![]() ![]() But one of the side effects is that it can end up making us feel dizzy, lightheaded, tingly or faint. Hyperventilation allows the lungs to take in more oxygen, preparing us to escape physical danger. Let’s take a closer look at some of the physical symptoms of anxiety:įight or flight causes our breathing to become rapid and shallow – in other words, we start “hyperventilating”. Instead, they’re a symptom of your anxiety. The symptoms are probably real – they’re just not a result of the illness you’re attributing them to. So it’s less about the mind creating symptoms. ![]() And things can fall out of whack pretty quickly. If we’re living with an anxiety disorder, our body is in this state almost constantly – something it’s not designed for. However, when it comes to our more modern and everyday anxieties, less so. Our heart beats faster to send more blood to our muscles… Our pupils dilate so that we can see better… Alongside a whole range of other physical changes.īack in our hunter gatherer days, when we were trying to flee that sabre-toothed tiger lurking in the bushes, this was quite literally a “life saver”. When we’re in fight-or-flight, the body gets flooded with stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline. As the name suggests, it prepares us to either “fight” for our survival or to run away and “flee”. ![]() It’s sole purpose is to help us stay alive when we perceive danger. This is the part of our nervous system which is associated with threat, triggering our fight-or-flight response.įight or flight is the body’s automatic response to danger. When we’re anxious, something called the “sympathetic nervous system” gets activated. Many of us are familiar with the mental and emotional symptoms of anxiety, but fewer are aware that there are physical side effects too. This is because anxiety affects both our mind and our body – with short and long-term effects. If you have health anxiety your symptoms likely come from the mind, but they are still very much real. In one sense yes, but that’s not the full story…. Your health worries have started to interfere in your quality of life.When you read about a disease, you immediately start worrying you might have it.You find yourself scouring the internet looking for confirmation that you’re ill.You live with an almost constant fear that there’s something wrong with you.Some of the symptoms to look out for are: Health anxiety can be summed up by an excessive fear of having – or contracting – a disease. And the latter usually serves as an indicator that there’s something more at play. Whilst it’s good and healthy to be cautious, obsessing gets us nowhere. ![]() After all, it’s our anxiety which drives us to maintain social distancing, wash our hands, wear our masks, and generally try and keep ourselves safe.īut sometimes it can go a step (or several) too far. In fact, in one sense, our anxiety can play a protective role through this. Living through a pandemic, it’s natural that we might be feeling a little more anxious than usual. Maybe you’ve even started “worrying about worrying” which only makes your anxiety worse. Do you spend your evenings frantically consulting Dr Google? Tuning into any (and every) body sensation you have and immediately predicting the worst? ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |