Anxiety isn’t just about emotions and thoughts. Stress and worry cause physical changes in your body such as a rapid heartbeat, shallow breathing, muscle tension, and increased levels of hormones. Over time, these symptoms can harm your health. When you notice certain physical signs, it might be time to do something about your anxiety.
Trouble Sleeping
Anxiety affects your ability to sleep well in both physical and mental ways. When you feel anxious, your muscles tighten, and the tension can prevent your body from relaxing enough to drift into sleep mode, even if you already feel fatigued. Anxiety can also raise body temperature slightly, so you may also feel too hot to get comfortable.
Your brain also works against you when trying to sleep. Anxiety causes your mind to race, and it’s difficult to turn off the worry and negative thoughts. You could also have disturbing dreams that wake you up and disrupt your normal REM cycle.
Grinding Your Teeth
Many people grind or clench their teeth when they are feeling anxious. You may not even realize you’re doing it, especially at night when you’re sleeping. But after a period of time, you will notice the harmful effects of tooth grinding.
Grinding your teeth makes them more susceptible to decay. It erodes the enamel and causes cracks in your teeth. You could also experience pain in your jaw or headaches. This is a condition called temporomandibular joint disorder, or TMJ.
Appetite Changes
Another symptom of anxiety that you may not easily recognize is a change in your appetite. Stress hormones caused by anxiety can affect the digestive system, causing nausea and leading to constipation or diarrhea. You may feel a tightening in your esophagus and chest that makes you feel like you don’t want to eat.
Some people respond to anxiety in the exact opposite way. In an effort to relieve the feelings of stress, they eat too much. Overeating or consuming too much junk food can disrupt normal digestion and over time cause weight gain, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes.
Healthy living depends on harmony between your mind and your body. What happens to your mental state can have significant effects on how your body functions. Everyone experiences anxiety now and then, but if you notice physical changes in your body, your anxiety could be harming your health and wellbeing.
Check out this article on factors that can affect your energy throughout the day!
