If you don’t already know Fitenium is a free, mobile, video-based social network for athletes who train strength or bodyweight exercises. At Fitenium users can follow their performance, compete and get discounts in nutrition and sports equipment stores. Download it here.

At first glance, it can be hard to tell the difference between anxiety and stress. Both emotions are generally similar in their effects, negative and triggering. The feelings of threat and lack of control in our environment that generally overwhelm us and cause us fatigue, discomfort and frustration.

But stress and anxiety are different medical conditions, and the distinction between them is important so that we can know what we are dealing with and thus help combat them. The main difference is that stress is generally a temporary problem, how our body handles specific moments of great demand, and anxiety is usually a long-lasting psychopathology.

If you suspect you have one of the two, but don’t know which one, these clues will help you tell them apart.

1. Stress usually responds to external factors

Stress is often a reaction to a problem, and anxiety is a reaction to the stress itself.

This difference is important because stress often occurs when many stressful events occur; stress is the cause.

Published on Unplash by Jack Castles

2. Anxiety continues when problems go away

The stress caused by a particular problem can cause anxiety, but in many cases when the problem is resolved or resolved, the stress goes away but the anxiety continues.

This reinforces the previous point. Anxiety should be treated as a separate disorder, not just a product of stress. Anxiety rarely goes away during vacations, spa visits, or massages.

We also know what worries people who suffer from stress, but for those who are anxious, stress is less of a problem than anxiety.

3. Anxiety includes unnecessary worries

Many symptoms of stress and anxiety are similar: sleep disturbances, upset stomach, irritability, decreased concentration… but there are certain symptoms that characterize anxiety only. All of the above.

Just as anxiety is often confused with stress, many people consider panic attacks to be much more common than they really are. Very specific physical experiences related to the development of fear and anxiety. Symptoms such as sweating, tremors, fast heartbeat, nausea, chest pain, choking, and chills.

If someone is having a panic attack, whether stressful or not, they are most likely anxious.

4. Difference in treatment between stress and anxiety

For all these reasons, it is concluded that stress and anxiety require very different treatments, and that solving one (usually the simplest is stress) does not necessarily end the other.

In the case of stress, it is usually enough to deal with the factors that cause it: work situation, duration of the test, difficult relationships with a partner… are factors that we cannot easily ignore (for example, most of us cannot do without a job). Therefore, it is necessary to develop strategies to deal with them and compensate them with activities that help you relax, such as going on vacations, learning yoga or learning to turn stress into a motivating feeling (this is called stress or positive stress, as if was a challenge).

Published on Unplash by Edgar Chaparro

Anxiety, on the other hand, is a more serious and usually permanent psychopathology: people who suffer from anxiety do not have a single specific factor, so solving the causes that cause it requires more specific and personalized attention.

Anxiety treatment is based on medication and treatment if it becomes a limiting factor or reduces the patient’s quality of life. This does not mean that people with anxiety do not benefit from relaxing activities, exercise, or reducing the use of stimulants such as caffeine.

If you don’t already know Fitenium is a free, mobile, video-based social network for athletes who train strength or bodyweight exercises. At Fitenium users can follow their performance, compete and get discounts in nutrition and sports equipment stores. Download it here.

Some of us may have regular or occasional bad relationships with food. From time to time, in certain moments of stress or anxiety, we can transmit this stress through food, eat almost obsessively and even spoil.

For others, emotional starvation is a common strategy that not only occurs in a timely manner, but even leads to great pain. One of the symptoms of this type of diet is the loss of self-control. So you need more than that to get over it.

How to stop the ruckus

The first thing we have to achieve is to be able to recognize that we are disturbed by anxiety and emotional hunger. In addition, they must be able to recognize if it is carried out in a timely manner or if it is already installed as a habitual action and strategy.

1. Learn relaxation techniques.

In many cases, bulimia responds to moments of stress or anxiety that we cannot control, and for those of us who lack the tools, a reaction strategy that makes it easier to get rid of that feeling in time. Bring However, this is not an adaptive strategy.

For this reason, we will have to look for other more appropriate strategies that help us manage stress and anxiety, without ending up falling into binge eating and inappropriate eating patterns. they suit us better.

In each of these cases, some are widely used, such as Jacobson’s relaxation, guiding images or breathing techniques such as diaphragm and rapid relaxation. The more you practice and process these techniques, the less likely you are to be tempted in stressful situations.

2. Keep dangerous foods away from home

When we make a mess in our diet, in reality, we are more likely to do it with unhealthy foods, cakes, sweets, etc… instead of vegetables and fruits. When it comes to food as comfort for negative emotions and things that overwhelm us, it’s a good idea not to have these foods at home.

In general, we usually eat what we have at home. And while it is true that you can leave the house and buy it at that moment, the time it takes to leave the house -the effort involved- the time you spend getting to the store gives you space to settle in and others. Implement a more appropriate strategy And be aware that we can stop.

3. Look for distracting elements

Another strategy that can help us when faced with the risk of binge eating is to look for distractions. Ideally, these distractions are healthy and help fill our thinking with healthy and appropriate factors.

One of these strategies is to go out to play sports when you encounter stress or extreme desires, or to meet friends and family to participate in social activities. favorite.

4. Talk to a mental health professional.

We put it last, but reality is first and foremost of everything we can do to prevent this from being ruined by anxiety and stress.

Going to a mental health professional not only helps us to know exactly why we are going to eat as a strategy, but also gives us the right tools to avoid it. This expert will teach you how to properly protect the tools mentioned above.

And on top of that, we’ll develop plans and programs that are right for us, gradually implementing more adaptable strategies and tools based on individual needs and progress. In such a situation, the best alternative is to seek the help of an expert who can guide us and help us in the most appropriate way.