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Tag Archives: anxious

Feeling anxious, or unable to concentrate?

17 Tuesday Nov 2020

Posted by ConnieSellecca in Intelligence for Your Life

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anxiety, anxious, calm, calmer, calming, concentrate, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, focus, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, lemon balm, memory

Grab some lemon balm! The leafy plant from the mint family contains compounds that prevent the breakdown of a brain chemical linked to focus and memory. Lemon balm also contains brain-boosting quercetin and energizing caffeic acid… a combination proven to ease anxiety, and enhance problem-solving, focus, and recall. Your best bet: Place a drop of lemon balm essential oil on each palm, cup your hands over your face, and take 10 slow, deep breaths. And you’ll feel calmer, and more focused in no time!

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Could this be the cure for anxiety?

04 Monday Nov 2019

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anxiety, anxious, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, excited, excitement, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, nervous, relax, stress

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Alison Wood Brooks is a professor at Harvard Business School who’s researched anxiety. And she says, instead of trying to completely flip the script on anxiety by trying to relax – we’re better off transforming our anxiety into something it’s closer to… Excitement. In a study, Brooks tested participants by having them complete anxiety-inducing tasks: like singing karaoke, doing a math test, and giving a speech.

And when participants said, “I’m excited” before the tasks, they not only felt more positive, they also performed better.

That’s because excitement and anxiety have something in common – they’re both emotions of arousal. They both make our heart beat faster and stimulate a stress response. But the difference is that anxiety is negative, whereas excitement is positive… that’s why it’s easier to get from anxiety to excitement, than from anxiety to calm.

So Dr. Brooks says, the next time you’re anxious – don’t take deep breaths to relax. Try saying, “I’m excited!” instead.

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Feeling anxious?

07 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by ConnieSellecca in Intelligence for Your Life

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Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine, anxiety, anxious, chocolate, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, dark chocolate, green tea, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, relax, stress

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Grab a cup of green tea and a little dark chocolate. The Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine says the combo reduces tension and worries as effectively as prescription anti-anxiety meds. That’s because green tea contains L-theanine, an amino acid shown to trigger calmness. It lowers activity in the anterior cingulate cortex – the brain region that controls obsessive thoughts and worries. And dark chocolate contains mood-boosting compounds and reduces cortisol – the stress hormone that triggers anxiety. Together, you’ve got a total win-win, anxiety-killing combination.

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Nail biters aren’t stressed or anxious…

27 Friday Sep 2019

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anxiety, anxious, bored, boredom, boring, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, nail biter, nail-biting, stress, University of Montreal

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…they’re BORED! That’s according to research from the University of Montreal, which also found that nail biters are more likely to be PERFECTIONISTS.

Psychiatry professor Dr. Kieron O’Conner led the study… and she found that perfectionists have a hard time relaxing. They’re quick to get frustrated, impatient and bored… and that can lead to nail-biting.

In the study, people were simply left alone in a room for 6 minutes with nothing to do. The researchers found the perfectionists were more likely to feel restless and bit their nails as an outlet for their impatience.

The bottom line? Perfectionists need to find better ways to handle boredom and frustration, so they can channel their energy more productively.

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We’re really anxious!

21 Friday Jun 2019

Posted by ConnieSellecca in Intelligence for Your Life

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anxiety, anxious, brain, brain chemicals, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, Google, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, mood, sage, stress, stressed out

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How do I know? Because Google-searches for the word “anxiety” has more than doubled. You may need therapy to deal with your issues – but in the meantime, sniff fresh, crushed sage – or a cotton ball with a couple drops of sage essential oil. Researchers at Simmons College in Boston found the smell of sage cuts anxiety for up to 4 hours. That’s because its compounds boost production of brain chemicals that help regulate our mood.

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Having a lousy day at work?

20 Monday May 2019

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anxiety, anxious, bad, bad day, bad day at work, bad news, boss, comedy, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, depressed, depression, friends, funny tv show, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, news, nightly news, reruns, Seinfeld, stress, stress levels, stress relief

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It could be due to the lousy, depressing news you watched last night! Researchers found negative media stories increase stress levels – especially among women – and make us more anxious during future nerve-wracking events… like an upcoming face-to-face with the boss. So experts say to skip the negative news at night – and watch a “Friends” rerun instead.

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Here’s a 10-second fix for anxiety.

04 Tuesday Dec 2018

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anxiety, anxious, comfort, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, grounding, ice cream, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, nostalgia, stress

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Clinical psychologist Vaile Wright says try thinking of, or writing down, as many ice cream flavors as you can in 10-seconds. The technique, called “grounding,” takes your mind off your worries, and grounds you in the present. Dr. Wright says it frees your mind from overwhelming and unhealthy thoughts. And by using ice cream, instead of, say, foreign countries, it produces positive feelings of comfort and nostalgia.

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If you’ve been feeling stressed and anxious…

08 Thursday Nov 2018

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almonds, anxious, brain, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, dopamine, edamame, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, pumpkin seeds, stress

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…you may need a dose of tyrosine. That’s an amino acid that helps increase the brain’s production of dopamine – the neurotransmitter associated with producing a feeling of calm. And eating just a quarter cup of tyrosine-rich foods can soothe your nerves in as little as 30 minutes – and last at least 2 hours. Foods loaded with tyrosine include edamame, pumpkin seeds and almonds.

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Feeling anxious and scattered?

25 Tuesday Sep 2018

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anxiety, anxious, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, crushed sage, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, memory, sage, sage essential oil, smell sage, smelling sage, sniff sage, sniffing sage

smell-sage-wp

Try sniffing some fresh, crushed sage – or a cotton ball with a couple drops of sage essential oil. Research in the UK shows the smell of sage reduces anxiety and improves focus for up to 4 hours. That’s because compounds in the herb help prevent the depletion of brain neurotransmitters that impact mood, memory recall, and attention span – and can improve thinking and short-term memory in as little as 60 minutes. In fact, the researchers believe that regularly smelling the fragrance of sage can help fight off age-related mental decline.

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If you’re feeling anxious, swing by a playground and hop on a swing.

11 Tuesday Sep 2018

Posted by ConnieSellecca in Intelligence for Your Life

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anxiety, anxious, brain, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, hammock, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, relax, rocking, rocking chair, swing, swinging, University of Miami

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Or if you have a porch swing, rocking chair or hammock, that’ll do the trick, too. Then spend 2 minutes swinging, rocking or swaying. The repetitive motion puts the nervous system into a more relaxed state and calms the amygdala… the brain region linked to stress and anxiety. And swinging is so powerful, the University of Miami says it can reduce the output of stress hormones by 25% for 2 hours. Just from 2 minutes of swinging, rocking or swaying.

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