私醫聯招 英文歷屆試題｜第 391 題

While anxiety in its various forms has undoubtedly been with humans from time immemorial, certain modern lifestyle factors may have exacerbated the problem, and anxiety management needs to include a close analysis of lifestyle and thought patterns followed by appropriate modification. During the past two decades, researchers have discovered that decreases in sleep time and quality can cause changes in nervous systems. Notably, anxiety can be augmented by excessive caffeine, alcohol, and recreational drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, and amphetamines. In particular, caffeine use can profoundly raise the anxiety levels in those predisposed individuals, particularly the patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Recent research has also empirically established that in addition to food and fluid intake, factors such as social discrimination against obesity and physical inactivity may also significantly aggravate anxiety.