Can Anxiety Affect Your Health?

Introduction

Anxiety is one of the most common mental health challenges that affect millions of people all over the world. While it can be disruptive and even debilitating, anxiety disorder treatment is also available.

In this article, we'll take a closer look at the symptoms of anxiety and what effects it can have on your brain and the body. We'll also discuss how to get help if you're struggling with anxiety.

What Are the Symptoms of Anxiety?

The symptoms of anxiety can be broken down into three categories: physical, mental, and emotional.

Physical symptoms of anxiety include but are not limited to:

• dizziness

• lightheadedness

• headache

• nausea

• sweating

• trembling or shaking

• chest pain

• increased heart rate

• shortness of breath

• difficulty sleeping

Mental symptoms of anxiety include but are not limited to:

• constant worry or obsessing over one particular thing

• racing thoughts

• feeling like your mind is going blank

• difficulty concentrating or focusing on anything

• feeling edgy or on edge all the time

Emotional symptoms of anxiety include but are not limited to:

• feeling irritable or easily angered

• feeling restless

• feeling fatigued

• feeling hopeless

• feeling like you're in danger even when you're not

What Does Anxiety Do to the Brain?

Anxiety can cause a series of complications in the brain. When you're anxious, your body goes into fight-or-flight mode, which means that it releases a bunch of stress hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones can interfere with your brain's ability to function properly. When you feel anxious and stressed, your brain floods your nervous system with hormones and chemicals designed to help you respond to a threat. While helpful for the occasional high-stress event, long-term exposure to stress hormones can be harmful to your physical health in the long run. For example, long-term exposure to cortisol can contribute to weight gain.

Anxiety and chronic stress may damage the hippocampus and impair its function, increasing the risk of depression and dementia.

Anxiety can make it hard to concentrate, remember things, and make decisions. In extreme cases, anxiety can even lead to a condition called psychosis, which is when you lose touch with reality and start seeing or hearing things that aren't there. Thankfully, this is rare and only happens in very severe cases of anxiety.

The good news is that some experts believe that brain damage caused by anxiety can be repaired if the individual reduces their daily stress levels. Due to brain plasticity, impacted areas of the brain may be able to regenerate. 

How Does Anxiety Affect Physical Health?

You might not realize it, but anxiety can have a major impact on your physical health. When you're anxious, your body is in a constant state of stress, which can lead to a lot of problems, which typically resolve with anxiety treatment.

For one, all that stress can lead to headaches and migraines. It can also cause digestive issues like upset stomach, diarrhea, and constipation. If you experience chronic stress, your body never gets the signal to return to regular functioning, which can weaken your immune system making you more susceptible to colds and infections. Plus, a 20-year study whose results were published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine in 2005 found that those diagnosed with panic disorder were six times more likely to develop asthma than those without anxiety. 

From worrying about the future to ruminating about the past, getting adequate rest can be difficult for those with anxiety. It can interfere with your sleep, making you more likely to suffer from insomnia or sleep disorders. And it can make chronic pain worse. Despite getting enough sleep, the constant feeling of panic can wear you down and sap your energy.

Effective Treatments for Anxiety

While there is no single solution for anxiety, there are a few treatments that tend to be effective for most people. Therapies like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and exposure therapy can help you learn new coping mechanisms and techniques to manage your anxiety.

You might also want to consider medication, although it’s important to note that medication is not a cure-all. Anti-anxiety medication can help take the edge off your symptoms, but it’s not a long-term solution. The best approach to treating anxiety disorder is a combination of medication and therapy.

Conclusion

Anxiety can affect your health in a number of ways. Fortunately, there are effective treatments for anxiety that can help you manage your symptoms and live a healthy, productive life. If you're struggling with anxiety, don't hesitate to talk to your therapist or psychiatrist. They can help you find the treatment that's right for you.