General health: "anxious" tendencies

burnthesheep

I've noticed this for a long time.......

Whenever I'm looking forward to something during the day, sometimes the HR goes up some and you get "antsy" about going to do it.

-you know you're going to the gym at lunch and it gets close
-you know you're going out for a ride after work, as it gets closer to leaving
-it gets close to the time of day you have an appointment to pickup some lawn rental equipment
-I used to have this in getting to my school early as a teenager years ago.....no idea why

The last two just to show it is random.

I feel that what I would consider as actual "stress" is fine. I don't fret over work, or my family life, or taxes/finances, or sit and worry about stuff like that.

It's usually to deal with a pending small "to-do" item of no importance. It's of no importance whatsoever if I go to the gym at lunch. Will it be a nice break? Sure. Does it matter? Not really. That lawn equipment? It's just grass.

I tried some kind of medication years ago, but the feeling/effect felt much worse to me than just sticking with the status quo.

I don't feel this is a medication thing. It's also not something that is like a person sitting petrified or useless. It's more like an annoyance/comfort thing. I don't much care to have my resting HR go from the 50's to the upper 60's or 70 just because I'm about to go do something.

Anyone have experience with this?

poptart242

All the time. No idea if it's a normal thing or not...but I did end up feeling it could lead to further, 'real' anxious tendencies further down the line.

Medication was the same for me, I'd rather not do it. Mindfulness helps, as does general peace and quiet.

fenix

How do you tell that your HR is elevated ?

fat daddy

burnthesheep wrote:

Anyone have experience with this?

i have experience of it because I get this as well.... I have no idea how to get rid of it though.

Right now I am rather anxious about leaving the house to go get my Kid from School ..... yet I do this every day .. still heart rate raised, really not looking forward to it, despite the nice walk in the cold listening to spotify. Once I leave and start doin it it will be fine .... but the lead up to the event is uncomfortable

Sometimes I really really dont want to leave work and come home, yet the best bit of the day is the commute on the bike and I am going home. Yet anxiety levels raise, HR increases.

etc etc etc .. I need not add more examples, you know what its like.

Its like the body is releasing too much Adrenalin into the blood to get it going and its triggering the fight or flight response.

How are you with more inmportant and social situations like going on holiday, going to the bar, calling the takaway, going to a wedding .. the same better worse ?

burnthesheep

Yup, sounds like the same things as myself.

How do I know about the HR? One day I was sitting there getting anxious and decided to measure it. It seemed logical, so I checked.

The mindfulness and being a little more task oriented may be good. Once I'm on something at work for a bit, I'm good. It's just right before I know that transition is coming or something.

joe2008

Cordyceps / Rhodiola Rosea / Ashwagandha tablets will naturally lower stress and anxiety levels.

Cordyceps and Rhodiola Rosea also give an endurance boost as well as having a list of health benefits as long as your arm.

Ashwagandha works so well I only take it in the evening because it makes me too relaxed to be very useful during the day

svetty

Looking for a pharmacological 'quick fix' for this is counter-productive. Mindfulness/CBT is more appropriate for anxiety.

Medicalising normality is also relevant here.....

richk

I'm on medication for anxiety. It's not for everybody so if you can get by without then that's great. I resisted for a long time but... My GP also referred me on to the local mental health NHS trust who provide CBT courses. I did mine online with emailed support (other options were available).

There's some potentially useful self-help guides available here:

http://www.selfhelpguides.ntw.nhs.uk/bsmhft/SelfHelp

joe2008

Svetty wrote:

Looking for a pharmacological 'quick fix' for this is counter-productive. Mindfulness/CBT is more appropriate for anxiety.

Medicalising normality is also relevant here.....

If you're referring to the tablets I suggested then you need to do some research; they are all adaptogenic herbs, meaning that they act in a non-specific and non toxic way to increase resistance to stress, without disturbing normal biological functions.

They are not pharmacological drugs .

topcattim

Would it help at all if you deliberately reframed this heart rate elevation as not "evidence of something a bit like stress, and therefore a bad thing" into "evidence of getting ready for something that matters" and therefore a good thing. While that may not (or may in fact) lower your HR, it will help manage the affective responses.

There's evidence of this being used to help pre-giving a presentation anxiety (sorry, I can't lay my hands on the reference now) and lots of evidence about types of self-talk helping manage anxiety. And as a cyclist, I deliberately create this state of readiness/anxiety before TTs and races - I warm up to get myself ready to do something that matters ,and tell myself that the physical sensations I have on the start line are evidence of me being ready to go give it my best.

Would that work for you?

svetty

joe2008 wrote:

Svetty wrote:

Looking for a pharmacological 'quick fix' for this is counter-productive. Mindfulness/CBT is more appropriate for anxiety.

Medicalising normality is also relevant here.....

If you're referring to the tablets I suggested then you need to do some research; they are all adaptogenic herbs, meaning that they act in a non-specific and non toxic way to increase resistance to stress, without disturbing normal biological functions.

They are not pharmacological drugs .

Cough 'bollox' cough

joe2008

Svetty wrote:

joe2008 wrote:

Svetty wrote:

Looking for a pharmacological 'quick fix' for this is counter-productive. Mindfulness/CBT is more appropriate for anxiety.

Medicalising normality is also relevant here.....

If you're referring to the tablets I suggested then you need to do some research; they are all adaptogenic herbs, meaning that they act in a non-specific and non toxic way to increase resistance to stress, without disturbing normal biological functions.

They are not pharmacological drugs .

Cough 'bollox' cough

How is it 'bollox'? Do explain.

They are foodstuff.

svetty

joe2008 wrote:

How is it 'bollox'? Do explain.

They are foodstuff.

joe2008 wrote:

non-specific and non toxic way to increase resistance to stress, without disturbing normal biological functions.

And how do they do that? How do they 'know' which biological functions are 'normal' and which ones need to be modified to 'increase resistance to stress' ? If they do modulate bodily functions why are they not medicines aka drugs?

Snake oil.......

joe2008

Svetty wrote:

And how do they do that? How do they 'know' which biological functions are 'normal' and which ones need to be modified to 'increase resistance to stress' ? If they do modulate bodily functions why are they not medicines aka drugs?

Snake oil.......

Supplementary vitamins and minerals also modulate bodily functions, you'd probably not consider them 'medicines aka drugs', as they are also prevalent in food.

Adaptogenic herbs work on the entire body’s resistance to stress, not just one particular system or organ, i.e. non-specific.

They have been used for thousands of years in ancient healing practices like Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine.

svetty

joe2008 wrote:

They have been used for thousands of years in ancient healing practices like Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Like powdered rhino horn, bear gall, tiger bones and other quack cures then :roll: :roll:

fat daddy

Svetty wrote:

joe2008 wrote:

They have been used for thousands of years in ancient healing practices like Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Like powdered rhino horn, bear gall, tiger bones and other quack cures then :roll: :roll:

well more like polyphenols to lower cholesterol, blueberries and bananas to lower blood pressure, Beetroot to raise nitrates, alcohol to make me more attractive

joe2008

fat daddy wrote:

Svetty wrote:

joe2008 wrote:

They have been used for thousands of years in ancient healing practices like Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Like powdered rhino horn, bear gall, tiger bones and other quack cures then :roll: :roll:

well more like polyphenols to lower cholesterol, blueberries and bananas to lower blood pressure, Beetroot to raise nitrates, alcohol to make me more attractive

Yep, nature's way, not everything that heals has to be made in a lab.

keef66

They can't be considered medicines, otherwise they'd have to demonstrate that they work. Which would be tricky for most of them. Unfortunately you can say anything you like if you call it food.

Herbal medicines lurk somewhere between the two

Supplementary vitamins and minerals will only make a difference if you're already deficient, or possibly susceptible to the placebo effect (but that can be very powerful)

Adaptogenic herbs is a term that I've not heard before. They sound very clever, working on the body's entire resistance to stress without being at all toxic to anything. Magical almost. The kind of thing the elven folk in Lord of the Rings might have used..

I'm not convinced myself.

joe2008

keef66 wrote:

They can't be considered medicines, otherwise they'd have to demonstrate that they work. Which would be tricky for most of them. Unfortunately you can say anything you like if you call it food.

Herbal medicines lurk somewhere between the two

Supplementary vitamins and minerals will only make a difference if you're already deficient, or possibly susceptible to the placebo effect (but that can be very powerful)

Adaptogenic herbs is a term that I've not heard before. They sound very clever, working on the body's entire resistance to stress without being at all toxic to anything. Magical almost. The kind of thing the elven folk in Lord of the Rings might have used..

I'm not convinced myself.

https://www.betternutrition.com/seven-w ... ogen-herbs

If you want to be convinced they have an effect try Ashwagandha and you will feel more relaxed after one dose. Guaranteed.

Try Rhodiola and Cordyceps and you will have more energy throughout the day, feel less stressed and, as a bonus you will probably breathe more easily when cycling under exertion.

keef66

I don't want to be convinced. There's all manner of plant based stuff you can chew on, drink, smoke, snort or inject to make you feel more relaxed. Some of it may even be legal.

I'm quite happy with the mind bending properties of tea, coffee and alcohol and chocolate.

Back to the OP; if you're starting to feel abnormally anxious about everyday activities, then consider mindfulness and / or CBT before resorting to medicating yourself.

joe2008

keef66 wrote:

I don't want to be convinced. There's all manner of plant based stuff you can chew on, drink, smoke, snort or inject to make you feel more relaxed. Some of it may even be legal.

I'm quite happy with the mind bending properties of tea, coffee and alcohol and chocolate.

Of course there are, but they don't have the benefit of inhibiting the growth of cancer cells like Rhodiola and Ashwagandha do

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3144985/

http://www.ijprbs.com/issuedocs/2017/2/ ... 201343.pdf

keef66

joe2008 wrote:

keef66 wrote:

I don't want to be convinced. There's all manner of plant based stuff you can chew on, drink, smoke, snort or inject to make you feel more relaxed. Some of it may even be legal.

I'm quite happy with the mind bending properties of tea, coffee and alcohol and chocolate.

Of course there are, but they don't have the benefit of inhibiting the growth of cancer cells like Rhodiola and Ashwagandha do

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3144985/

http://www.ijprbs.com/issuedocs/2017/2/ ... 201343.pdf

If cancers only happened on tissue culture plates we'd be laughing!

Don't get me wrong, the natural world is awash with plants, animals and microbes which contain and produce a bewildering range of biologically active substances, many of which could have medically useful applications, and most of them still waiting to be discovered. Dried roots like ginseng, turmeric, ginger and ashwaghanda are a lot easier and cheaper to produce than most of the pharmaceuticals used in chemotherapy, could well have beneficial effects, and for many people that's all they can afford.
The thing I have difficulty with is pseudo-scientific terms like adaptogenic, the suggestion that because something is 'natural' it is automatically good for you, and the often wild claims made with no scientific evidence.

Just because something has been practiced for thousands of years, it doesn't necessarily mean it's beneficial.

yaya

I'd consult your GP and do some regular blood pressure checks at random times of the day. Perhaps ask to do a 24hr Holter test. HR rising to reasonable levels is OK but BP going up might point to other underlying issues...better safe than sorry, just saying...

trivial_poursuivant

yaya wrote:

I'd consult your GP and do some regular blood pressure checks at random times of the day. Perhaps ask to do a 24hr Holter test. HR rising to reasonable levels is OK but BR going up might point to other underlying issues...better safe than sorry, just saying...

Exactly. I think I’d rather have the opinion of a qualified physician than the half baked guesses from a bunch of mooks on a cycling forum.