What Is Anxiety? Symptoms of Anxiety, Causes of Anxiety, & How to Make Anxiety Stop
Anxiety is a complex condition, but the good news is that there are many simple things you can do to make it go away. Anxiety and stress affect nearly everyone at some point in their life, but when anxiety becomes chronic or unmanaged, it can lead to other health concerns like heart disease, diabetes and obesity. So if you’re suffering from anxiety symptoms or know someone who is—or both!—here’s what you need to know about this common mental health disorder.
What Is Anxiety, Really?
Anxiety is a normal feeling that everyone experiences from time to time. It’s a signal for your body that it’s in danger and can be beneficial to help you stay safe. But anxiety can also hurt your health if you experience it too often or don’t manage it well.
It’s important to understand that anxiety is different from fear. Fear is an immediate response to danger, while anxiety occurs when you anticipate danger—even when there is no real threat present. This anticipation causes unnecessary stress on your body and mind, causing physical symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, muscle tension and difficulty sleeping.
Anxiety disorders are more than just temporary feelings of worry or nervousness—they’re serious medical conditions that disrupt daily life and make it hard to function normally in social situations or school environments (American Psychiatric Association).
Anxiety Symptoms
Sweating
Shortness of breath
Nausea or vomiting
Chest pains or palpitations (heart racing)
Trembling and shaking, usually of the hands, feet, and/or voice
Dizziness, fainting spells, vertigo
Sleeplessness or insomnia
You might also experience:
Irritability
Depressed moods that last several days to a few weeks
Loss of appetite or eating too much due to stress related to the anxiety attack(s). This can lead to weight gain.
Anxiety Symptoms That Are Unique to Women
If you’re a woman, anxiety can be exacerbated by the following:
Menopause. Women experience a variety of physical and emotional changes during menopause, including hot flashes and night sweats, insomnia, irritability and mood swings. These symptoms can contribute to anxiety as well.
Pregnancy. Some women experience increased levels of anxiety during pregnancy due to the hormonal shifts that occur in their bodies at this time. This change is normal and will subside after childbirth or after the baby is born (if the mother has postpartum depression).
The menstrual cycle. Some women experience an increase in feelings of anxiety just before their period begins each month—it’s called premenstrual syndrome (PMS) or premenstrual tension (PMA). PMS/PMA may cause bloating or weight gain; stomach pains; breast tenderness; headaches or migraines; fatigue; irritability or sadness; concentration problems; depression or mood swings; food cravings such as salty foods like chips or pretzels–these symptoms usually go away within a few hours once your menstrual period starts (and some people don’t have any symptoms at all).
Anxiety Causes
There are many factors that can cause anxiety. Anxiety can be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, which can be caused by genetic predisposition or a traumatic event. Anxiety may also be caused by a medical condition, such as hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism.
Anxiety is often exacerbated by stress. When you feel stressed about something, like work deadlines or paying bills on time, it makes sense that you’d experience more anxiety than usual—but even without external stresses added into the mix (like those examples), we all have our own personal triggers for feeling anxious or stressed out!
If you’re wondering whether something else might be causing your high level of anxiety lately besides what I’ve just mentioned here (genetics/trauma/medical conditions), take a look at these common causes:
How to Make Anxiety Stop Right Now
Meditation is one of the best ways to cope with anxiety. It’s also a practice that can help you create a more relaxed, mindful outlook on life in general, even when you’re not stressed out.
Exercise is another great way to manage stress and anxious feelings. When you exercise regularly, your body releases endorphins—the feel-good chemicals that make us happy and relieve pain.
Deep breathing can be an effective technique for calming yourself down when anxiety strikes. Deep breathing slows down your heart rate, reduces muscle tension and lowers blood pressure while restoring oxygen circulation throughout the body. Try taking deep breaths through your nose into the bottom of your lungs (called diaphragmatic breathing), counting up to five each time before exhaling slowly through pursed lips as if blowing on hot soup or warm tea from within a mug left outdoors during winter months until all smell has been released from within nostrils then repeat this process until oxygen levels return back to normal levels again after about 10 minutes doing so before continuing onto next step below:
There are a lot of tips to managing anxiety.
There are several ways to manage your anxiety. Talking to a professional therapist or counselor can help you learn more about the source of your anxiety and how it affects you. Taking time for yourself every day, whether it be through meditation or yoga, is also an effective way of managing stress. Getting enough sleep each night will reduce the likelihood of experiencing anxiety in the future.
Taking a break from social media and limiting screen time in general can help calm an overactive mind and provide some much-needed downtime. Exercise is another great way to keep your body healthy while alleviating some tension that may be causing you stress overall; try taking walks outdoors or working out at home with the aid of exercise DVDs if going to a gym isn’t accessible for you right now due to cost or lack of time on weekends during business hours (or both). Finally, trying new hobbies—whether they’re old ones taken up again after years away from them or entirely new endeavors—can provide comfort and entertainment when feeling anxious about life circumstances beyond our control; not only does this provide us with something positive on which we can focus instead of dwelling on negative feelings such as fear about money problems or relationship issues but these activities also help us expand our horizons by broadening our understanding of what interests us outside our usual realm!
Conclusion
The bottom line is that anxiety can be managed. It’s important to know the signs and symptoms of anxiety so that you can seek treatment if necessary. If you think that you may have an anxiety disorder, it’s best to get help from a licensed professional who understands how these disorders work in order to treat them properly. At Revive Therapeutic Services, we offer the best treatments to patients suffering from anxiety disorders using a personalized approach.