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. she says, "Yoga 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.

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."
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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.

有沒有對付焦慮的良藥呢？“我非常害怕，”Julie White說。不過，她有應付之道：瑜伽術的肢體伸展和深呼吸。這一練習可以使她平靜下來，效果極佳，以至當恐怖升級以后，White將她的練習也升了級——從一天一次課到一天兩次。她說：“瑜伽是我的鎮定劑。

你可能會覺得，面對恐怖，打蓮花坐不會有效果。但是很多活動都可以緩解焦慮，從鍛煉到按摩。這些技巧有很多已使用了幾十年，甚至數百年；現在，隨著科學的進步，它們能減少與焦慮有關的荷爾蒙含量，甚至能影響大腦活動。所有這些方法的共同點：保持控制，并認識到擔心只是我們對我們所生活的這個世界的一種自然反應。

要與恐懼斗爭，首先要認識恐懼。要記住頭疼、胃疼、失眠和心跳加速都是焦慮的癥狀。麻省大學醫學院心神貫注研究中心執行主任Saki Santorelli說，應該通過說出來，甚至通過說出“我害怕這個”，來勇敢地面對這種感覺。承認焦慮可以使我們變得更積極、更堅強，因而也就更能對付它。

要明白恐懼是壓力的一個組成部分，它是一種與穴居時代俱來的“要么對抗，要么逃跑”的復雜反應。當我們遭遇危險時，腎上腺素就會大量分泌，心跳加速，血壓升高，呼吸變快。

減輕壓力最有效的辦法之一就是將注意力集中到我們可以有效控制的東西上——我們自己的呼吸。在頭腦-身體醫學院，參加者通過呼氣時反復輕聲默念一個單詞（任何單詞，可以是"om"或"Hail Mary"），來達到一個“放松的反應”。通過許多次研究，Benson發現該練習可以使參加者血壓降低，呼吸變緩，從而達到全身的平靜。

最近，Wisconsin-Madison大學的Richard Davidson發現由心神貫注研究中心首創的一種冥想呼吸法能夠對大腦產生影響。在一個小范圍進行并即將發表的研究中，Davidson對一家生物技術公司的25名員工的大腦進行了成像，這些員工每周練習冥想6天，共練習了8周。他發現他們大腦額葉前部的左側激活的情況有所增加，而這一部位與較低的焦慮水平、積極的情緒和大腦恐懼中心扁桃核的抑制相關。

如果你無法做到保持一種姿勢坐5分鐘以上，那么你可以試一試瑜伽。《瑜伽學報》醫學編輯Timothy McCall博士說，集中注意力于不同姿態的身體的復雜之處可以迫使你過濾掉那些“如磁帶卷一般無休止的戰顫和恐懼”，從而使你回到現實中來。這樣，你就開始從腦海中清除對未來的擔心。

斯坦福大學精神病學家David Burns博士說，這種經歷可以幫助病人克服扭曲的思維方式。那么面對恐怖主義，該怎么辦呢？接受焦慮，但是不要受它控制。當然你不要自個把事情翻來覆去地想個不停。“焦慮是越想越多，”美國精神病學會主席Paul Appelbaum博士這樣說道，所以應該告訴家人和朋友。“和別人分擔這些擔心是非常有用的。

科學家發現徹底不考慮這些問題很有幫助。邁阿密大學觸覺研究所所長Tiffany Field在對由于安德魯颶風而受到心理創傷的60名在校兒童的研究中發現，連續一個月、每周接受兩次30分鐘按摩的孩子其憂郁情況有所下降；而那些看放松內容的錄像片的孩子則沒有什么改觀。作為人的壓力標記的皮質醇水平在接受按摩的一組中也出現了相當程度的下降。如果你不喜歡按摩，那也可以出去好好走一走、游游泳或騎騎車。鍛煉不僅有利于保持身體健康，而且能減少焦慮和憂郁。

研究者們說，盡管做起來很難，但是在多事之秋，人們需要從生活的最簡單的快樂中獲取安慰。在Rochester大學醫學院進行的一次小范圍調查中，O. J. Sahler博士發現在骨髓移植病人中，那些聽音樂的反應感到的疼痛和惡心程度比較輕，而且他們移植的骨髓也更早就開始工作。另外，笑可能確實是良藥。 Loma Linda大學公共衛生學院的Lee Berk博士發現一組看了一小時喜劇錄像的學生其腎上腺素和皮質醇水平都出現了顯著下降。“如果你非常害怕，”Berk說，“那就看小丑表演吧。”這才是值得我們好好考慮的東西。