Anxiety symptoms vary between all people with anxiety disorders, and almost any symptom you imagine can be caused by anxiety. But there are many anxiety symptoms that are common, and these will normally be experienced by all of us.
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Some of the most common symptoms and signs of anxiety are:
Palpitations:
This is a rapidly beating heart, or the sensation that your heart is beating harder than normal. If you’re experiencing palpitations you may also be hyper-aware of your pulse in various parts of your body such as the hands and feet, the head, and neck.
This symptom is caused because of elevated levels of adrenalin in your system, which would normally only be so high if you were in danger and required a rapid beating heart to help you defend yourself or run away.
Headaches:
This is the sensation of pain anywhere in the head. Headaches caused by anxiety are experienced in the back of the head in most cases, but the pain can also be in the forehead, the temple region, or on one or both sides of the head.
This symptom is the result of the increased muscle tension in the back and neck - something that people with generalised anxiety disorder experience far more often than the average person. This muscle tension slowly creeps up the back into the neck, and then finally into the head - the result is often a nasty headache.
Dizziness:
This is the horrible sensation of feeling unsteady on your feet, feeling like the world is spinning around you, or the feeling that you might pass out at any moment. Dizziness is a scary thing to experience, but it’s reassuring to know that dizziness is almost never anything to worry about - it’s a very common symptom, experienced by people with anxiety, and people without anxiety.
If you suffer with anxiety and you find yourself experiencing dizziness, then it’s almost certainly due to your breathing. People with anxiety tend to breathe too shallowly, and this can often cause an imbalance in your oxygen/carbon dioxide levels. The result of this can be mild or even severe dizziness.
Fatigue:
This is feeling unusually tired, usually for the majority of each day. In most cases this will feel different to normal tiredness that’s caused by hard work or a lack of sleep. Anxiety-caused fatigue will generally make you feel completely drained of all your energy, even on days where you’ve not done anything to cause such tiredness. Tiredness caused by anxiety is also not typically helped by sleep, so when you wake in the morning you may not feel refreshed or rested.
Like so many other anxiety-related symptoms, this one is often caused by the excessive adrenalin in your body. Someone who doesn’t have severe anxiety may have a few moments each week that cause them to feel intense worry or dread, and that’s normal. But if you have an anxiety disorder then you will probably experience these moments of intense fear, dread, and worry many times each day. This takes its toll on your body and can leave you in a constant state of tiredness.
Sweating:
It’s normal to sweat when you’re hot, doing a lot of physical work, and when you’re nervous, but all forms of anxiety can cause excessive and uncontrollable sweating. This is one of the most common symptoms suffered by those with anxiety, and it’s also one of the most difficult to combat.
Being in a constant state of fear, as many people with anxiety are, puts a huge strain on your body. This can cause you to be hyper-sensitive to everything. One of the effects this may have on you is excessive sweating. You may find that your anxiety makes you much more sensitive to things such as heat, physical activity, and nervousness - all these things can cause sweating.
Muscle Twitches:
This is the involuntary “twitching” of muscles anywhere on your body. These can range from small, almost unnoticeable twitches to large and frightening muscle spasms that can cause your arm or leg to jump suddenly.
In most cases, these muscle twitches can be explained by the unusually high tension you have in your muscles as a result of your anxiety. This can cause the twitches and jerks so many people with anxiety will be familiar with.
Numbness & Tingling:
Another scary physical symptom that is familiar to many people with an anxiety disorder is numbness and tingling. This can occur anywhere in your body, but most of the time it will be in your hands and feet, and less commonly in your face and lips. This feeling can be mild and be similar to the sensation of pins and needles, or it can be more severe and feel as if your hands or feet are burning.
The problem of numbness and tingling is caused, in most cases, by incorrect breathing. As anxiety sufferers, we generally breathe too shallowly, causing an imbalance between our oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. If you’re experiencing numbness or tingling during periods of extreme anxiety or while you hyperventilate then breathing in and out of a paper bag for a few seconds can help.
To fight off numbness and tingling long-term it’s advisable to start doing some basic breathing exercises to retrain your body to inhale and exhale correctly.
