Are you in a constant state of anxiety?  Has it become one of your personality traits?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, you need to read on to find out what is actually causing you to feel that way.  Anxiety is natural some of the time, but when it controls your life and affects your relationships with others, it’s time to take the bull by the horns and do something about it.  And no, it doesn’t have to involve prescription drugs.  Anxiety is our body’s natural way of dealing with unresolved emotions during our childhoods. 

Our coping mechanisms as children are underdeveloped, so we do not know how to handle traumatic events or unhealthy emotional situations.  The feelings we did have often get suppressed because we have little control over anything as kids.  The childhood experience is trapped inside of us adults.  Anything such as divorce, death of a parent, abandonment, criticism, and anxious or alcoholic parents could cause anxiety. 

Doctors tend to give out medications like candy, but they just mask the problem temporarily.  You don’t want to take pills every day for the rest of your life, do you?  These tense feelings are not only in your head contrary to popular belief.  It begins in your brain, pituitary gland, adrenals, GI system, heart and ovaries. 

There are other factors that contribute to the cause of chronic anxiety problems.  A neurotransmitter imbalance can sensitize your brain into a fear response.  Consistent higher levels of the excitatory neurotransmitters along with low levels of the inhibitory neurotransmitters can dramatically change your brain chemistry.  When you are already anxious and add caffeine into the mix, it makes for the jitters, heart palpitations, shakiness, and sometimes disorientation.  Also, if you take anxiety medications and drink something with caffeine in it, you are likely feel similar effects.  Meditation, chatting with friends, therapy, and music can help you handle anxiety.