The Physical Symptoms of Anxiety and Why We Feel Them

Think of your anxiety on a thermometer. That number is likely quite low when you are feeling content and calm. As you start to feel anxious, that number starts to go higher and higher. When your anxiety thermometer is quite high, we can

start to feel the physical symptoms of anxiety.

The more common physical symptoms can include all, some, or one of the following: stomach ache (upset stomach, going to the bathroom frequently), tingly or numb finger tips, pupils get larger, muscles tense up, heart rate increases, and sweating.

When our anxiety thermometer is very high, we can go into a state of fight or flight. Let’s pretend that you encountered a bear. Your body would go into fight or flight to survive. Your body may temporarily shut down your digestive system, to send that energy to other parts of the body so you can survive. The body will take blood and oxygen from the fingers because you don’t need your extremities to get away from a bear and will instead send that blood and oxygen to larger muscles in the body. Your pupils get larger so you can see danger. Your muscles are tense because the muscles are activated and ready to go. Your heart may start to race and you may start to sweat as your adrenaline kicks in.

Sometimes our brain has a difficult time differentiating between I’ve seen a bear, and I am feeling anxious.

A common mental symptom that people talk about happening is they feel stuck in their anxious thoughts and can’t get out of them. When we are in fight or flight, our prefrontal cortex can go offline temporarily, which makes it very difficult or next to impossible for a person to rationally think and calm themselves down.

That is why it is very important to deal with your anxiety as soon as it shows up! It’s much easier for us to get the thermometer down from a 5 to a 2, instead of a 9 to a 2. You can use steps and skills that you have learned in counselling to help yourself bring your anxiety thermometer down. I often teach my clients CBT skills to help them bring their anxiety down quickly.