The short answer is yes, anxiety can make you physically sick. Too much anxiety can lead to symptoms of physical illness, worsen existing illness, or...
The short answer is yes, anxiety can make you physically sick. Too much anxiety can lead to symptoms of physical illness, worsen existing illness, or pre-dispose you toward illness. Our thoughts, emotions, perceptions, and behaviors all interact with and impact our physical function, and vice versa. The impact of uncontrolled anxiety can threaten your health over time. This is one reason why anxiety must be managed, ideally through a combination of psychotherapy, medication, and lifestyle changes.
Understanding how anxiety effects your body
Anxiety can manifest as a panic attack. A panic attack is a sudden shove into the Fight/Flight/Freeze (F3) mode, or sympathetic arousal.
When we are faced with a threat to our survival, such as a dump truck locking up the brakes six feet away as we cross the street, our Sympathetic branch of our nervous system will activate and put us into F3. The response most conducive to our survival will be to get out of the way, or flee. To facilitate this, we will experience an adrenaline dump.
The adrenal glands sit atop our kidneys. They will release the hormone adrenaline, which will:
This is the F3 response, which gives us the ability to withdraw from a threat, engage a threat, or lock up and be unable to move (Seltzer, 2015).
Depending on the circumstances, any one of these responses can be conducive to our survival.
Once the threat has been escaped, defeated, or left, the F3 response is reversed through the action of the Parasympathetic nervous system.
This has been called the Rest and Digest (R & D) response. Our muscles relax, and heart rate and blood pressure goes down. Our pupils return to the normal size for the amount of ambient light, and our digestion resumes. This interaction between the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic systems maintains a sense of internal equilibrium in our bodies.
Chronic Anxiety & Physical sickness
Here is the problem with anxiety:
Imagine being in that almost- hit- by- a- dump -truck feeling all the time.
It is too much. It is overwhelming. Instead of in balance, we are off-balance.
Chronic lower grade anxiety can wear you down. By the end of the day, you feel exhausted and achy. This is due to muscle tension, and your body working harder than it needs to all day. Anxiety can prevent you from sleeping well, so you don't feel rested the next day, and the cycle gets worse.
Anxiety is an emotion. It must be available in the correct amounts for us to function well.
There are individual differences in how much anxiety one experiences.
Too little anxiety can lead to reckless behavior or a lack of urgency about accomplishing a task. A degree of anxiety motivates you to wear a seat-belt, look both ways when crossing the street, and to delay gratification to get work done.
Too much anxiety can make us sick. We need to be in the Goldilocks Zone – not too much, not too little, but just right- for anxiety to serve us well, instead of making us sick.
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Other activities which have been found helpful in reducing both immediate feelings of anxiousness and long-term anxieties associated with chronic disorders include yoga, journaling, nature walks, art therapy, volunteering, and other low-stress activities. Additionally, developing a healthy lifestyle incorporating adequate sleep, physical activity, and nutritious meals can help reduce overall stress levels.
Yes, Medicaid provides insurance coverage for therapy services specifically designed to help individuals struggling with anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions.
We all get a little anxious sometimes—like a sudden jolt of nerves before a big presentation or a first date. But if that nervous feeling has become a constant companion, like an uninvited roommate that won’t leave, it might be time for counseling. Signs that it's more than a passing worry include persistent fear, difficulty sleeping, or avoiding situations that trigger your anxiety. We understand how exhausting this can be. We can work together to help you get your living space back.
Think of anxiety counseling as your personal guide to untangling a complicated knot of thoughts and fears. While it may feel impossible right now, you have the power to conquer it. We'll give you a toolkit of strategies, from understanding what's triggering your worry to practicing deep breathing exercises that calm your nervous system. Through counseling, you'll learn to recognize your thought patterns and challenge them, so you can stop being a passenger in your own life and start being the one in the driver’s seat.
The most effective approach to treating anxiety is like finding the perfect pair of shoes—what works for one person might not work for another. However, a common and effective therapy is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). It helps you identify negative thought patterns and behaviors that feed your anxiety. We also use other approaches, like exposure therapy, to help you gradually face your fears in a safe and supportive way. We'll help you find the right fit for your unique needs.
