complex fight-or-flight response ingrained in us since the cave days. When we're confronted with danger, epinephrine (adrenaline) starts pumping, the heart speeds up, blood pressure increases, breathing quickens.
One of the most efficient ways to reduce stress is to focus inward on one thing we can effectively control: our own breath. At the Mind/Body Medical Institute, participants elicit a "relaxation response," repeating a word - anything from "om" to "Hail Mary"--silently as they exhale. In numerous studies, Benson has found that the practice leads to lower blood pressure, slower breathing and an overall calm.
Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin-Madison recently found that a form of meditative breathing pioneered at the Center for Mindfulness can affect the brain. In a small, soon-to-be-published study, Davidson took brain images of 25 members of a biotech firm who practiced meditation six days a week for eight weeks. He found increased activation in the left side of the prefrontal part of the brain, an area associated with lower anxiety, positive emotion and inhibition of the amygdala, the brain's fear center.
If sitting in one position for more than five minutes sounds impossible, you might try yoga. Concentrating on the physical intricacies of different poses forces you to filter out the "endless tape loops of chatter and fear," says Dr. Timothy McCall, medical editor of Yoga Journal, allowing you to be present in the moment. In so doing, you begin to clear the mind of future worries.
That experience helps get rid of distorted thinking, says Stanford University psychiatrist Dr. David Burns. What to do in the face of terrorism? Accept your anxiety, but don't let it control you. And certainly don't ruminate on your own. "Anxiety feeds on itself," says Dr. Paul Appelbaum, president of the American Psychiatric Association, so talk to family and friends."Sharing the concern with others can be enormously helpful."
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Scientists are finding that it can help to get outside your head completely. In a study of 60 schoolchildren traumatized by Hurricane Andrew, Tiffany Field, director of the University of Miami's Touch Research Institute, found that depression dropped in kids who received 30 minutes of massage twice a week for a month; kids who watched a relaxing video showed no improvement. And cortisol levels, the body's marker for stress, declined significantly in the massage group. If massage isn't your thing, go for a vigorous walk, swim or bike ride. Exercise is not only good at keeping you fit; it reduces anxiety and depression, too.
It may be difficult, but in troubled times, researchers say, people need to take comfort from life' s simplest pleasures.In a small study at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, Dr. O. J. Sahler found that bone-marrow transplant patients who listened to music reported less pain and nausea, and their transplants took less time to become functional. And, yes, laughter may be good medicine, too. Dr. Lee Berk, of the Loma Linda University School of Public Health, discovered that a group of students who watched a comic video for an hour had marked reductions in epinephrine and cortisol levels. "If fear is too great," says Berk,"send in the clowns." Now that's something we can all meditate on.
有没有对付焦虑的良药呢？“我非常害怕，”Julie White说。不过，她有应付之道：瑜伽术的肢体伸展和深呼吸。这一练习可以使她平静下来，效果极佳，以至当恐怖升级以后，White将她的练习也升了级——从一天一次课到一天两次。她说：“瑜伽是我的镇定剂。
你可能会觉得，面对恐怖，打莲花坐不会有效果。但是很多活动都可以缓解焦虑，从锻炼到按摩。这些技巧有很多已使用了几十年，甚至数百年；现在，随着科学的进步，它们能减少与焦虑有关的荷尔蒙含量，甚至能影响大脑活动。所有这些方法的共同点：保持控制，并认识到担心只是我们对我们所生活的这个世界的一种自然反应。
要与恐惧斗争，首先要认识恐惧。要记住头疼、胃疼、失眠和心跳加速都是焦虑的症状。麻省大学医学院心神贯注研究中心执行主任Saki Santorelli说，应该通过说出来，甚至通过说出“我害怕这个”，来勇敢地面对这种感觉。承认焦虑可以使我们变得更积极、更坚强，因而也就更能对付它。
要明白恐惧是压力的一个组成部分，它是一种与穴居时代俱来的“要么对抗，要么逃跑”的复杂反应。当我们遭遇危险时，肾上腺素就会大量分泌，心跳加速，血压升高，呼吸变快。
减轻压力最有效的办法之一就是将注意力集中到我们可以有效控制的东西上——我们自己的呼吸。在头脑-身体医学院，参加者通过呼气时反复轻声默念一个单词（任何单词，可以是"om"或"Hail Mary"），来达到一个“放松的反应”。通过许多次研究，Benson发现该练习可以使参加者血压降低，呼吸变缓，从而达到全身的平静。
最近，Wisconsin-Madison大学的Richard Davidson发现由心神贯注研究中心首创的一种冥想呼吸法能够对大脑产生影响。在一个小范围进行并即将发表的研究中，Davidson对一家生物技术公司的25名员工的大脑进行了成像，这些员工每周练习冥想6天，共练习了8周。他发现他们大脑额叶前部的左侧激活的情况有所增加，而这一部位与较低的焦虑水平、积极的情绪和大脑恐惧中心扁桃核的抑制相关。
如果你无法做到保持一种姿势坐5分钟以上，那么你可以试一试瑜伽�！惰べぱПā芬窖П嗉璗imothy McCall博士说，集中注意力于不同姿态的身体的复杂之处可以迫使你过滤掉那些“如磁带卷一般无休止的战颤和恐惧”，从而使你回到现实中来。这样，你就开始从脑海中清除对未来的担心。
斯坦福大学精神病学家David Burns博士说，这种经历可以帮助病人克服扭曲的思维方式。那么面对恐怖主义，该怎么办呢？接受焦虑，但是不要受它控制。当然你不要自个把事情翻来覆去地想个不停。“焦虑是越想越多，”美国精神病学会主席Paul Appelbaum博士这样说道，所以应该告诉家人和朋友。“和别人分担这些担心是非常有用的。
科学家发现彻底不考虑这些问题很有帮助。迈阿密大学触觉研究所所长Tiffany Field在对由于安德鲁飓风而受到心理创伤的60名在校儿童的研究中发现，连续一个月、每周接受两次30分钟按摩的孩子其忧郁情况有所下降；而那些看放松内容的录像片的孩子则没有什么改观。作为人的压力标记的皮质醇水平在接受按摩的一组中也出现了相当程度的下降。如果你不喜欢按摩，那也可以出去好好走一走、游游泳或骑骑车。锻炼不仅有利于保持身体健康，而且能减少焦虑和忧郁。
研究者们说，尽管做起来很难，但是在多事之秋，人们需要从生活的最简单的快乐中获取安慰。在Rochester大学医学院进行的一次小范围调查中，O. J. Sahler博士发现在骨髓移植病人中，那些听音乐的反应感到的疼痛和恶心程度比较轻，而且他们移植的骨髓也更早就开始工作。另外，笑可能确实是良药。 Loma Linda大学公共卫生学院的Lee Berk博士发现一组看了一小时喜剧录像的学生其肾上腺素和皮质醇水平都出现了显著下降。“如果你非常害怕，”Berk说，“那就看小丑表演吧。”这才是值得我们好好考虑的东西。
