Anxiety is an umbrella term. It covers a broad range of conditions, symptom's and experiences.
Broadly speaking these fall into 3 main categories
Physical
Behavioural
Psychological
I'll discuss each in more detail below.
Physical effects of anxiety
These can be the most confusing, because all the messaging in your body and mind is telling you something is physically wrong that there is a threat. This can also make it tricky to diagnose anxiety if you see your GP as they may rightly focus on the physical symptoms first. Examples include palpatations, flushing, raid heartrate. Shortness of breath, shaking. Sometimes dizziness, sweating, even tingling sensations. For some its headaches, muscle aches. Others experience dry mouth, nausea and going to the loo more often. As you can see anxiety can show up in a number of ways.
Behavioural effects of anxiety
Experiencing anxiety can change the way we behave, for example we might start to avoid certain situations (crowds, lifts, airports for example). Some people start to carry out repetitive or even compulsive behaviours such as checking doors are shut/locked repeatedly. Some may feel distressed in social situations and even have a compelling urge to simply escape and flee the situations that course the discomfort.
Psychological effects of anxiety
These are perhaps the area that gets focused on, especially when talking to medical professionals. They may perhaps seem more obvious as symptoms of anxiety than the physical ones. Psychological symptoms include excessive worrying or fear, a racing mind, inability to concentrate or focus. Sometimes difficulty making decisions. Often people experiencing anxiety will feel restless, on edge, irritable and angry. This can mean sleep is disturbed so they are tired too. In some cases people also experience intrusive thoughts which can be quite confronting.
Its important to know that if you are experiencing any of the physical, behavioural or psychological effects of anxiety that you are not alone and that an abundance of help is available. A good starting point is your GP or a health professional.
You could also consider hypnotherapy which can help provide relaxation and relief from the effects in the short term, and in deeper sessions can get to the route course of what is causing the anxiety to help overcome things in the longer term. Feel free to reach out to me today to find out more.
Liz x