Can Anxiety Cause Physical Symptoms? What Your Body May Be Telling You
When people think about anxiety, they often think about worry, overthinking, nervousness or feeling unable to switch off. What can be much harder to understand is how physical anxiety can feel.
You might notice your heart beating harder than normal, feel light-headed when you stand up, experience an unsettled stomach or suddenly feel as though you cannot take a full breath. For some people, those physical sensations are what make anxiety particularly frightening because they can feel completely disconnected from what is happening emotionally.
Anxiety can cause physical symptoms, but it is important not to assume that every unexplained physical symptom is caused by anxiety. Chest pain, breathlessness, dizziness, nausea and persistent tiredness can all have other causes, so new, severe or ongoing symptoms should be discussed with an appropriate healthcare professional.
Why does anxiety affect the body?
Anxiety is not confined to your thoughts. When your brain perceives a threat, your body prepares to respond. Your heart may beat faster, your breathing may change and your muscles can become more tense. You may start sweating, feel shaky or notice changes in your stomach and digestion.
This response has an important purpose. It helps us react quickly when something genuinely threatens us.
The difficulty comes when the same response is triggered by worry, uncertainty, pressure or something that does not require an immediate physical reaction. The body can still behave as though there is danger, even when you are sitting at your desk, lying in bed or going about an otherwise ordinary day.
Logically, you may know that you are safe, while your body appears to be telling you something completely different.
What physical symptoms can anxiety cause?
There is no single physical symptom that everyone with anxiety experiences. Some people become very aware of their heartbeat. Others feel sick, shaky, tense or dizzy. Anxiety can also affect sleep and leave you feeling exhausted the following day.
Physical symptoms associated with anxiety can include:
- A racing, pounding or more noticeable heartbeat
- Chest discomfort or tightness
- Feeling short of breath
- Dizziness or light-headedness
- Nausea or an unsettled stomach
- Sweating
- Trembling or shaking
- Headaches
- Muscle tension
- Feeling hot or flushed
- Difficulty sleeping
- Feeling unusually tired
- Changes in appetite or digestion
These symptoms can occur during periods of ongoing anxiety or become much more intense during a panic attack. They can also feed into one another.
You notice your heart beating quickly, worry about why it is happening and become more anxious. Your heart then beats faster because you are anxious, which makes you pay even more attention to it.
Before long, the physical symptom and the worry surrounding it can become harder to separate.
Can anxiety cause chest pain?
Anxiety can cause chest discomfort and chest pain.
A faster heartbeat, changes in breathing and increased muscle tension can all contribute to uncomfortable sensations around the chest. Chest pain can also occur during a panic attack.
However, chest pain has many possible causes.
If you experience new or severe chest pain, or you are concerned about what you are experiencing, it is important to seek appropriate medical advice rather than deciding for yourself that anxiety must be responsible.
The fact that anxiety can cause chest pain does not mean chest pain should automatically be dismissed as anxiety.
Why can anxiety make you feel short of breath?
Breathing often changes when we become anxious.
You may start breathing more quickly, taking shallower breaths or becoming unusually conscious of every breath you take. Some people describe repeatedly trying to take a deep breath but feeling as though it never quite satisfies them.
Once you become focused on your breathing, you may begin checking it repeatedly. That increased attention can make the sensation feel even more prominent and create further anxiety.
Breathlessness can also have many physical causes. Persistent, severe or unexplained breathing problems need appropriate medical assessment.
Can anxiety make you dizzy?
Dizziness and light-headedness can occur alongside anxiety.
Changes in breathing, heightened alertness and the body’s stress response can contribute to those sensations, particularly during intense periods of anxiety or panic.
There is another element that can make dizziness particularly uncomfortable.
When you are anxious, you tend to pay much closer attention to what is happening inside your body. A brief feeling of light-headedness that might normally pass without much thought can suddenly become something you monitor closely.
That does not make the dizziness imaginary.
The sensation is real. Anxiety can simply affect how strongly you notice it and how threatening it feels.
As with other physical symptoms, repeated or unexplained dizziness should be medically assessed rather than assumed to be caused by anxiety.
Can anxiety cause nausea or stomach problems?
There is a strong connection between emotional stress and the digestive system.
Think about the familiar feeling of having “butterflies” before something important. Anxiety can produce a much stronger version of that same response.
Some people experience nausea, stomach cramps, indigestion, diarrhoea, constipation or changes in appetite when they are particularly anxious.
You might notice it before an important meeting, while travelling somewhere unfamiliar or during a period when life feels especially stressful.
For other people, there is no obvious moment when the anxiety begins. The stomach symptoms simply seem to appear.
Persistent digestive symptoms should still be discussed with a healthcare professional because they can have many different causes.
Why does anxiety make you so tired?
Being anxious can take a surprising amount of energy.
If your mind is constantly assessing what could go wrong, your muscles remain tense and you are struggling to properly relax, it can leave you feeling physically drained.
Sleep can become affected too.
You might struggle to fall asleep because your thoughts become louder at night, wake frequently or find yourself lying awake thinking through tomorrow before today has even finished.
Even when you appear to be doing very little physically, your body and mind may have been working hard for hours.
That can leave you tired, irritable and less able to concentrate.
Persistent fatigue can have many possible causes, however, so it is worth seeking medical advice if tiredness becomes ongoing or significantly affects your day-to-day life.
What causes anxiety to suddenly flare up?
You are under pressure at work, worried about money, dealing with relationship problems, concerned about your health or facing a major change.
Other times, anxiety appears to come from nowhere.
A sudden flare-up may follow a period of accumulated stress rather than one single event. Poor sleep, ongoing pressure, uncertainty and repeated smaller worries can gradually build until your body starts responding more noticeably.
Sometimes the first thing you notice is a physical sensation rather than an anxious thought.
Your heart beats faster. You feel dizzy. Your stomach turns.
You then begin wondering why it is happening.
That question can create more anxiety, which intensifies the physical sensation and creates a cycle that is difficult to interrupt.
Why does anxiety make you fixate on things?
When something feels threatening, your brain naturally gives it greater priority. If your concern relates to your health, that can mean becoming extremely aware of physical sensations.
You may repeatedly check how your body feels, search online for explanations or compare what you are experiencing with symptoms you have read about.
The more attention you give a sensation, the harder it can become to ignore.
This can happen with other worries too. A conversation at work, something somebody said, a financial concern or a fear about the future can occupy far more mental space than you would like.
Understanding that pattern can be helpful because it shows how anxiety can keep itself going even after the original trigger has passed.
When does anxiety become something worth getting help with?
Anxiety becomes more significant when it begins controlling what you do.
You might start avoiding places or situations because you are worried about how you will feel or you may struggle to concentrate at work, sleep properly or enjoy things you previously enjoyed.
Perhaps you spend increasing amounts of time worrying about physical symptoms, experiencing panic attacks or trying to prevent yourself from feeling anxious.
At that point, it may be worth talking to somebody.
There is no requirement to wait until anxiety becomes unbearable before asking for support.
What support is available for anxiety?
The most appropriate support depends on what you are experiencing and how anxiety is affecting you.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, commonly known as CBT, can help you understand the connection between your thoughts, feelings and behaviours and look at different ways of responding to anxiety.
Counselling provides space to explore experiences, emotions and circumstances that may be contributing to how you feel.
Psychiatric support may be appropriate where a more detailed mental health assessment is required, where symptoms are complex or where diagnosis and treatment options need to be considered.
The right starting point will not necessarily be the same for everybody.
Anxiety support in Preston
The Therapy Company provides private mental health support in Preston, with online appointments also available for some services.
Our team provides counselling, CBT and psychiatry for people experiencing a range of mental health difficulties, including anxiety.
Where anxiety is affecting your everyday life, work, relationships, sleep or ability to do the things you would normally do, professional mental health support may help you understand what is happening and decide what to do next.
You can contact The Therapy Company on 01772 440321 or get in touch through our contact form to discuss the support available.