Cam Media

Stress vs. Anxiety: What's the Difference? As Americans, we’re known for leading busy, often stressful lives. Taking time to relax and decompress can help reduce the harmful emotional and physical symptoms of stress. Sometimes, though, it’s more than stress. It’s coming from inside, and it’s not leaving. It’s that feeling of dread that just won’t stop even when there’s nothing threating or bothering us. That’s when it may be something more than stress. It may be anxiety, one of the most commonly identified mental health conditions in the United States.  Approximately 42 million Americans, or roughly 18.1 percent of adults 18 and older, have an anxiety disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). About 25 percent of adolescents ages 13 to 18 experience anxiety, according to the NIMH. Here are some of the differences between stress and anxiety.   ·          Origin Stress: External causes include financial...

  Overthinking doesn't sound so bad on the surface--thinking is good, right? But overthinking can cause problems. When you overthink, your judgments get cloudy and your  stress gets elevated . You spend too much time in the negative. It can become difficult to act. If this feels like familiar territory to you, here are 10 simple ideas to free yourself from overthinking. 1. Awareness is the beginning of change. Before you can begin to address or cope with your habit of overthinking, you need to learn to be aware of it when it's happening. Any time you find yourself doubting or feeling stressed or anxious, step back and look at the situation and how you're responding. In that moment of awareness is the seed of the change you want to make. 2. Stop waiting for perfection. This is a big one. For all of us who are waiting for perfection, we can stop waiting right now. Being ambitious is great but aiming for perfection is unrealistic, impractical, and debilitating. The mome...