Anxiety is a normal response to stress. The way our body reacts to stress (aka the fight or flight response) is designed to save our lives. When we experience anxiety excessively and/or chronically, however, it can feel like it’s taking over your life—and your body. The physical repercussions are real, but there are ways you can support your body while you get to the root of your anxiety. First, let's look at what anxiety can look or feel like:
1. A sense of doom – depressed mood
2. Panic attacks
3. Extreme fatigue
4. Low sex drive
5. Shortness of breath
6. Sensitive stomach
7. Insomnia
8. Dizziness
9. Pounding heart
10. Tense muscles
If you are experiencing any of the above, here are some ways that anxiety can impact your physical health and how to support yourself accordingly:
Respiratory System
When a person is anxious, their breathing becomes short, shallow and rapid. This leads to unhealthy breathing patterns creating excess carbon dioxide. Excess of carbon dioxide can restrict the amount of blood supply that reaches the brain, causing dizziness, tingling or numbness in the hands or feet. In extreme cases, anxiety can cause someone to pass out. Anxiety can also worsen the symptoms of asthma and COPD.
What you can do:
- Focusing on your breath and doing deep breathing can improve the ratio of oxygen to carbon dioxide.
- Breathing techniques can be done anywhere and any time. Learning to control your breathing can change your life!
GI Health
Symptoms such as bloating, stomach cramping, nausea, vomiting, and even stomach butterflies can be tell-tale signs that anxiety is affecting your GI. Other symptoms include bowel changes such as diarrhea, and difficulty absorbing essential nutrients.
What you can do:
- Keep a food and mood journal to help you understand how different foods make you feel and help support symptom reduction while you improve your anxiety
- Include fiber-rich and fermented foods in your diet
- Support the vagal nerve through meditation and breathwork
Immune System
Stress hormones may prevent your body from returning to a restorative place. Anxiety can leave your immune
system vulnerable to illness and viral infections. A weakened immune system can also prevent vaccinations from working as effectively.
What you can do:
- Incorporate anti-inflammatory foods with a diet rich in plants, nuts and seeds, beans and legumes, whole grains, and health fats
- Get adequate sleep
- Meditate to boost immunity and help improve sleep
- Spend time in sunshine to enhance Vitamin D levels and access the mental health benefits of nature!
Cardiovascular System
Anxiety's impact on our cardiovascular system can are often immediately felt when you experience increased, rapid or irregular heart rate or heart palpitations. Anxiety also immediately raises our blood pressure, which can remain elevated when we experience anxiety.
What you can do:
- Mild to moderate exercise is one of the best ways to keep your cardiovascular system strong while also helping to alleviate anxiety. (Be sure to check with your doctor first before starting on a new routine)
- Breathwork and meditation
- Regulate your blood pressure by eating the rainbow and through nutrition strategies
Central Nervous System
Constant stress and worry commonly results in headaches. Anxiety can also impact your memory which may contribute to anxiety especially when we it becomes challenging to manage our schedules and remain productive at work. Frequent distress signals sent to your nervous system to prepare your body for the stress response can result in muscle tension, pain, cramping, general aches and pains, and even spread throughout the body to contribute to arthritis, joint problems and fibromyalgia.
What you can do:
- Get adequate and duality sleep
- Consume antioxidant-rich foods
- Spend time in nature, forest bathe, or ground by taking off your shoes and put your feet in the grass or sand
Finally, adopt the following mantra during anxious times to help you regain a sense of control over your thoughts and the stronghold that anxiety can have:
"Anxiety isn’t me. It’s something moving through me. It can leave out of the same door it came in."
Anxiety