good nights sleep
By me • Jan 23rd, 2008 • Category: misc, today's blog 365 postI have problems when it comes to anxiety. I tend to clench my teeth and very occasionally (during times of prolonged stress) wake up in the middle of night having a panic attack. It’s not fun, but I’m learning that it’s manageable. I’m not to the point where I need to take medication, and being a grad student I don’t have health insurance at the moment anyway (very, very, very scary), so I do what I can to control if naturally. Yoga, deep breathing exercises, drinking lots of herbal tea, and eating bananas every night. Why bananas? They’re very nutritious and the potassium in them, according to some sources, is a great natural way to ease stress and anxiety. And then there’s the magnesium that helps your body relax. I’m not completely sold on the anxiety relieving part, but there’s no disputing that they are good for me, so they’ve become my nighttime snack. The only problem is that I’m not too fond of them. There’s a fifteen minute window where the texture and taste are great, other than that, they’re just inedible unless I’ve covered them in something else. This is my favorite way to doctor them up.
- dark chocolate chunks (I was slumming it and using some leftover Hershey’s Dark mini bars from Christmas - about 4), broken into small pieces
- 1 small tsp peanut butter
- dash of milk
Place all ingredients in a small bowl, microwave 10-15 seconds, stir until smooth. Dip banana slices in or drizzle over the top.
Seriously good.
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It could be time to pull out the fondue set. That looks really good.
If it’s any help, I used to have pretty serious anxiety attacks where I had to race home from public places so that I could curl up in the foetal position and cry lots. Medication didn’t help, so in the end I decided to retrain myself, just as I would an anxious dog. Lots of rewards for behaving in calm ways during low stimulus events, then upping the ante each time I could deal with it. These days, you can pretty much stick a bomb under me and I will just make another cup of tea.
So my suggestion is that if you don’t particularly like bananas, it’s better to reward yourself for serenity with something that you love, like dark chocolate. Mmm.