7

Environmental Changes

You may not even think about your environment as a source of anxiety, but it can be.

Sally, a part-time data processor and single mother of twins, smoked two packs a day and drank a bottle of wine after her four-year-olds went to bed. She had started drinking just a glass or two of wine, but as time rolled on, she found she had to keep upping the amount to get the same results she used to get on a smaller amount of alcohol. Without her wine, Sally had a hard time getting to sleep. During the day, her hands shook and she felt anxious. She spent little time outside in the fresh air. Her office had poor ventilation and too much humidity, and so did her house. When she started to refinish furniture at home, her anxiety level doubled.

Unnatural Environments and Anxiety

Polluted and other unnatural environments can lead to anxiety. The following are some of the major environmental conditions that you can control.

Nicotine

A recent study tied heavy smoking to agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic disorder. Of adolescents who smoked heavily, 31 percent developed anxiety disorders in adulthood. Another study found that smoking increased the risk of panic. Being around smokers and smoky conditions can also affect you.

Nicotine is a strong stimulant that constricts blood vessels and makes your heart work harder. Although smokers believe that having a cigarette “calms their nerves,” research has shown that smokers are more anxious and sleep less well than nonsmokers. Quitting smoking not only leads to fewer panic attacks and lower levels of anxiety but to better health and vitality.

Here are some tips for quitting smoking that you (or your family members) can use:

• 1. Ask yourself, “What is this habit doing for me?” (It’s doing something or you wouldn’t keep it!)
• 2. Ask yourself, “What is this habit costing me?”
• 3. Decide how you could get these things without using so much negative energy.
• 4. Write your plan for what you will do today to stop smoking. (Join a group or find a supportive buddy to work along with you.)
• 5. Eat more fruits, vegetables, and grains. Eat half a grapefruit after a meal to reduce the urge to smoke and then brush your teeth.
• 6. Avoid caffeinated drinks that increase craving for cigarettes, and alcohol, which decreases your willpower.
• 7. Drink eight glasses of water a day and avoid beverages with a lot of calories—sodas, juices, and milk—that can add weight.
• 8. Get rid of all cigarettes and ashtrays in your home, car, and workplace.
• 9. Ask your family, friends, and coworkers for support.
• 10. Stay in nonsmoking areas.
• 11. Breathe in deeply and wait five minutes (by the clock) whenever you feel the urge to smoke. (Second month, increase the wait to ten minutes; third month increase to fifteen minutes.)
• 12. Keep yourself busy. Hold something in your hand other than a cigarette—e.g., cinnamon stick, toothpick, pen or pencil, straw. Take up a hobby that occupies your hands—e.g., knitting, crocheting, painting, playing an instrument, writing. Cut up raw vegetables and have one, or chew a piece of gum, when you have an urge to smoke.
• 13. Reward yourself often, especially by planning a present for yourself with the money you save from not smoking.
• 14. Set a quit date (in writing) and stick to it. Quitting cold turkey is best and is associated with the fewest withdrawal symptoms. (Physical addiction to nicotine lasts only forty-eight hours—you can do it!)
• 15. Learn relaxation skills (see chapter 9).
• 16. Do at least one enjoyable activity every day.
• 17. Remind yourself of the rewards of quitting: your health will improve; food will taste better, and your sense of smell will improve; you’ll save money and feel better about yourself; home/car/breath will smell better; you can stop worrying about quitting; you’ll be setting a good example for others, and you’ll have no more worries about exposing others to smoke; free from addiction, you’ll feel better physically, and perform better at sports.
• 18. Start an exercise program and follow it.
• 19. Reduce your exposure to smoke. If anyone in your household smokes, that puts you at risk for osteoporosis. Try to convince that person to quit. If you can’t, insist that they smoke outside the house only.

Alcohol

Alcohol can increase anxiety and even precipitate panic attacks. People with anxiety may drink to reduce anxiety, but down the road alcohol takes over and creates even more anxiety. Even moderate drinking can complicate or compromise anxiety treatment. Sometimes just avoiding alcohol can reduce anxiety.

Denial is a major problem for people who abuse alcohol or are dependent on it. Besides claiming drinking isn’t a problem for you, you may employ minimizing (“I drink, but it’s not a problem”; “It’s no big deal”; “I made it home in one piece, so it can’t be that bad”), blaming (“I need to drink because of how bad my life is”; “I need to drink to put up with other people”; “My family drives me to drink”; “It wasn’t my fault for getting drunk”), stonewalling (“I can quit any time I want”; “It’s my business how much I drink”; “I’m not hurting anyone but myself”; “I can handle my liquor”), excusing (“Alcohol helps me relax”; “I only need a drink to steady my nerves”; “I’m okay because I can still do what I have to do”; “This isn’t a hangover, I have the flu”; “Everyone in my family drank”; “I’m under a lot of stress”), attacking (“Get off my back”; “Stop nagging”; “I’ll stop drinking when you stop smoking”; “You’ve got some nerve telling me what to do”), rationalizing (“I’m already loaded, so one more won’t make any difference”; “I need a lift when I’m down”; “I like living on the edge”; “I’ll quit tomorrow”; “I deserve a reward”; “A nightcap will help me get a good night’s sleep”), or distracting (“You’d drink too if you had to put up with what I have to”; “Alcohol is only a symptom of my screwed-up life”).

If you answer “yes” to any of the next three questions, you probably have a drinking problem even though you may not think so.

• 1. Has anybody ever told you that you drink too much?
• 2. Do other people have a different opinion of your drinking than you do?
• 3. Do you sometimes think that alcohol is causing a problem in your life?

If you have most of the following danger signs, your drinking is serious and you need to quit:

• 1. You drink too much or too often.
• 2. Alcohol has endangered your life, relationships, job, schoolwork, or freedom.
• 3. You can’t keep promises to yourself about your use of alcohol.
• 4. During the past twelve months you’ve been arrested for driving while intoxicated.
• 5. You suffer withdrawal symptoms when you try to stop drinking.
• 6. Your tolerance level has increased, so it takes more alcohol to get you high or achieve the desired effect.

When Sally looked at the various forms of denial, she had to admit she used distracting, rationalizing, and attacking. She decided she wanted to take action to reduce her drinking because it was making her more and more anxious and becoming more and more of a problem. We discussed joining a twelve-step program, where she could get help in avoiding high-risk situations, expressing her feelings, improving communication skills, and making amends.

Chemical Contaminants

When the air you breathe is full of contaminants, it can decrease your well-being and lead to discomfort and anxiety. This mix of pollutants can be transformed as a consequence of chemical reactions that can affect comfort and health.

Some of the contaminants you might be exposed to include:

• 1. formaldehyde (released from formaldehyde-based insulation foams and resin glues used in wood composition boards)
• 2. volatile organic compounds (benzene, naphtha, toluene, and many others released from solvents, paints, waxes, cleaners, upholstery, and plastics)
• 3. plasticizers (phthalates added to plastics to keep them soft and which have the “new” smell of a new auto interior, shower curtain, or plastic upholstery)
• 4. electromagnetic fields (from radio, TV, and microwave transmitters and high-voltage electrical lines; computers, televisions, and microwave ovens emit small amounts and should not be used close to the body)
• 5. bacteria and fungi (survive and reproduce at our body temperature; at humidities below 30 percent they will dry the protective mucous membranes of the throat and sinuses; at humidities above 60 percent they will grow on any organic material (including soil, food, wood, dust, resins, fibers, and urea formaldehyde foam)

Lack of Time-Management Skills

Signs of inappropriate time management include rushing, fatigue, chronic vacillation between unpleasant alternatives, chronic missing of deadlines, insufficient time allowed for rest or personal relationships, and the sense of being overwhelmed by demands and details.

Eloise exemplified most of these signs. She told me she never had enough time to achieve her goals and always rushed from one poor choice to another, always with a sense of feeling overwhelmed. At work she never met deadlines and was always asking for extensions. She complained of always feeling tired and never found enough time to rest and revive.

Anti-Anxiety Actions

You can change your environment to make it less anxiety-provoking. Here are some suggestions.

Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is the use of essential oils—fragrant, concentrated extracts of plants—to reduce symptoms and promote relaxation. Essential oils can be applied on your body, incorporated into ointments and compresses, inhaled, or taken internally to reduce anxiety. When compared to humidified air alone, heliotropin (a vanilla-like scent) was associated with 63 percent less anxiety in one study.

Almost all essential oils should be diluted in a vegetable carrier oil such as sweet almond, jojoba, or safflower oil before using to calm frazzled nerves and reduce anxiety. Mix together equal parts of lavender, geranium, ylang-ylang, and bergamot in a five-milliliter bottle. When you feel anxious, use 50 drops of this blend in a diffuser (which reduces essential oils to a fine spray and disperses the scent throughout the room), a scent ring (which sits on a warm light bulb), or an aroma lamp (a porcelain or clay pot in which essential oils are mixed with water and heated over a candle). You can also add 6 drops to a hot bath, stirring to disperse, then relax in the water. Find essential oils and aromatherapy tools at your local health food store.

Biofeedback

Biofeedback is a process for getting feedback from your body about internal processes. Breathing with awareness, using imagery, and employing any intervention that gives you feedback about your body are included in biofeedback.

More specifically, the word biofeedback is used to refer to the use of instrumentation to develop the ability to read tension in various body systems. Instruments are especially useful when you can’t identify signs of anxiety, such as decreased hand temperature, increased muscle tension, or increased blood pressure.

Biofeedback instruments monitor your body via electrodes that detect internal changes and transform them into a visual or auditory signal, such as a sound, a flickering light, or readings on a meter. Anxiety, insomnia, muscle spasm or pain, teeth grinding, and other symptoms have been treated by biofeedback. You can go to a biofeedback practitioner or purchase your own inexpensive monitoring equipment for home use. Results may be better if you work with a highly trained and certified practitioner who can help you to overcome any roadblocks that might interrupt your progress.

Music

Recorded music has been studied and found effective in reducing anxiety. Music can affect your mood. It can make you feel relaxed, excited, comforted, and more. But music has even more extraordinary power. It can heal you. Particular sounds, rhythms, and tones, and especially the music of Mozart, Gregorian chant, some jazz, and New Age music, can reduce anxiety.

At the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, patients are encouraged to listen to soothing music and to perform relaxation exercises and meditation. This innovative program was developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, director of the stress reduction and relaxation program, and harpist Georgia Kelly. It offers a safe, natural alternative to tranquilizers and other mood-altering drugs.

Jeanne Acterberg, PhD, pioneer in transpersonal psychology, imagery, and shamanic healing, used music in her own healing process after surgery; she found particular value in Mozart’s “Laudate Dominum,” from the CD Cosmic Classics.

Try different types of music and see what is soothing for you. Start with Beethoven and Mozart and experiment.

Natural Household Products

Synthetic products can create and add to anxiety and increase palpitations. The table below suggests some healthy environmental materials and additional alternatives to use if you can’t find the items in the Healthy Materials column.

 

Component	Healthy Materials	Alternatives
area rugs, hangings	light-colored untreated cotton	untreated wool, acetate, or linen
bedding	untreated cotton mattress, cover, blankets	untreated wool or acetate materials
clothes	cotton, silk, linen, or wool
doors	hollow-core metal	hardwood
finishes	bare plaster, casein	nonpetroleum-based finishes
fixtures, trims	metals, solid hardwoods
floors	ceramic tile set in cement mortar	hardwood strip or plank
furniture frames	metal or solid hardwoods
house frame	lightweight steel	softwood lumber
insulation	untreated mineral wood or glass fiber sealed by tight air/vapor tape
lamps	glass and metal only, certified totally enclosed	ventilated, recessed ceiling conventional fixtures of metal or glass, compact fluorescents
paints and varnishes	milk-based paint	self-tested acceptable paint, sealers, and varnishes
walls	untreated plaster, expanded metal lath, brick or concrete	untreated plaster on gypsum lath, hardwoods
windows	bare metal sash with well-cured plain silicone glass settings	enameled metal, hardwood

Sunlight

Research has shown that sunlight can relieve anxiety and depression. Aim for fifteen minutes a day in the sunshine with your face and arms exposed. Sitting outside and eating lunch or a snack is one way to do this. So is taking a short walk during lunchtime.

Time-Management Skills

The first step to better time management is to explore how time is currently being spent. An easy way to do this is to divide the day into three segments: waking through lunch, end of lunch through dinner, and end of dinner until bedtime. Carry around a small notebook and jot down the number of minutes you spend for each activity undertaken. Keep an inventory for three days, then total the amount of time you spend in each segments.

Here’s a sample of Eloise’s inventory:

 

Activity	Time	Activity	Time
Waking Through Lunch		After Lunch Through Dinner
lying in bed, thinking about getting up	20 minutes	attend nonmandatory lecture	60 minutes
		working with clients	90 minutes
showering	20 minutes	daydreaming while staring at paperwork	20 minutes
decide what to wear and get dressed	25 minutes	staff meeting	45 minutes
cook breakfast	15 minutes	socialize	30 minutes
read paper and eat	30 minutes	commute	30 minutes
phone friend	15 minutes	shop	45 minutes
commute to work	30 minutes	cook	90 minutes
routine paperwork	30 minutes	eat	30 minutes
nonmandatory meeting	60 minutes
		After Dinner Until Retiring
work with clients	120 minutes	phone calls	60 minutes
lunch	45 minutes	television	90 minutes
		Study	90 minutes
		prepare for bed/read	30 minutes

 

Your next step is to make decisions about what can be cut out of your day. Here are some of Eloise’s choices.

• put out clothes for the next day prior to going to bed
• get up at the alarm and limit showering to 5 minutes
• make breakfasts that don’t require cooking; cut dinner preparation to 30 minutes and enlist family to do food preparation and cleanup
• ask for a late lunch to take advantage of most productive work hours (11 A.M. to 2 P.M.)
• stop attending nonmandatory, nonproductive meetings
• use thought stopping (see chapter 9) to limit daydreaming and gossiping

Next, set priorities. Make a list of things you most want to accomplish in the near future and compare it to how you currently spend your time. Visualize yourself being told you only have six months left to live and plan how you’d spend your time.

Choose goals. Make a list of one-month, one-year, and lifetime goals. Make sure they’re reasonable. Decide which goals are top-drawer (most essential or desired), middle-drawer (important, but can be put off for a while), and bottom-drawer (can be put off indefinitely with no harm done).

Here are the top-drawer goals Eloise chose for her one-month, one-year, and lifetime goals (two of each):

• 1. Buy a new car. (one-year goal)
• 2. Write an article for a journal. (lifetime goal)
• 3. Have dinner out with husband once a week. (one-month goal)
• 4. Investigate ways of becoming a consultant. (lifetime goal)
• 5. Take dance lessons with husband. (one-year goal)
• 6. Complete paperwork. (one-month goal)

Since Eloise was overwhelmed by the six goals, she decided to break each one into manageable steps. For example, she decided her goal of investigating ways of becoming a consultant into the following steps:

• 1. Borrow a friend’s book on consulting and read a chapter a week.
• 2. Talk with other women I know who are consultants and ask one or more to be my mentor.
• 3. Make a list of my knowledge and skills that would make me salable as a consultant.
• 4. Purchase stationary, business cards, and brochures detailing my consulting skills.

Eloise still found it difficult to get started even after breaking down her priorities into manageable steps, so she developed a daily “to do” list that included everything she wanted to accomplish that day. She rated each item top-, middle-, or bottom-priority for the day. This approach helped, but Eloise still needed to discover the rules for making time, including:

• 1. Learn to say no to others. Remind yourself that this is your life and that your time is your own, to spend as best benefits you. Only when your boss asks should you spend time on bottom-priority items. Be prepared to say, “I don’t have the time.” If necessary, take an assertiveness-training course to help you learn to say no.
• 2. Build time into your schedule for unscheduled events, interruptions, and unforeseen circumstances. Remember that things always take longer than you think they will.
• 3. Set aside several time periods during the day for structured relaxation. Being relaxed will allow you to use the time you have more efficiently.
• 4. Keep a list of short 5-minute tasks that can be completed anytime you are waiting or are between other tasks.
• 5. Learn to do two things at once; for example, plan dinner while driving home, or organize an important letter or list while waiting in line at the bank.
• 6. Delegate bottom-drawer tasks to sons, daughters, secretaries, or in-laws.
• 7. Get up 15 to 20 minutes earlier each day.
• 8. Allow no more than 1 hour of television-watching for yourself daily. Use TV as a reward for working on your top-drawer items.

Part of time management is the ability to make decisions. Procrastination is a great time robber. Here are some ways to overcome this time robber:

• 1. Compare the unpleasantness of making some decisions to the unpleasantness of putting them off. Analyze the costs and risks of delay.
• 2. Examine the payoffs you receive for procrastinating, such as not having to face the possibility of failure, being taken care of by others, getting attention by being chronically unhappy.
• 3. Exaggerate and intensify whatever you are doing to put off the decision. Keep it up until you’re bored and making the decision seems more attractive than whatever you are doing to procrastinate.
• 4. Take responsibility for your delaying tactics by writing down how long each delay took.
• 5. When having trouble choosing between alternatives that have the same number of positives as negatives, choose south or east over north or west, pick left over right, smooth over rough, the shortest, the closest, or the one that comes first in the alphabet.
• 6. Take small steps toward a decision to get yourself ready. For example, if you decide to sew on a button, take out the thread and materials and place them by you as a lead-in to the decision to begin.
• 7. Avoid beginning a new task until you have completed a predetermined segment of the current one.

Summary

To reduce environmental sources of anxiety:

• 1. Stop smoking.
• 2. Stop drinking alcohol.
• 3. Avoid chemical contaminants.
• 4. Learn time-management skills.
• 5. Use aromatherapy.
• 6. Explore using biofeedback.
• 7. Use music.
• 8. Purchase natural household products.
• 9. Spend 15 minutes in the sun daily.