Anxiety has become the number one mental health issue in North America. So many Americans are suffering from political anxiety that doctors have coined a term for their distress "Pres. Trump Stress Disorder" (PTSD.) Coping can be done via meds, therapy or yoga, but here's a quicker, easier way:

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Anxiety has become the number one mental health issue in North America, according to Anxiety Centre:

Approximately 30 percent of the adult population between the ages of 18 and 54 are affected by anxiety disorders in the US

Anxiety Disorders affect 18.1 percent of adults in the United States (approximately 40 million adults between the ages of 18 to 54). - National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Current estimates put this number much higher - approximately 30 percent- as many people don't seek help, are misdiagnosed, or don't know they have issues with anxiety.

65% of North Americans take prescription medications daily, 43% take mood altering prescriptions regularly.

Florida social worker, Tracey Rubenstein, says that after Trump's election, 80 percent of her clients cited the election and its aftermath as a new source of fear, sadness or anxiety in their lives, "This is anxiety on a national level, on a level of existential crisis for some people, of national identity."

The NY Daily News reports "So many Americans are suffering from political anxiety that doctors have coined a term for their distress: President Trump Stress Disorder (PTSD.) Therapists report that their practices are more robust than ever. Deborah Cooper, a California-based therapist said she can hardly accommodate all of her patients. 'I have people I have not seen in literally 30 years that have called me to come back in because of trauma,' she said, citing Trump's lackluster condemnation of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville as one in a string of anxiety-inducing events that are "coming too fast and furious" for her patients and her practice to handle.

Sue Elias, a New York-based psychotherapist said "I don't think I have a patient that has never mentioned it. It's remarkable."

So the anxiety-prone turn to pharmaceuticals, therapy, meditation, yoga, exercise and other activities to reduce symptoms.

But what if it's easier than that?

The research of Dr. David Lewis-Hodgson of Mindlab International showed that listening to a particular piece of music, which was created in collaboration with sound therapists, induces a 65% reduction in the participants' overall anxiety and a 35% reduction in their usual psychological resting states. It slows the heart rate, reduces blood pressure and lowers levels of the stress hormone cortisol so well that Dr. Lewis-Hodgson cautions that it should not be listened to while driving.

The Telegraph notes, "Lyz Cooper, founder of the British Academy of Sound Therapy, said: 'The song makes use of many musical principles that have been shown to individually have a calming effect. It contains a sustaining rhythm that starts at 60 beats per minute and gradually slows to around 50. While listening, your heart rate gradually comes to match that beat...The fall in heart rate also leads to a fall in blood pressure...Sound therapy has been used for thousands of years to help people relax and improve health and well-being...Music was at the heart of healing and worship among indigenous cultures.'"

It's always been the arts that have the power to heal the soul.

You can listen to this piece of music here - take eight little minutes to lower your stress and enhance your health and wellbeing.

The music Dr. Lewis-Hodgson researched is "Weightless" by Marconi Union.

Please comment to share your experience.

Below is Mindlab's list of the top ten most relaxing pieces of music:

1. Marconi Union - Weightless

2. Airstream - Electra

3. DJ Shah - Mellomaniac (Chill Out Mix)

4.Enya - Watermark

5. Coldplay - Strawberry Swing

6. Barcelona - Please Don't Go

7. All Saints - Pure Shores

8. Adele - Someone Like You

9. Mozart - Canzonetta Sull'aria

10. Cafe Del Mar - We Can Fly

Authors Website: http://www.OceanViewArts.com

Authors Bio:

Meryl Ann Butler is an artist, author, educator and OpedNews Managing Editor who has been actively engaged in utilizing the arts as stepping-stones toward joy-filled wellbeing since she was a hippie. She began writing for OpEdNews in Feb, 2004. She became a Senior Editor in August 2012 and Managing Editor in January, 2013. In June, 2015, the combined views on her articles, diaries and quick link contributions topped one million. She was particularly happy that her article about Bree Newsome removing the Confederate flag was the one that put her past the million mark.

Her art in a wide variety of media can be seen on her YouTube video, "Visionary Artist Meryl Ann Butler on Creativity and Joy" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGs2r_66QE

A NYC native, her response to 9-11 was to pen an invitation to healing through creativity, entitled, "90-Minute Quilts: 15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon" (Krause 2006), which is a bestseller in the craft field. The sequel, MORE 90-Minute Quilts: 20+ Quick and Easy Projects With Triangles and Squares was released in April, 2011. Her popular video, How to Stitch a Quilt in 90 Minutes with Meryl Ann Butler can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrShGOQaJQ8

She has been active in a number of international, arts-related projects as a citizen diplomat, and was arts advisor to Baltimore's CIUSSR (Center for Improving US-Soviet Relations), 1987-89. She made two trips to the former USSR in 1987 and 1988 to speak to artists, craftpeople and fashion designers on the topic of utilizing the arts as a tool for global wellbeing. She created the historical "First US-Soviet Children's Peace Quilt Exchange Project" in 1987-88, which was the first time a reciprocal quilt was given to the US from the former USSR.

Her artwork is in collections across the globe.

Meryl Ann is a founding member of The Labyrinth Society and has been building labyrinths since 1992. She publishes an annual article about the topic on OpEdNews on World Labyrinth Day, the first Saturday in May.

OpEdNews Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in "Beyond Surviving: How to Thrive in Challenging Times" at https://www.opednews.com/articles/Beyond-Surviving--How-to-by-Joan-Brunwasser-Anxiety_Appreciation_Coronavirus_Creativity-200318-988.html

Find out more about Meryl Ann's artistic life in "OEN Managing Ed, Meryl Ann Butler, Featured on the Other Side of the Byline" at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/OEN-Managing-Ed-Meryl-Ann-in-Life_Arts-Artistic_Artists_Quilt-170917-615.html

On Feb 11, 2017, Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in Pink Power: Sister March, Norfolk, VA at http://www.opednews.com/articles/Pink-Power-Sister-March--by-Joan-Brunwasser-Pussy-Hats-170212-681.html

"Creativity and Healing: The Work of Meryl Ann Butler" by Burl Hall is at
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Creativity-and-Healing--T-by-Burl-Hall-130414-18.html

Burl and Merry Hall interviewed Meryl Ann on their BlogTalk radio show, "Envision This," at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/envision-this/2013/04/11/meryl-ann-butler-art-as-a-medicine-for-the-soul

Archived articles www.opednews.com/author/author1820.html
Older archived articles, from before May 2005 are here.