Why Do People Worry and Have Panic Attacks? Gurudev Responds

In and Q and A session recently, Gurudev was asked this question by a lovely young woman, who at the time looked perfectly calm and healthy with no stress visible on her face.

Q: “Why do I worry all the time?” Then she gave a long list of times throughout her day and night when she worries almost constantly.

Gurudev’s Response: “People who worry like the excitement it brings.”

Swamini Vishwalakshmianandama

Knowing that excessive worry and fear frequently cause panic attacks, I did some research on panic attacks [adrenaline rushes]:

Excessive worry can result in fear and panic attacks.
Adrenaline is a hormone produced by the adrenal glands during high stress or exciting situations [as Gurudev responded to the question]. This powerful hormone is part of the human body's acute stress response system, also called the "fight or flight" response. It works by stimulating the heart rate, contracting blood vessels, and dilating air passages, all of which work to increase blood flow to the muscles and oxygen to the lungs.

Learning to recognize the body’s tendency toward these highly charged states and altering behavior accordingly can reduce the length of time a person stays in the charged state, and reduce the body’s continued need to produce adrenaline to cope with danger that does not really exist. Many times, people who experience high “fight/flight” reactions actually amp up their own stress by their coping mechanisms, creating more adrenaline boost than is needed. Learning to recognize the body's tendency toward these highly charged states and altering behavior accordingly can reduce the length of time a person stays in the charged state, and reduce the body's continued need to produce adrenaline to cope with danger that does not really exist.

Link: http://topics.wisegeek.com/topics.htm?adrenaline-hormone#