Anxiety??

[j_dawg]

Hi 🙂 I'm new here

So it's exam time at the moment and I've been feeling pretty stressed out. I'm that competitive person who wants to be good at everything. Anyway, I've been getting stomach aches, nausea, loss of appetite, headaches and sleeplessness for these few weeks. Is that a symptom of anxiety? Before the exams, but heart races, I'm sweating and feeling faint, too. Is there anything I can do, or anything that you can recommend to help stop these feelings? I'm not sure if it's just me, but it doesn't seem too serious to go to a doctor, compared to some other people's problems here.

[j_dawg]

Hello smoothdog,

Thanks for your tips. My exam results were better than expected, so that's awesome.

I was wondering, do you mind going into mindfulness a little bit - the information that I have found on the internet is quite vague. 

Thankyou from a now relatively anxiety free dog-username-er.

[shad0wings]

Hi there!

What you're going through at the moment is definitely normal when it comes to exam time. Whenever I get stressed I get the same symptoms as you, the sweating was the worst! Try to relax and just take deep breaths. When you sit in the chair for the exam room, close your eyes for a little bit (even during reading time), it will really help you focus. What you're feeling is stress mixed with adrenaline. Plus the added pressure to doing well. What helped me control my anxiety during the exam was saying to myself "just do the best you can do, that's really all there is to it." After all, stress is all in the mind, if you can find some words, or a quote that help you out, just say it to yourself in stressful examinations. it really does help! 

When the exam are over (probably wait a couple of weeks for your stress to die down), if you are still feeling very anxious, it could be anxiety. Keep an eye on it when you don't have exams, because that is when things will be easier to notice that are abnormal. 

Good luck in your exams! You will do great! 

~ Taylor

[BKYTH]

Mindfulness involves concentrating fully on what one is doing at any particular time - It is whimsically expressed in the statement 'washing the dishes while washing the dishes'. In other words, in any action focus fully on what you are doing and do not let the mind wander.                                                                                                          Perhaps it would be easier to grasp if you were to think of it in these terms - Imagine an artist in the act of creating. During that act everything else ceases to exist. He/She is so absorbed in what they are doing that they are aware of nothing else.                          When fully mindful of what one is doing better results are achieved than when one is doing something while thinking of other things, of allowing the mind to wander as it is inclined to do.                                                    To achieve this takes practice as the mind is easily distracted, we can become bored and listless, and lose focus on what it is that we are engaged with - This is natural as we do it all the time. If we are mindful we would be aware of this and bring our attention back to what we are doing.                                                            Take note of what others have advised you in their posts as stress and anxiety are issues which also need to addressed and dealt with. Mindfulness involves being more conscious of what it is we are doing and thinking and responding appropriately. In whatever you are doing a distracted mind will always be less effective than one that isn't.                                       Philip.