Anxiety 101

Anxiety 101

So today my anxiety was pretty bad for no reason. It tends to do that most of the time. I was listening to a podcast about the relation between anxiety and hormones, also how anxiety is linked to so many more things! Just mineral deficiencies can cause it. An anxiety disorder such as OCD on the other hand is actually a chemical imbalance in the brain. 

What makes it worse it that I lost my period when I was 14 so my hormones are all over the place so the doctors originally put me on the pill...

 Guess what that does?

 Changes the chemicals in your brain... 

So pretty much my brain is a chemical shit storm at the moment while I sort my hormones out. I'm off the pill because it made me get panic/anxiety attacks and I couldn't take it anymore. Now I'm on a low dose natural estrogen cream and progesterone tablet.

So what happens with people who have anxiety disorders is that the receptors in your brain that pick up serotonin and dopamine (happy hormones) don't receive them properly so it pretty much short circuits. So your body releases the hormones but essentially doesn't receive the message. Which leads to anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder. There you go, today's random fact! 

Some supplements and tips that help anxiety include-

- Magnesium 

- Theanine 

- B12 

- GABA (although taking gaba doesn't cross the blood brain barrier, you are better off taking theanine as that helps your brain create more gaba)

- Lay off the caffeine 

- Reduce gluten if sensitive to it 

- Meditation

- Being present in the moment

- Worst comes to worst... Valium .. JUST KIDDING... But kinda serious if you are getting frequent panic attacks. Valium is a short term fix so getting to the root of the problem should be priority number 1!

- SLEEEEEP! Recovery is so important for the nervous system, so relax every now and then! Take a rest day if you need one. Your gainz aren't going anywhere!

So that's where I'm at right now.

Researching how I can fix my lack of menstrual cycle/ hormones and fixing my OCD. I'm currently taking estrogen and progesterone to make sure I still get a dose of them as they do other things in the body.

In training news today was an active recovery day because yesterday I did so much squatting and benching!

So today I just did 

8 x 2 reps @ 70kg squats (every minute on the minute)

Then heapppps of leg press!

1 and a bit months until my next comp!

Excitedddddd :)