Holidays are stressful for most of us, indeed, but the holiday season can wreak havoc on the emotions of a person with social anxiety. Fear, sadness, hurriedness, anxiousness, and extreme nervousness are just a few top contenders for messing with you during the holiday season. However, the top 2 New Year’s Resolutions, last year, of people who suffer from social anxiety included: (1) feel more confident (58% of people) and (2) meet new people (47% of people). So now is the time to start working on these resolutions for the upcoming year.
Why do the holidays make me more anxious?
Being put into more situations that provoke feelings of anxiety push your nervous system into a heightened state called “fight or flight”. Anxiety comes from a very fast processing speed in the brain, one you might feel when you can’t handle a situation. Your brain is literally speeding. Essentially, by feeling more anxious more of the time, you get stuck in this fast state, making it difficult to bring your brain speed down.
Knowing if your brain pattern has an inclination toward this fast anxiety pattern can help you prevent this heightened state in the first place. A qEEG Brain Map can show you if your brain is at-risk for social anxiety and if so how fast your brain is speeding. If it is stuck in a fast pattern, then there are strategies you can use to prevent and overcome social anxiety by bringing the speed down each and every day.
Four Ways to Prevent or Overcome Social Anxiety
(1) Muse Calm Meditation
If you’ve tried meditation then you know its hard. It is difficult to sit with your own thoughts. A new innovative headband, the Muse Calm headband, that senses when your brain is active, neutral or relaxed, can be a game-changer for you when trying to begin a meditation practice. It is such an awesome piece of technology that shows you what your brain is doing and gives you feedback to bring the anxiety down into a calm state.
(2) Exercise
Exercise has been proven to increase feel good neurotransmitter levels within your brain. Serotonin and dopamine increases can make you feel more relaxed and calm, so put your running shoes on and get out there for a power walk. In the absence of more intense exercise, walk like your late for a meeting to get your heart rate up and your brain juices flowing.
(3) Nutritional Supplements: As an affiliate clinic of the Amen Clinics, Leigh Brain and Spine endorses the nutritional supplement line, Brain MD, created by the renowned Dr. Daniel Amen. Brain MD Serotonin Mood Support boosts serotonin levels in the brain creating an overall calmer feeling and greater ability to deal with social situations.
(4) Neurofeedback Therapy: If your brain is stuck and you are not being successful at using DIY strategies to bring the energy down, then it is time to seek out help from an FDA regulated neuroscientific high-tech approach using feedback to your brain that helps it learn to be and stay calmer so you feel better. Neurofeedback has a 60 year proven history of helping people decrease their anxiety to increase their quality of life.
This holiday season you can use these tools to get out there and be more successful in social situation and feel better doing it. This is the key to long term success because Hebb’s Law shows that “neurons that fire together, wire together.” With each success in a social situation you are literally strengthening your social muscle, rewiring your brain to be even more successful the next time. It will get easier with practice and before you know it you will have to draft some new resolutions.
Dr. Patricia Leigh is a Neurodevelopmentalist and specializes in helping children and adults overcome their struggles. Find out more: leighbrainandspine.com // (919) 401-9933