The term “anxiety” is often used in general language as a catch-all word for stress-induced feelings of worry and fear. However, it is also a clinical term reserved for a condition that manifests itself through physical symptoms.
While the former case is not necessarily invalid, patients who display physical symptoms are the ones who need immediate medical attention. This is because the symptoms of anxiety can severely decrease a person’s quality of life and may limit their capacity to perform basic daily actions.
In the interest of promoting better healthcare and mental health awareness, here are five physical symptoms of anxiety that you need to watch out for.
Elevated Heartbeat
When your body is under duress, your adrenal glands secrete adrenaline—also known as epinephrine—which triggers your “fight or flight” response. This hormone causes your heartbeat to race in anticipation of a stressful event. Usually, the adrenal glands stop secreting adrenaline within two to three minutes.
However, for people with anxiety, their adrenal glands tend to overshoot adrenaline production. It is this prolonged heightened state that causes them to develop nervous breakdowns and panic attacks.
Breathing Difficulties
Being short of breath is to be expected when your heartbeat gets elevated, especially given that blood delivers oxygen to the rest of your body. If your heart beats faster than normal due to the increased demand in preparation for a fight or flight response, your lungs will have to work harder as well.
People who suffer from anxiety experience shortness of breath in prolonged amounts of time, which results in discomfort and an impaired ability to think clearly.
Muscle Pains
When your body reacts to a stress response, your muscles tense up. Prolonged stress causes you to hold your body rigidly for extended periods of time, which leads to pain. Some people clench their jaws and feel the tension all the way up to the head, which results in tension headaches.
Persistent Fatigue
Once the adrenaline rush dies down, it’s normal for a person to feel tired. This happens as your body feels the sudden drop in blood sugar levels after using up energy during a stressful event. This fatigue is even more persistent for people suffering from anxiety, as a prolonged state of this drains them even more.
Sleep Disorders
Unfortunately, sleep disorders are very common for people with anxiety. This happens because cortisol and adrenaline may keep the body in a perpetual active state, making it harder to get a good night’s sleep. Since sleep is the body’s main regenerative activity, these disorders contribute directly to the fatigue felt the next day.
The Bottom Line
Anxiety and its physical symptoms need to be taken seriously because they can easily impair an individual’s ability to live their lives to the fullest. People who suffer from anxiety run the risk of developing other mental health conditions, such as depression, because of the inability to deal with social pressures and other stressful situations.
The good news is that anxiety can be treated with therapy. If you need it, your doctor can also prescribe anti-anxiety drugs and encourage you to do some stress management techniques. The best course of treatment will depend on the nature of your symptoms, but for most people, a mix of different treatments often work best.
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