Episode 31 of The Living Life Well Show: Overcoming Anxiety, Part 2
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Living Life Well Show, the intersection of God's Word, today's science, and healthy living with common sense application, all based on the truth of the Word of God. I'm your host, Dr. Jon Skelton. Now let's get straight to the truth
All right. Welcome back to living life we'll show. So today we're going to have our second part of how to overcome anxiety, what we can do in our daily life and routines to. Combat that low level anxiety that many of us feel, and then what we can also do in the moment. So we talked last time about there being good anxiety and then anxiety that's pervasive and not supposed to be there. So we talked a lot about breathing and so [00:01:00] breathing again is going to be very important to helping to really kind of decrease that low level anxiety.
We talked about the physiologic effects of increasing that CO2, which then helps to decrease the blood pressure, decrease the heart rate, decrease. Decreasing that respiratory rate affects the cardiovascular system. We really want to number one lean in on breathing. Now, the second thing I want to talk about is really two things combined, and there is a bit of a difference. One is meditation and one is prayer.
And so throughout literature now we're seeing that meditation and or mindfulness. Seems to really be becoming very popular. And , generally secular. Religions and specifically Buddhism seems to kind of come from this idea that you just really blank out your mind, that you just wipe out, clear your thoughts and [00:02:00] just see what comes well. From a Christian perspective that's not the way that, that we look at it. And so meditation is doing just the opposite.
It's taking control of your thoughts and then really thinking about. What that is that you're thinking about? And in this way, you can see. Some holy spirit influence. You can see some holy spirit quickening some answers, some insights. When you do this. In addition. When you meditate, you are only to be really meditating on the things of God asking God to show or reveal to you. Those things that you most want to learn and to know. So the first time we really see meditation in the Bible, as we see it in Genesis. Through the coming together of Isaac and Rebecca, [00:03:00] and their a eventual marriage.
And so it talks about Isaac going out to meditate. And while he is there then Rebecca is brought and then they get married shortly after we also see meditation. Refer to in a Joshua. And then throughout the Psalms we see meditation. Quite frequently. And that's where we really get the principle of what it is that we're supposed to meditate on.
We are called to meditate on God's words. God's promises. God's goodness. God's love. All these things we are really called to think about and meditate on. And that's really what you're doing is you are sitting in quiet stillness and thinking about what God is telling you now. In general, as we've seen through scientific literature just practice this thought, this idea of really kind of clearing your mind [00:04:00] controlling. What it is that you're thinking about? That is shown to produce benefits it's shown to really decrease C-reactive protein or inflammatory levels throughout the body. It shown to help some with blood pressure. As well.
And so we see that there is a definite connection for even those people that aren't doing it in the prescribed way that God tells us to, that they do get benefit from practicing this particular type of practice where you're really just controlling what you are thinking about or how you are thinking about the situation. And meditation is really reframing what is going on in your brain.
It's not really emptying out your mind and just letting whatever come in. No we're supposed to. Control what we think about. And so really concentrating on [00:05:00] God's goodness. God's mercy. What God may be telling you in a particular situation or what he's told you. Even potentially about a particular verse of scripture. That is how we meditate. Now prayer obviously also plays a huge role in helping to decrease that nervous system. And prayer is different than meditation, right?
Prayer is you coming to God with your request, you coming to God and saying, , dear father, , please. Help me in this situation or give me direction in this situation. It usually is you speaking directly your thoughts, concerns, and ideas, and that in and of itself is really helping to alleviate and decrease that, that level of pressure that comes with the anxiety. As I said, we know that meditation helps to [00:06:00] decrease. Symptoms of anxiety and depression. In general. But they've also looked at this head to head secular meditation practices. Versus a spiritual meditation practice. And then the spiritual meditation practice, the way they chose to do it was to simply repeat a affirmation.
God is love. And so in the secular realm, they were saying, I am love. They did it 20 minutes a day. For four weeks. And they found that the group that said God is love. Had much lower symptoms of anxiety and depression. And stress and they had a more positive. Overall sense of wellbeing compared to the other people. In addition, what was interesting is they also showed that there was increased pain tolerance.
. This is a, they would have [00:07:00] you put your hand in a bucket of ice water. And the people that were saying God is love. We're able to stay in there longer than the others. About about twice as long actually. And so there, there are these changes that we see when we really harness and lean into God's power, as he tells us how to meditate.
And so this may be, , simply thinking about a verse that has, , it may be you simply thinking about a situation and asking the question to God, what are you telling me? About this God. And it can be as simple as that, it could be a situation that they put in here. Repeating. A truth about God. That really helps to decrease. That, that level of anxiety and bring down that, that stress level.
And so whether you are in a panic attack or whether you are just [00:08:00] feeling overall anxiety, this is a good practice to employ. In addition there's been further research looking at how our brain reacts to prayer and. Or meditation. , there's a book called how God changes our brain. And it is from a neuroscientist, Andrew Newberg MD and he researched how our brain changes as we really focus on God, through prayer, through scripture reading .
And what he showed is our brains are really healing that we increase blood flow to our frontal lobes and decrease the flow to the emotional centers. Bye. Practicing prayer and meditation and doing this consistently over time. You're going to see that your emotional response is going to be decreased.
You are going to decrease that revved up autonomic nervous system, and then get down to a lower [00:09:00] level of stress and anxiety. When you practice this over time again. And the study that I referenced was previously, they did this just for four weeks and saw significant changes. And how people felt, how they responded to pain. Their reaction.
So when you are. An overall anxious person really controlling what you're thinking about, bringing it to God, and then meditating on that and doing it consistently is going to really provide benefits. So the next thing that we really can control that we can do. Is rest and sleep. And and there's a difference between the two, right?
And when we look in Genesis, we see that God rested Genesis two, two and that really is where we get our word Shabbat or Sabbath. And so it was a Sabbath rest after all of creation was performed. In addition, we see two different words for sleep used in the Bible. The first time that we see it is [00:10:00] when. God put Adam to sleep to create Eve that we call that Tardema.
And that is supernatural sleep. And he used that again, when he gave the. Vision to Abraham. And so it appears as though this is a particular quote God given state where. God speaks to us in dreams. And, or a covenantal relationship. And so this is going to be important.
So God's telling us that sleep is very important. And then there's natural sleep. Sleep as well. So natural sleep, being the word Sakah. And God can speak to us through dreams. Just as he did many times in the Bible. Jacob comes to mind.
Joseph comes to mind. Lots of others, Peter in the new Testament. And so we see that God does speak to us in our sleep. And when we constantly have our brains going, when we aren't [00:11:00] controlling our thoughts, when we're having a constant input, we're not practicing the Sabbath rest.
We're not getting the sleep. Then that is going to continue to perpetuate itself. Right. So the first way to start getting sleep when you are a very anxious person is to or under a lot of stress is to start just by practicing a Sabbath, a Shabbat. A rest okay. Take a day off from work. Put work completely aside, put whatever it is that is stressing you out aside for a period of time for a day. Even God did this, , with creation.
And so he's telling us that this is very important. He did not make us to run 24 7, 365. So he definitely wants us to take that rest. And we see that when. We do get rest and sleep when we do practice that meditation, that taking [00:12:00] those thoughts, captive that sleep is improved. That. Rejuvenation is improved.
Resilience is improved. And these all go hand in hand. And so when we practice rest we turn off the TV slow down with regards to the inputs that are coming into. Our brain and N through our eyes and ears and all the different forms of media that, that we're subjected to on a daily basis, just even noise from traffic and those things.
When we can really take time to get quiet and take a time out, there is a significant benefit. We know that there are tons of benefit with people getting restful sleep and people with anxiety typically have difficulty going to. Too, and we're staying asleep and so practicing. The breathing with the meditation prior to bed is going to be something that is going to help you get to [00:13:00] sleep and get that restful sleep.
You want to put those together. These first three that we've talked about, the breathing, the meditation in prayer. The practicing a rest day and getting good sleep. These are all things that, that you can do. These are things that you could put together. Every single night before you go to bed, these are things where you can Institute that box breathing.
You can pray and meditate. As you are going to sleep. You can control a period of time to where you are not having any input. Really coming into your mind other than what you are choosing to think about and choosing to potentially read or pray about. And those three things are going to be. Very beneficial to you on a daily basis with decreasing overall anxiety.
And in the particular moment, you can put all three of those together [00:14:00] and do that, and that will help. To reset you physiologically in the moment. But as you practice it, it will also reset you physiologically over. Over time. Now, the last area is one in which you actually do need others. And we do need others.
We do need community were. We're called to be a part of a community when Adam was alone, God saw that this wasn't good. So he created Eve. So we are called absolutely to be in community with others. And so for some of us that may be easy to find a trusted friend, a colleague, a spouse , a parent or relative of some sort. That we can easily confide in. For others of us, that's not the case.
We may have those, but that relationship is not to where it needs to be to be able to share the things that we need to share. Confession essentially is kind of what [00:15:00] we're talking about and I'm not talking about sin per se. I'm just talking about getting things off of your chest to really speak about those things and bring someone in to your vulnerability. In the situation is going to be healing.
And so whether that is through using a professional, like a counselor or a coach, a pastor again, or a friend or relative, something like that is going to be important in that is going to lead to you being able to really decrease that level of anxiety. Allow that sleep to really start improving.
So when we practice a confession. Or practice being in community and community doesn't have to necessarily be just this confessional time. Eh, community can simply be just being with other people. Since COVID we've really had this isolationism. Kind of going on through, throughout our country. [00:16:00]
And that has been very detrimental to really our youth, for sure but really. Really everyone. So there've been many studies that look at people being part of a community, whether you're talking about , going through addiction, whether you're talking about. Through someone going through a stressful time like divorce care loss of a spouse loss of a loved one. Anything like that, we see that there are better outcomes for those people that tap into community, either communities that they already have, or communities that they specifically go to.
And we know that this helps whether it be from a secular basis or whether it be from a Christian basis. You will get help if you involve yourself in community. So really when we look at all four of these, the breathing, the meditation. And prayer, the rest and sleep, and then community really what we are doing is we're renewing our mind.
[00:17:00] Right? That's what we're doing. We are controlling what we. Think about that in turn allows us to react in a more measured manner because now we're not at this heightened awareness, this heightened stressed out. Society in general, like we are nowadays this allows us to respond to the stresses that are naturally gonna come to us. In a more positive measured way as opposed to going from zero to a hundred in nothing flat. So if you can practice and implement these things I know that over time you will see benefit whether you choose to do this from a Christian perspective or secular perspective. These work.
Right. And , you're going to get that, that most benefit. When you do practice it from a Christian perspective, like Jesus told us then in Luke 21, when he's talking about the destruction of the temple in the end times [00:18:00] specifically, and verses 34 through 36, he says, "be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing drunkenness and the anxieties of life. And that day will close on.
You suddenly like a trap for it will come on. All those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen and that you may be able to stand before the son of man". You know, just like the sun shines on all of us this day we'll come on all of us.
And there's a specific warning that Jesus is giving to those that are followers is that, , be on the lookout for the anxieties of life. Those things that, that we think are really important and that we pay a lot of attention to. And end up worrying about, they can kind of take over our life and you can miss the big picture.
And that's really my message for you with these two episodes, I hope that this is been [00:19:00] beneficial. I hope that it's been constructive and thanks. And God bless.
That's it for this episode of the Living Life Well Show. If you like what you've heard and want to learn more, or want to know how to put this into practice for yourself, go to livelifewellclinic.com. Until next time, this is Dr. Jon Skelton saying, go out and live the truth so you can live life well. The preceding is for entertainment and educational purposes only. It is not meant to be used to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure any condition. The information contained in this show does not substitute the need for a qualified medical professional, nor is it meant to provide medical advice or services.
If you feel information presented in this show may apply to you, we recommend you seek out the help of a qualified medical professional who can evaluate and treat your specific [00:20:00] concerns.
