Anxiety disorders make up the largest amount of mental illness cases in the U.S., affecting 18.1 percent of the population each year, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. Anxiety disorders can develop from various risk factors including genetics, personality, brain chemistry, life events, and the environment you live in. When left untreated, anxiety disorders can lead to other mental health problems, like depression, or even physical health problems, like high blood pressure. Thankfully, anxiety disorders are highly treatable and can be avoided by making some lifestyle changes. One thing that is changing how people deal with anxiety disorders is smart home technology. Thanks to new innovations, there are ways that smart home technologies can help people reduce their anxiety.
They take the stress out of home management
A potential source of anxiety and stress for homeowners is having to worry about whether or not some important home appliances or components are working properly. With smart home technologies, you don’t need to worry much about that. Most smart home technologies work independently and are built to work efficiently with as little maintenance as possible. For example, with a properly wired smart thermostat, you can relax knowing that your internal home temperature is always at your preferred level. You can use it to monitor or change the temperature in your home even when thousands of miles away.
You can use some smart home technologies to relax
An anxiety attack can happen at any time when you are at home. If you suffer from an anxiety attack, you may require immediate guidance in dealing with it, which is where a smart speaker comes in. There are skills designed for smart speakers that can help you tackle some of your anxiety problems. For example, Mindscape is a free therapy skill for Google Home and Amazon Alexa that can help you relax by taking you through breathing exercises and asking you about the issues causing your mental distress. Through the smart speakers, the skill can offer you targeted advice on how to overcome what’s bothering you so that you can reduce your anxiety.
They boost safety and security at home
Feeling perfectly secure at home is vital for people with anxiety disorders. You can use various smart home devices to boost security and safety at home. For example, smart cameras paired with smart sensors can keep an eye on your home at all times and alert you and the authorities immediately when there is an intruder. Similarly, smart fire alarms continually monitor your home and alert you when there is a fire so that you can spring into action and save yourself from property loss or injuries. Smart carbon monoxide detectors also give you peace of mind knowing that there are no traces of the dangerous gas in your home.
Anxiety disorders can make it hard to relax even in your own home. Luckily, you can invest in various smart home technologies that can drastically reduce your anxieties so that you can live a stress-free life at home.
Please also review AIHCP’s Stress Management Consulting Program and see if it matches your academic and professional goals. The program in online and independent study and open to qualified professionals.
Losing one’s temper is not only foolish and embarrassing but also causes many unseen problems within our body. High blood pressure, heart issues, stomach issues, and other mental issues can arise when we consistently lose our temper. One usually focuses only on the social, legal and relationship issues of going “red” when angry, but it is so detrimental to ones’ overall health as well. Better Anger Management techniques can help prevent one losing complete and total control.
Rage and anger has many health risks., Going “red” has physical consequences on the body. Please also review our Anger Management Specialist Program
Please also review our Anger Management Specialist Program and see if it meets your academic and professional goals, as well, helping others and perhaps yourself in control of anger
Managers within a healthcare organization are tied to two very important pillars. First patient care, and second, increasing revenue. Both are critically important not just from a moral perspective, but also from a financial and customer service aspect.
Good article on improving patient care and also increasing revenue. Please also review our Healthcare Manager Program
The article, “How to generate revenue, improve patient care” by Lisa Eramo discusses how healthcare managers and executives can increase productivity and also improve patient care. She states,
“Providing behavioral health-related services can also help providers hit quality benchmarks, bill for new and/or higher-level services, and even address social determinants of health such as food insecurity, housing instability, and health literacy.”
The article gives many indepth ideas and concepts to help meet both goals of patient care and financial increases. Please also review our Healthcare Manager Program and see if it meets your academic and professional goals.
Anger is a necessary emotion but it can be misused and become not only dangerous but also unhealthy. Learning how to cope and deal with anger for one’s overall health is very important to maintaining a better life. Some individuals vent to release their anger, but there are still better ways to deal with anger.
How we vent our anger can be unhealthy and unproductive. Please also review our Anger Management Consulting Program
The article, “5 healthier ways to deal with anger instead of venting” by Caroline Roberts discusses five ways to deal with anger instead of venting and letting it all out. She states,
“Actually, it turns out that the concept of venting as an effective anger management strategy is bunk. It makes us even more upset and forces us to play the victim role. Luckily, there are several methods that work much better than venting, so you can work toward being able to control your frustration more easily. ”
Stress is a universal thing for all living creatures. Stress can be deadly but it can also be merely a daily thing that we all face successfully without losing our minds.
Americans face different types of stress than others. In developing countries, stress to merely survive is a reality. Americans should consider this when dealing with stress and classify what is most important versus merely a frustration. This does not mean any form of stress is not truly affecting Americans, but it does show that some stress should be dismissed as not as important.
What are the biggest stresses American face? Please also review our Stress Management Consulting Program and see if it meets your goals
Many Americans do face real and important issues though.
Stress can be due to silly things or serious things. We need as Americans to remove or reduce the silly things and learn how to cope with the more serious issues we face. Please also review our Stress Management Consulting Program and see if it meets your academic and professional goals.
ADHD results in numerous unfavorable behavior, especially with children in school or home settings. Medication is usually the first answer. While it is good to utilize various coping behavioral strategies, it is sometimes needed. Ritalin is one of the most common medications used to deal with the symptoms of ADHD.
What is the right ADHD medication for your child? Please also review our ADHD Consulting Program and see if it meets your academic and professional goals
ADHD can be a very disruptive issue in the home and school, so sometimes medication may be needed. It is important to find the right medication and right strategy for your child. If you would like to learn more about ADHD Consulting, or would like to become certified, then please review our ADHD Consulting Program and see if it matches your academic and professional goals. The program is online and self paced.
The loss of a pet is a big loss. For years and years, people downgraded this loss and acted as if it was just a pet. People were told they are over reacting over a loss of a pet. Now, society is seeing such losses as big losses to individuals. Pets are like family and the bonds of love are just as strong. With such discussions, some ask if pet bereavement time is needed from employment. Should employers give an employee time away from work to properly grieve?
Saying good bye to a pet is like losing family for many. Pet bereavement is a possible need. Please also review our Pet Loss Grief Counseling Program
The article, “Can You Take An Extended Period Off Work After Your Pet Dies?” by Rebecca Reid looks closer at this. She states,
“Mixed in with the sympathetic responses to Lorde’s loss were the voices of those who found her raw misery unpalatable, because it was felt for a pet, not a person. But grief is a strange, complicated thing. It’s entirely possible to feel nothing when someone who you ‘should’ feel sad about dies, and a huge amount at the loss of someone strange”
Grief and loss do not always involve death. Losing anything is the recipe for grief. One of the most common forms of loss is divorce. Romantic breakups are tough but marriages that fail are even tougher. Marriage does not only involve the heart, but it also involves a sacred vow. The loss removes one from consistency of schedule and thrusts one into a new environment. Furthermore, the loss has many secondary losses associated with it. Financial burden, loss of possessions, less time with children or pets, as well as legal stress all play a large role in divorce.
Divorce loss is far more than just a broken heart but affects one’s entire existence. Please also review our Grief Counseling Program
This is why divorce is such a stressful and painful process. It is an uprooting of one’s life. It may be for the best, but the process of healing takes many years to finally become whole again.
The article,” 12 Strategies For Dealing With Grief After A Divorce” by Karen Finn looks deeper at the types of losses. She states,
“Dealing with grief after a divorce is no different. Nearly 50% of marriages (and 41% of first marriages) in the United States will end in divorce or separation. Divorce grief is, therefore, a high-odds reality.”
Veterans face a tough road with grief, anxiety and PTSD. The things soldiers see in war is sometimes traumatic and scarring to the individual soldier. Many soldiers do not receive the help they need. Instead they face many issues alone. It is important for them to meet with others, discuss and review traumatic events.
Soldiers face trauma and loss possibly everyday and have to deal with their entire life. Please also review our Grief Counseling Certification
The article, “7 WAYS GRIEF AFFECTS VETERANS” by Pat Harriman states,
“Researchers determined levels of grief, including preoccupation with a lost comrade and inability to accept the loss, through participants’ self-reported combat exposure, unit cohesion, PTSD symptoms, anger, past post-traumatic stress syndrome and depression diagnoses, and pre-deployment life events.”
Grief counselors and other specialists can help work with soldiers face these issues. There are so many issues under laying trauma that need to be exposed and discussed for proper healing. Please also review our Grief Counseling Certification.
As the weather changes, so does our moods. This is especially true of those individuals who live farther North. With the settling of Winter, one’s energy levels lower in correlation with the shorter days. As night comes earlier and earlier, individuals are drained of post work energy and find themselves sleeping and relaxing more. This has negative effects on health. Exercise is essential not just for health but also one’s mental and emotional status.
The change of weather and darker days can lead to seasonal depression. The person may not experience any loss but still become clinically depressed
Colder and darker nights do have effects on moods. Seasonal depression can set in on these grey and dark days and nights. Less exercise, less light and less energy all play into the hands of seasonal depression. Seasonal depression spikes at a higher level after the Holidays. Many suffer from depression after the Holidays. The fun and excitement disappear and the return to regular regiment and life becomes the new norm. Add the somber weather and darkness, then one can see an emotional drop compounded with negative weather.
Individuals already dealing with stress and grief will have a more difficult trek but it can also effect others with no existing grief. Depression can be over nothing. It can be a mental state with no true loss. Seasonal and winter depression hence can strike those suffering from loss but also those who are merely struck with clinical depression merely due to the change of seasons, the end of the holidays, and the beginning of a cold and dark winter.
So we can look at two individuals suffering from season depression. The first person experienced recent loss and is under enormous stress. This person is not only dealing with the change of weather, lack of energy and darker days, but also bombarded with the loss and the stress that surrounds it. The person is trying to adjust to the loss especially as the holidays approach but this becomes completely impossible.
The first holidays without a loved one can be the most difficult and most depressing. It will in fact take many years before the holidays can be viewed with some slight excitement. The bereaved person will have to learn to adapt to future holidays without the loved one and also learn to incorporate new ways of commemorating the deceased. All of these things will take years and years, but until then, the first holiday without a loved one can be a dismal affair. In fact, there may be no celebration that year. Instead the person may remain alone or avoid festivities.
Many can fall into seasonal depression after the holidays. The lack of decor and excitement and return to normal routine can cause a sadness to the soul
Compounded by this, they will suffer from the seasonal weather and lack of longer days. The grey and cold will only illustrate what they feel inside. While coping, it is possible this person may enter into a type of depression.
The other individual has no reason for grief. He or she has not lost a loved one, but for whatever reason they feel a true emptiness. There is no explanation for his or her grief. The change of weather, lack of light and end of the holidays brings a barren and empty feeling. This individual suffers from a true clinical depression. There is no loss but the individual nonetheless feels empty.
So it is true that during the end of one year and the beginning of a new year, there can season depression. Some already suffering from loss may grieve more heavily and some may even fall into a depression. Others will suffer from an unexplained depression after the holidays. The change in season definitely plays a key role whether it is the cause or merely an enhancement. The reality is this time of year is harder than other times of year to deal with grief or even stress and for those even not dealing with these things merely due to the nature of the season, weather and climate.
This time of year is physically colder, damper and darker but also spiritually bright with so many cultural and spiritual holidays. Hence it can prey on both the grieving and merely mentally unhealthy.
Those who suffer due to no reason but only mental and emotional response to the change of seasons should actively seek help. Counselors can provide the needed guidance but sometimes others need the guidance of clinical counseling. These individuals suffering from clinical depression will need medication.
Those who are suffering loss or remembering lost loved ones will also grieve. They may need professional assistance as well but if not, they can in time learn to better cope and learn to remember the loved ones not present. They can learn to commemorate the loss and find some joy in the love that was shared through memory and stories.
Some who experience loss during this time, already suffer and the climate merely compounds and reflects their inner sadness.
During the seasonal change it is important for individuals to try to remain active. Gyms and other activities are key. Physical exercise drops considerably during this time span from November through February and individuals need to remain faithful to a schedule. They need to exercise not just for good physical health but also mental health.
Also, trying to make the winter months more special is key. Perhaps going to the movies, skating, or bowling are good ideas. Making a certain night a special night with family or friends to watch a favorite show or having a night out once a week to a restaurant. It is important to take joy in the little things when the weather and time of day light is not as giving.
This of course is difficult when suffering from clinical depression or remembering a loss, but with counseling and if needed, medication, one should attempt to find some good from these months and still enjoy the little things of life. Better coping strategies, exercise and doing little things can help one get through the darker and colder months. Physical and mental health should be a top priority in these months!
Grief Counselors can help others cope through these dark months, and in some cases, licensed counselors are needed for issues that require medication, but through acknowledgement and a firm resolution, one can fight through these darker and colder months and find enjoyment during and after the holidays despite loss and despite seasonal change.
Season grief plays a large factor in depression from November through February. Please also review our Grief Counseling Certification program
If you would like to learn more about grief counseling or would like to become a certified grief counselor then please review the American Academy of Grief Counseling’s Grief Counseling certification program and see if it meets your academic and professional goals.
Written by Lucy Peters
