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<\/a>Originally from Vancouver, Biton is a Los Angeles-based coach, author and health educator. She has a master\u2019s in holistic nutrition, a bachelor\u2019s in psychology and a certificate in kinesiology, health and fitness studies. Her reasons for writing The Instant Anxiety Solution<\/i> are personal.<\/p>\n\u201cI had been trying to deal with anxiety as if it was logical, but anxiety is not logical. It\u2019s primal and cannot be rationalized. My best friend helped me realize that, in order to manage mine and my daughter\u2019s anxiety, we were going to have to look it in the eye and go through the discomfort of it,\u201d writes Biton. \u201cGoing through the anxiety was the only way out of the vicious cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biton\u2019s own experiences with anxiety inform her approach. \u201cYou are re-learning ingrained patterns and behaviours that will take time to unlearn,\u201d she acknowledges, \u201cso be easy on yourself and give yourself time to go through the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Instant Anxiety Solution<\/i> comprises a foreword by marriage and family therapist Nadine Macaluso; an introduction in which Biton lays out some of her reasons for writing the book; an overview of what anxiety is and its effects; a chapter for each of the ALARM steps; a brief conclusion; many exercises readers can do to learn how to better manage anxiety; and 20-plus blank pages for the purposes of journaling.<\/p>\n
There are many causes of anxiety, including biological makeup, learned behaviour, lack of sleep, trauma, not eating properly, financial difficulties.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we get triggered by an event, our amygdala gets activated, causing the impulsive fight or flight response, and the prefrontal cortex, the logical thinking part of the brain, shuts off,\u201d writes Biton. Our bodies focus on one thing: survival. The sympathetic nervous system is activated, \u201ccausing your heart rate, breathing and blood pressure to rise dramatically\u2026. You\u2019ll likely even feel shaky and nauseous.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany people make the mistake of trying to problem solve when anxiety hits, but it is absolutely<\/i> impossible to do,\u201d she writes. We can\u2019t think until we have calmed down, and Biton offers many ways to shock the body out of its anxious state, such as splashing cold water on our face or putting a cold pack on the back of our neck; intense exercise, like a sprint to the end of the block or some push ups; and humming or singing.<\/p>\n
There are ways a person can semi-instantly calm themselves, but the crux of tackling anxiety is self-awareness and, for that, there is no quick fix. Biton offers advice on how to identify and deal with feelings, but a main takeaway is to train ourselves to not act in those first moments. Apparently, an emotion lasts seven minutes max, then runs out of steam. It\u2019s \u201cthe additional energy that is added in the form of our \u2018extra\u2019 thoughts and emotions that we \u2018attach\u2019 to the original emotion that keeps the feeling alive and the suffering occurring,\u201d writes Biton.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not act on impulse,\u201d she warns, \u201cyou will only regret it afterwards.\u201d But don\u2019t numb yourself either. If you feel like crying, cry. Notice and acknowledge your emotions without judgment. When you\u2019re calm, you can figure out what is really going on, consider both sides of the situation \u2013 what happened or was said and your reaction.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We all have pain, she notes: \u201cIt is how we \u2018react\u2019 to the pain that determines our \u2018suffering.\u2019\u201d Suffering, she says, is a sign that you\u2019re not accepting the here and now. Some clues that you might be fighting against reality are that you\u2019re feeling bitter or resentful, or you\u2019re regularly unhappy or frustrated.<\/p>\n \u201cA major reason that many of us suffer from anxiety today is because we have \u2018felt unheard\u2019 or \u2018dismissed\u2019 in our lives,\u201d she writes. \u201cWe were told that we \u2018weren\u2019t good enough\u2019 or that we \u2018shouldn\u2019t feel a certain way.\u2019 This negative environment taught us not to trust ourselves, and not to trust our emotions. As a result, we have a lot of self-doubt and anxiety.<\/p>\n \u201cOn top of that, many of us project fears from the past into the future. Very rarely do we go into a situation without the \u2018baggage\u2019 and \u2018opinions\u2019 that we have carried from past experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n Biton believes it possible to \u201cbecome unstuck from the past.\u201d The advice and exercises in The Instant Anxiety Solution<\/i> may not result in instant results, but they do offer tangible steps to a solution.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n