There's cipro, potassium iodide and the smallpox vaccine to ward off biological agents. But is there an antidote to anxiety? "I'm very frightened," said Julie White. But she has a remedy: the stretching and deep breathing of yoga. The practice is so calming that after the terror upgrade, White made an upgrade of her own - from one class a day to two. Yoga, she says, "is my tranquilizer."
You may find the lotus pose hopelessly warm and fuzzy in the face of terror. But there are a host of activities, from working out to going for a massage, that can temper the anxiety. Many of these techniques have been used for decades, if not centuries; now advances in science are showing they can reduce the hormones associated with stress and even affect brain activity. The common trait among all: maintaining control and recognizing that our concerns are a natural response to the world we live in. "We're justified in having this fear," says Dr. Herbert Benson, president of the Mind/Body Medical Institute of Boston. "Life was stressful before 9-11. It's gotten progressively worse."
The first step toward combating fear is identifying it. Keep in mind that headaches, stomachaches, sleeplessness and rapid heartbeat are all symptoms of anxiety. Confront the emotion head-on by naming it, even saying, "I feel fear about this," says Saki Santorelli, executive director of the University of Massachusetts Medical School's Center for Mindfulness. Acknowledging anxiety makes us less passive, less vulnerable and, as a result, more able to cope.
Understand that fear is a component of stress, the complex fight-or-flight response ingrained in us since the cave days. When we're confronted with danger, epinephrine (adrenaline) starts pumping, the heart speeds up, blood pressure increases, breathing quickens.
One of the most efficient ways to reduce stress is to focus inward on one thing we can effectively control: our own breath. At the Mind/Body Medical Institute, participants elicit a "relaxation response," repeating a word - anything from "om" to "Hail Mary" - silently as they exhale. In numerous studies, Benson has found that the practice leads to lower blood pressure, slower breathing and an overall calm. Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin-Madison recently found that a form of meditative breathing pioneered at the Center for Mindfulness can affect the brain. In a small, soon-to-be-published study, Davidson took brain images of 25 members of a biotech firm who practiced meditation six days a week for eight weeks. He found increased activation in the left side of the prefrontal part of the brain, an area associated with lower anxiety, positive emotion and inhibition of the amygdala, the brain's fear center.
If sitting in one position for more than five minutes sounds impossible, you might try yoga. Concentrating on the physical intricacies of different poses forces you to filter out the "endless tape loops of chatter and fear," says Dr. Timothy McCall, medical editor of Yoga Journal, allowing you to be present in the moment. In so doing, you begin to clear the mind of future worries.
That experience helps get rid of distorted thinking, says Stanford University psychiatrist Dr. David Burns. What to do in the face of terrorism? Accept your anxiety, but don’t let it control you. And certainly don’t ruminate on your own. “Anxiety feeds on itself,” says Dr. Paul Appelbaum, president of the American Psychiatric Association, so talk to family and friends.“Sharing the concern with others can be enormously helpful.”
Scientists are finding that it can help to get outside your head completely. In a study of 60 schoolchildren traumatized by Hurricane Andrew, Tiffany Field, director of the University of Miami’s Touch Research Institute, found that depression dropped in kids who received 30 minutes of massage twice a week for a month; kids who watched a relaxing video showed no improvement. And cortisol levels, the body’s marker for stress, declined significantly in the massage group. If massage isn’t your thing, go for a vigorous walk, swim or bike ride. Exercise is not only good at keeping you fit; it reduces anxiety and depression, too.
It may be difficult, but in troubled times, researchers say, people need to take comfort from life’s simplest pleasures.In a small study at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, Dr. O. J. Sahler found that bone-marrow transplant patients who listened to music reported less pain and nausea, and their transplants took less time to become functional. And, yes, laughter may be good medicine, too. Dr. Lee Berk, of the Loma Linda University School of Public Health, discovered that a group of students who watched a comic video for an hour had marked reductions in epinephrine and cortisol levels. “If fear is too great,” says Berk,“send in the clowns.”Now that’s something we can all meditate on.
译文:
抑制焦虑
我们有环丙沙星(cipro)1，碘化钾及天花疫苗来预防生物战剂(biological agent)2的侵害，但是否也有良药能抑制焦虑呢？“我很害怕。”朱莉·怀特说。她练瑜伽来治疗这一状况，效果相当。因此随着911恐怖升级，怀特自己也来了次升级--将课程增加至一天2节。她说：“瑜伽是我的镇静剂。”
你可能会觉得面对恐怖打莲花坐没什么用，但其实有许多方式来缓解焦虑，诸如出去走走或做做按摩。不少方法从古沿用至今，没有数百年也有几十年了；如今科学技术进一步证明，这些方法不但能减少压力荷尔蒙，甚至可以影响大脑活动。其中最常用的方法：不断调节并且认识到担心只是我们对我们所生存的世界的一种自然反应。如波士顿身心医疗机构院长班森博士所说，“我们有这种害怕很正常。生活本身就充满压力，只是911之后情况越来越糟了。”
要与恐惧斗争首先要认识恐惧。认识到头痛、胃痛、失眠以及心跳加速都只是焦虑的症状。麻省大学医学院心神贯注研究中心执行主任Saki Santorelli提出，应该通过说出来，甚至说出“我害怕这个。”来正面这种不良情绪。承认焦虑能使我们变得更主动，更坚强，也就能更好地应对它。3
缓解压力最有效的方式之一是将注意力投放到一件我们可以有效控制的事情上，即我们的呼吸。在心神贯注研究中心，参与者进行一种所谓的“放松疗法(the Relaxation Response5)”：一边在心里默念一个词，从“om”到“万福玛利亚Hail Mary”，一边深呼吸。通过大量研究，班森确定这种练习可以使人们的血压降低，呼吸减慢并且全身心得以放松。美国威斯康辛大学麦迪逊分校的理查德·戴维森近日发现，心神贯注中心首创的冥想呼吸形式能对大脑产生影响。在一次小范围并且即将发表的研究中，他让25名来自生物技术公司的员工进行冥想练习，每星期6天，共持续8个星期，然后他拍摄了他们的大脑图像，发现这些人的大脑左前额皮层不断被活化。这一区域在减少焦虑、树立积极情绪以及控制杏仁核6方面有重要作用。
如果在同一位置坐上5分钟以上听起来不太可能，你可以尝试练瑜伽。《瑜伽学报》医学编辑Timothy McCall7博士说，专注于那些错综复杂的瑜伽动作，会在无形中帮你过滤掉那些“如磁带卷一般周而复始的战栗与恐惧”，从而消除对未来的担忧。
斯坦福大学精神病学家David Burns8博士说，这种经历帮人摆脱扭曲的思维方式。那么面对恐怖主义该怎么办呢？接受你的焦虑，但是不要让它控制你。同时千万别把事情闷在心里。“焦虑会越想越多，”美国精神病协会主席Paul Appelbaum9这样说，因此试着和家人或朋友谈谈。“与别人分享心事是非常有帮助的。”
科学家们逐渐发现彻底不去想这些问题很有用。美国迈阿密大学附属的触觉研究中心院长Tiffany Field10对60名因Andrew飓风心理受创的在校生做了调查研究，她让一些孩子接受每周两次长达30分钟的按摩，结果他们的忧郁情况有所好转；让另外那些孩子看搞笑视频，但是他们的情况毫无改善。接受按摩的那一组皮质醇水平11（显示人体压力状况）明显下降。如果你不喜欢按摩，你还可以出去走走、游游泳或骑骑车。锻炼不仅让你保持苗条的身材，还可以减少焦虑和忧郁。
研究者们提出，人们面对不幸时，应该从生活的点滴快乐中寻求慰藉，这点似乎很难做到，却十分有必要。在罗切斯特大学医学院的一次小范围调查中，O.J Sahler博士发现经常听音乐的骨髓移植病人的疼痛和不良反应相对减少，并且他们的适应期也更短。当然，笑也是很好的药剂。美国加州罗玛琳达大学公共卫生学院的伯克博士让一组学生看一个小时动画片，发现他们的肾上腺素和皮质醇水平明显降低。“如果恐惧感太强烈，”伯克医生说，“那就看小丑表演吧。”这才是我们该多考虑的东西。