Anxiety Physical Symptoms

For most people, anxiety is something that you experience in short bursts before it passes. Your hands may start to sweat a little bit, or you get “butterflies in your stomach,” but it is generally easy to deal with and over quickly. For some people, however, anxiety is a much more serious issue. Anxiety becomes a dominating force in their lives, and they become unnecessarily afraid of many common aspects of day-to-day life, such as driving or interacting with coworkers. For people with this level of anxiety, physical symptoms are quite common and can be debilitating, making leading a normal life almost impossible.

In most illnesses, what we refer to as “symptoms” are actually just the way that the body fights off the illness. The situation with anxiety physical symptoms is similar, but unique in that your body is reacting to a threat that is essentially made up. Anxiety leads to fear, and fear produces certain reactions in the body, prepping it for engaging in physical activity – either running from, or fighting the perceived threat. This is what is commonly known as the “fight or flight” response. Since for most anxiety sufferers, there is no actual threat, the symptoms of anxiety can be very disorienting.

Common effects of anxiety include rapid beating of the heart, abnormal sweating, shaking, dilated pupils, stomachaches or nausea, and shortness of breath. Most of these anxiety physical symptoms occur as a way of the body preparing itself for physical activity. For example, your heart beats faster in order to pump blood faster and carry the oxygen and nutrients to the muscles in the arms and legs. Similarly, breathing faster means a higher intake of oxygen for the same purpose. Sweating is actually intended to improve ones ability to grip, which can be useful for fleeing or fighting.

However, what happens is that the body is taking in all of these resources and then not using them, which leads to other issues. For instance, the heavy breathing also causes the body to take in more carbon dioxide. This can lead to a person feeling dizzy or like they are going to pass out. Another problem is that since these symptoms seem to come from nowhere, some people fear that they are signs of an impending heart attack or similar medical problem. Many first time sufferers of panic attacks end in the emergency room by mistake.

In the long term, a person who continually suffers from anxiety may feel fatigued and may be more prone to sickness. This is because the body is drawing away important resources from the immune system in order to deal with an impending threat. When combined with the emotional problems that anxiety can bring on, the anxiety physical symptoms can make life almost unlivable. Anyone suffering from severe anxiety should seek help for the problem before it gets out of control. The sooner that treatment is started, the easier it will be for a person to achieve relief through treatment and return to a normal life.