Physical Symptoms of Anxiety: What Does It Feel Like?
Anxiety, a normal stress reaction, involves the feeling of fear, dread, and uneasiness. However, when your anxiety worsens over time, becomes disruptive, and impairs your daily functioning, then you might have a health condition called anxiety disorder.
A deeper understanding of this illness’s manifestations is crucial, as these can often be dismissed and mistaken for other health issues. Knowing the common signs can help you differentiate between normal stress responses and something that might require professional help.
If you believe you’re experiencing anxiety that begins to impact your life and relationships, seeking medical help is key to receiving proper treatment and support. Remember that you’re not alone in this fight and that resources are available to help you go through it.
Types of Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders cover a range of conditions that involve excessive and persistent fear or worry. Different types of this disorder are characterized by the nature of the anxiety or the situations that induce it. They have their unique manifestations but usually share physical symptoms with other types.
Generalized Anxiety
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) involves extreme, uncontrollable worry about everyday matters like finances, family, and health, lasting over six months. You expect the worst outcome for every minor inconvenience, even when the fear is clearly out of proportion.
As you dwell on these things, you might find it harder to relax and feel like your mind is always on high alert, anticipating a negative outcome for every situation. This can affect your quality of life in the long run.
Panic Disorder
Panic disorder is a type of anxiety disorder characterized by sudden, frequent, intense panic attacks that occur without warning. Physical symptoms like heartbeat irregularities, breathing impairment, dizziness, and an overwhelming sense of fear or dread often accompany these attacks.
The unpredictable nature of the panic attacks can cause you to worry about when the next one will happen and that another episode is bound to occur anytime soon. This constant fear can lead to avoidance of places or situations where you’ve had attacks in the past.
Social Anxiety
Social Anxiety Disorder involves an intense fear of social situations, often due to worries about being scrutinized, judged, or embarrassed. You might feel overwhelmed in social gatherings, like work meetings and acquaintance parties, or avoid them altogether.
This disorder can impact your ability to maintain or form new social and professional relationships and perform tasks that require public interaction. It’s not just shyness; fear is significant enough to interfere with your ability to communicate and convey your thoughts, disrupting your daily life.
Phobias
A phobia is an unreasonable, overwhelming fear of a group or specific situation, activity, object, thoughts, or other living things. Phobias are triggered by particular circumstances and triggers, going to great lengths to avoid the source of your fear even if you are aware that it’s irrational, manifesting as explosive reactions to these triggers.
Many phobias commonly include the fear of spiders, flying insects, dogs, heights, confined spaces, and dying. These often lead people to avoid situations they might encounter on a daily basis. This avoidance can limit daily activities, cause loss of opportunities, and affect social connections, leading to a more isolated lifestyle.
Separation Anxiety
Separation Anxiety Disorder involves an overwhelming fear of being separated from a person to whom you feel emotionally attached, like your parents or spouse. While this is common among children, it could also affect adults.
When they’re away, you worry excessively that something terrible might happen to them, like an injury or death, causing significant distress. This disorder can affect your ability to function independently. It may cause avoidance of situations requiring separation, like going to school for children and working for adults.
Situational Silence
Selective Mutism is a complex anxiety disorder where you find it harrowing or impossible to speak in certain social situations and with certain people. This is particularly associated with social anxiety disorder and primarily affects children, but it could also happen to adolescents and adults.
While you can speak comfortably in familiar settings, such as at home or with friends, you might become completely silent in other environments like school or social gatherings where some people present are unfamiliar. This selective inability to communicate can impact social experiences and efforts to expand relationships.
Causes and Triggers of Anxiety
Anxiety can be caused by a combination of inherited, environmental and psychological factors. Other factors can also increase the likelihood of experiencing this disorder. Getting a grasp of the causes and triggers can help you recognize what might be contributing to your anxiety.
Genetic Factors
Genetic factors play a significant role in anxiety because traits can be passed on from parents to offspring. If someone in your family has an anxiety disorder, you may have a higher risk of developing one yourself.
Genes can influence the way your brain responds to stress, which can affect your anxiety levels. While genetics doesn’t guarantee you’ll experience anxiety, it can make you more susceptible to its development.
Brain Chemistry Imbalance
Anxiety disorders can be linked to imbalances in brain chemistry, particularly with neurotransmitters like gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. Together, these chemicals regulate mood, and disruption to their levels and function can contribute to feelings of excessive worry and fear.
Long-lasting anxiety may result from this chemical imbalance, making it difficult for the brain to regulate stress responses despite efforts to cope with your feelings. This can make it challenging to manage daily tasks and maintain emotional stability.
Environmental and Routine Adjustments
Anticipation of possible scenarios or actual changes in your routine can also set off anxiety. Situations that take you out of your comfort zone can provoke your anxiety, such as moving houses or changing jobs, in fear of the uncertainties that lie ahead.
Even positive life changes can evoke anxiety, like starting college or getting married. This pressure can also create an emotional strain, making it difficult for you to manage these significant life adjustments without experiencing anxious thoughts.
Life Experiences
Your life experiences, particularly those involving any form of trauma or significant stress, can cause anxiety. If you’ve experienced devastating moments like abuse or loss in the past, it can create lasting anxiety triggers.
Growing up in an impoverished and dysfunctional family could also induce anxiety. The constant struggle to make ends meet, combined with the uncertainty about future needs and the lack of a strong support system, contribute to how you view challenges.
Personality Types
Certain personality types may be more prone to developing anxiety disorders, such as those who are naturally more sensitive or perfectionistic. These individuals often experience heightened stress in response to being faced with challenges or changes.
People with Type A personalities, characterized by high ambition and a strong drive for success, may also be more susceptible to anxiety. Their tendency to set high standards and focus on control, along with the fear of failure, can trigger excessive feelings of worry and overwhelm their entire well-being.
Stress and Lifestyle
High-stress environments and situations, like work, relationships, or financial pressures, can trigger anxiety. When you’re constantly exposed to stress, your body remains in a heightened state of alert, which can lead to persistent anxiety.
Poor lifestyle choices, such as inadequate sleep, poor diet, and lack of exercise, can also contribute to the condition. Idle times during periods of inactivity allow anxious thoughts to dominate your thinking. These factors can weaken your physical health, making you more vulnerable to emotional distress.
Medical Conditions
Ongoing illnesses, such as heart disease, diabetes, or thyroid disorders, affect your physical health and can increase feelings of anxiety. The physical, emotional, and financial burden of treating a long-term health condition and its uncertainty can also be a significant issue for you.
Additionally, various medications for some of these conditions can also cause side effects, some of which include mood changes that heighten anxiety, which then impacts overall mental health stability.
Physical Symptoms of Anxiety
Anxiety can manifest in various ways, affecting your body and contributing to systemic discomfort. Recognizing these physical signs can help you understand when anxiety is normal and when it is a concern.
Heart Palpitations
Heart palpitations are the primary physical symptom of anxiety; you would describe it as a racing or irregular heartbeat. This occurs when anxiety triggers the body to release adrenaline as part of the fight-or-flight response, which increases heart rate, even when no real danger is present.
This rapid heartbeat can make you feel as if your heart is pounding in your chest. You might also notice these palpitations in high-stress situations or when experiencing a panic attack, which will make you feel like you’re out of control.
Shortness of Breath
During anxiety, your body’s fight-or-flight response is triggered, causing rapid breathing. Your body is trying to get as much oxygen as possible for your body with inefficient breathing cycles. This can make you feel like you can’t get enough air, leading to a sensation of breathlessness.
This symptom can occur even if you are not physically exerting yourself, making it harder to calm down. The sensation can be unsettling, leaving you feeling like you are struggling to regain control over your breathing.
Muscle Tension or Pain
Muscle tension or pain occurs when anxiety causes your muscles to contract and remain tight to brace yourself from perceived threats. Your body may hold tension in areas like your neck, shoulders, stomach, or back until the muscles become sore.
In addition, anxiety could also make your brain send signals to your guts and intestines. This communication interferes with the tissues involved in digestion, causing reduced blood flow to the stomach, resulting in pain or discomfort.
Sweating
Profuse sweating is a common anxiety symptom, even in cool environments. It often includes clammy hands and feet, sweaty forehead, or damp clothing, increasing your discomfort in social or stressful situations.
Anxiety-induced sweating results from heightened nervous system activity, activating sweat glands. This natural response occurs more frequently in individuals with anxiety, potentially causing embarrassment and self-consciousness.
Trembling or Shaking
Trembling and shaking are common physical symptoms of anxiety, occurring when the body reacts to stress by activating the fight-or-flight response. This involuntary muscle movement is caused by an adrenaline surge, which prepares the body to react to sensed threats.
The trembling can affect the hands, legs, or entire body, making it difficult for you to perform routine tasks requiring fine motor movements like eating or writing. Though unsettling, this reaction is generally harmless and subsides once the anxiety diminishes.
Nausea
When you’re anxious, the body’s digestive system can be affected, leading to feelings of nausea or an upset stomach. The pent-up pressure from the anxiety can also cause you to feel sick. This can happen suddenly and may occur with other digestive issues.
Nausea from anxiety can arise without any apparent cause, and it can be persistent or experienced in waves. This digestive discomfort can make it difficult to eat or drink due to the fear of throwing up, contributing to further physical and emotional strain.
Sleep Issues
Insomnia is also one of the symptoms of anxiety, where constant worry and racing thoughts extend over the current situation and through the night, making it difficult to fall or stay asleep. This lack of rest can further worsen anxiety, creating a cycle of stress and sleeplessness.
Anxiety-related insomnia also causes havoc in the body’s natural sleep patterns. The inadequacy of sleep can also amplify other symptoms of anxiety, such as difficulty concentrating and weakness or fatigue.
Difficulty Concentrating
Difficulty concentrating is another symptom of anxiety, where persistent worry and racing thoughts make it hard to focus on tasks. Your mind becomes preoccupied with anxious ruminations, making you less efficient and impaired in making decisions in both work and daily activities.
Concentration problems brought on by your anxiety can further increase feelings of losing control, frustration, and stress. The struggle to stay focused can impact work, school, and personal responsibilities, making it harder to manage daily life effectively.
Weakness or Fatigue
Anxiety can lead to physical weakness or fatigue as the body remains in an increased state of alertness, draining energy reserves. Constant worry and tension may leave individuals feeling physically exhausted, even without significant physical exertion.
Chronic anxiety can contribute to persistent fatigue and low energy levels throughout the day. This can make you unmotivated to do physical activities and prefer to stay indoors or in your bed, creating a continuous cycle of exhaustion, unproductivity, and anxiety.
Chills or Hot Flashes
Experiencing chills or hot flashes can be a disconcerting symptom. Your body’s response to anxiety can cause sudden changes in temperature regulation, leading to sensations where you might feel cold and shivery one moment and overly warm the next.
These temperature changes can happen without any external cause, adding to the distress of an anxiety episode, which can be brief or last longer, making you feel physically uncomfortable.
Dizziness
Dizziness is another physical symptom of anxiety, often caused by fast breathing or an adrenaline rush during anxious moments. This sensation of lightheadedness can intensify your feelings of panic, making it difficult to maintain balance or focus.
Anxiety-related dizziness may occur suddenly and feel overwhelming, causing fear of fainting and losing control. Overfocusing on other sensations caused by anxiety can also make the dizziness even more pronounced.
Chest Pain
Chest pain is another alarming symptom that can accompany anxiety. The muscle tension and increased heart rate that occur during an anxiety episode can cause discomfort or pain in your chest, reflecting a panic attack.
This can be mistaken for more serious conditions like heart problems, adding to your anxiety. The pain can be sharp or dull and can vary in intensity, often accompanied by a feeling of tightness or pressure in your chest.
Sense of Impending Doom
A sense of impending doom occurs when individuals sense something life-threatening or tragic is bound to occur, even without a clear cause. You might feel unable to settle down, restless to an extreme, and detached from yourself.
This intense feeling often accompanies panic attacks, heightening the body’s fight-or-flight response. The sensation can be physically exhausting, leading to rapid heartbeat, sweating, and difficulty breathing.
Anxiety and Fight-or-Flight Response
The fight-or-flight response is the body’s way of protecting itself from perceived threats, triggering anxiety as a coping mechanism. This response releases stress hormones, preparing the body for confrontation or escaping danger.
As a result of this, your heart rate and breathing will increase to fuel your body for action. This causes your senses to sharpen and muscles to tense. Your body will also free more blood sugar to maintain this energy.
If you are constantly anxious and in a persisting fight-or-flight mode, stress hormones will eventually cause wear and tear on the body. This strain on the involved organs, such as the blood vessels, heart, and stomach, can result in alarming medical complications.
Conditions Associated with Anxiety
Anxiety is linked to various physical illnesses due to the extended stress response activation. If left uncontrolled, it can affect various body systems. Recognizing these associations can help you understand how anxiety may impact your health and raise the risk of physical problems.
Stomach Problems
Stomach problems, such as acid reflux, ulcers, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), are commonly associated with anxiety. Stress can increase your stomach acidity and negatively impact your digestion and the balance of your gut bacteria, leading to symptoms like gnawing pain, cramping, bloating, and diarrhea.
Living with stomach problems can be particularly distressing, as anxiety can intensify these symptoms and make management difficult. These issues can be persistent and could impede your daily life.
Migraines
Migraines are severe headaches often linked to anxiety, with stress being a common trigger. The tension and emotional strain from anxiety can lead to debilitating migraine episodes that can include symptoms like throbbing pain in the head, sensitivity to light, and nausea.
Experiencing migraines can significantly impact your quality of life, making concentrating or performing daily tasks difficult, greatly affecting your productivity. The anticipation of a migraine can also heighten your anxiety, perpetuating a cycle of discomfort and worry.
Vision Challenges
Vision issues can occur with anxiety, as stress can lead to eye strain, sensitivity to light, and blurred vision. When you’re anxious, your body’s response can affect your eye muscles, making it hard to focus or causing you to see floaters.
These issues are rather short-lived and usually occur when you are under extreme anxiety. These temporary vision problems can be immensely unsettling, further contributing to your anxiety and triggering heightened awareness of your symptoms.
Asthma
Asthma symptoms can worsen with anxiety, as stress can trigger or intensify asthma attacks. When you’re anxious, your breathing can become more labored, exacerbating asthma symptoms and leading to a feeling of tightness in your chest.
Managing asthma can also be more challenging when you’re anxious, as panic can make it harder to focus on finding or properly using inhalers, setting up portable nebulizers, or finding your medications.
Heart Issues
Anxiety can be linked to various heart problems, including increased heart rate and high blood pressure. The stress and tension from anxiety can put extra effort on your heart, potentially leading to serious cardiovascular issues over time.
Heart failure and stroke are also associated with anxiety, as prolonged stress can weaken your heart and blood vessels. Additionally, the elevated state of alert triggered by anxiety can put considerable strain on the cardiovascular system, raising the risk of heart conditions.
Seeking Immediate Help
If you’re experiencing severe anxiety and need immediate help, consider contacting a mental health professional or counselor. You can also call a crisis hotline or emergency services if your anxiety feels overwhelming or leads to thoughts of self-harm. These are available 24/7 to provide support and guidance.
In addition to professional help, a trusted friend or a close family member can offer you immediate emotional support during this challenging time. It would be easier to verbalize current feelings and uncertainties with someone you are comfortable with.
Confirming Anxiety
Healthcare providers determine anxiety by using a combination of clinical evaluation, diagnostic criteria, and screening tools to rule out other conditions. Here is an outline of what to expect during diagnosis when getting medical help.
Physical Examination and Medical History
A physical examination and medical history review are the initial steps in diagnosing anxiety. During this process, your doctor checks for physical manifestations that may signify underlying medical conditions.
In addition, they will ask about your personal and family medical history to identify any patterns or related health issues. This examination helps rule out other causes of symptoms and proceeds to use further diagnostic screening tools, such as questionnaires, to confirm anxiety.
Questionnaires
Psychological questionnaires provide a structured way to assess your anxiety levels and specific symptoms. These standardized tools contain questions about your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in various situations.
By answering these questionnaires, you can help your healthcare provider understand the severity and type of anxiety you’re experiencing, which can help you plan management methods with your doctor.
Detailed Medical Interview
An interview is a detailed discussion with a mental health professional or doctor about your experiences and symptoms. During the interview, you can talk about your anxiety in detail- when it started and how it affects your life. They might also ask you about any history of substance abuse.
The medical professional will ask targeted questions to evaluate your emotional state, especially with thoughts of self-harm, and identify specific triggers or patterns. This conversational approach allows for a deeper exploration of your anxiety, helping to determine the most appropriate diagnosis and management plan.
Managing Anxiety
Managing anxiety often involves a variety of approaches that focus on the mental and physical aspects of the condition. Each method can reduce the symptoms and improve your quality of life.
Therapy
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a highly effective way to manage anxiety. Through this therapy, you will work with a mental health professional to explore your negative thoughts and behaviors and look at them in a rather positive way.
CBT can also help you develop coping strategies and change how you respond to anxiety-triggering situations. It offers a safe space to express your thoughts and feelings, allowing you to gain insight into your anxiety and learn healthier ways to manage it under professional guidance.
Support Groups
Support groups provide an open environment where you can share experiences, gain insights, and learn coping strategies with other people suffering from anxiety. These groups foster a sense of belongingness, reducing feelings of isolation and offering valuable emotional support.
Whether online or in person, support groups connect individuals facing similar challenges. By discussing your struggles and successes, you can build confidence, gain perspective, and develop practical tools for managing anxiety more effectively.
Medication
Medications can be a valuable tool in managing anxiety, especially when symptoms are severe or persistent. Medications like anti-anxiety medications and antidepressants help regulate your brain chemistry, along with beta-blockers for physical symptoms such as palpitations and trembling.
When prescribing medication, your healthcare provider will consider your symptoms, medical history, and other factors. It’s crucial to follow the prescribed dosage and contact your doctor about any side effects or concerns as early as possible.
Physical Activity
Staying physically active, even as simple as taking walks for pleasure or doing high-intensity exercises, can significantly reduce your anxiety. Exercise releases endorphins, the body’s natural mood boosters, helping alleviate stress and promote calm and well-being.
Physical activities also improve your sleep quality and increase energy levels, which are critical for managing anxiety. Regular movement encourages a healthy mind-body connection, making coping with your anxious thoughts and emotions easier.
Relaxation
Incorporating relaxation techniques into your daily routines can help prevent anxiety from escalating. Simple practices like meditation and mindfulness shift focus away from anxious thoughts, enabling you to manage your emotions more effectively and regain mental balance.
Other unwinding methods, such as deep breathing, yoga, progressive muscle relaxation, and guided imagery, can also lessen your anxiety. These techniques work by calming your mind and body, lowering stress levels, and fostering greater control over anxiety.
Sleep
Getting adequate sleep is also essential for managing your anxiety, as sleep deprivation can heighten stress and worsen anxiety symptoms. An uninterrupted deep sleep with a consistent schedule promotes mental clarity, emotional balance, and better stress management.
Practicing good sleep hygiene, such as avoiding screen time, using mobile phones before bed, and maintaining a calm environment, helps improve sleep quality. A well-rested mind is better equipped to handle anxiety and prevent overwhelming feelings from escalating.
Avoiding Substances
Limiting or abstaining from substances that can influence your mental state also helps manage anxiety. An example of this is alcohol, which is a depressant that slows down your senses. Liquors can lead to mood swings and dependency, resulting in emotional instability and thus causing anxiety.
On the contrary, caffeine and nicotine are stimulants or substances that speed up brain activity. When taken, the increased brain function can arouse or intensify your feelings of anxiety. Avoiding these substances helps you maintain a balanced emotional well-being and reduce anxiety triggers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the causes of anxiety?
Anxiety can stem from a variety of sources, often a mix of genetic, environmental, and personal factors. Family history plays a significant role; if anxiety disorders run in your family, you may be more susceptible. Major changes in your life, whether good or bad, can also trigger your anxiety.
Life experiences, particularly family interactions and traumatic events, can also contribute to the development of anxiety. High-stress environments, poor lifestyle choices, and chronic illnesses can exacerbate anxiety symptoms, making it a complex issue with numerous potential causes.
What are some common physical symptoms of anxiety?
Anxiety manifests in the body through physical symptoms such as getting a sense of impending doom and heart palpitations, which are sensations of a racing or fluttering heartbeat due to the release of adrenaline during stress. These symptoms can be especially noticeable during panic attacks or high-stress situations.
Other physical symptoms include trembling or shaking, excessive sweating, shortness of breath, and chest pain. These symptoms are part of the body’s fight-or-flight response and can be mistaken for other health issues, making it important to recognize them as potential indicators of anxiety.
How is anxiety typically diagnosed by healthcare professionals?
Healthcare professionals diagnose anxiety through a combination of physical examinations, medical history reviews, and psychological assessments. A physical exam helps rule out other medical conditions that could cause similar symptoms.
Psychological questionnaires and interviews with a mental health professional allow for a deeper understanding of the individual’s experiences and symptoms. These tools help identify the type and severity of anxiety, guiding the development of an appropriate management plan.
What are some effective methods for managing anxiety?
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is an effective method for managing anxiety, helping individuals change negative thought patterns and behaviors while offering strategies to cope with anxiety-inducing situations. Medicines like antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs help with balancing the brain signals, particularly for severe or persistent symptoms.
In addition to therapy and medication, relaxation techniques and lifestyle changes like regular exercise, a balanced diet, and adequate sleep improve overall well-being. Support groups can also help manage anxiety through shared experiences.
