Welcome back, everyone, this week, I thought we might discuss the warning signs of anxiety. If you have a busy life and what seems to be a thousand and one things to do in your day, you could very easily miss the signs that things are spinning out of control until it is absolutely overwhelming for you to keep up.
You would likely be amazed at how many people struggle with anxiety but have no clue that anxiety is the culprit of why they feel the way they do.
According to statistics, anxiety affects forty million adults eighteen years and older each year in the United States. In some of these cases, the anxiety is only a symptom of a much more severe disorder such as PTSD, Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar, or a stress disorder, just to name a few.
However, Anxiety can also be caused by hormonal imbalances or an unbalanced lifestyle, especially in older adults.No matter what the cause, the first step is to recognize that you have anxiety before you can work to treat or resolve it.
Below I will give ten warning signs that you could be struggling with anxiety.
First Things First:
Anxiety is defined as the mind and/ or body’s reaction to stressful, dangerous, or unfamiliar situations. It’s the sense of uneasiness, distress, or dread you feel before a significant event.
If you experience any or all of the list below, it is likely that you struggle with anxiety and should either seek professional help or create a series of techniques that will help you manage it and/or keep it under control.
Extreme Worry:
What is it?
Extreme worry is thinking about future events in a way that leaves you feeling anxious or apprehensive, which can lead to overwhelming fear or panic.
How to recognize it.
Anxiousness to panic from handling daily situations that may seem life-threatening to you or those you love. If you are panicking about what to cook for dinner or about your hair not being perfect before stepping out your front door, just as some basic examples, then you are likely suffering from extreme worry.
Fatigue:
What is it?
Fatigue is defined as weariness or exhaustion from labor, exertion, or stress.
How to recognize it.
Common fatigue symptoms are body aches, bloating, abdominal pain, constipation, and diarrhea or headache.
Restlessness:
What is it?
It is the inability to rest or relax due to anxiety or boredom. Restlessness can also be explained as needing to constantly move, being unable to calm your mind, or relaxing your body.
How to recognize it.
Suppose you struggle to sit still or consistently tap your feet or move your hands. If you struggle to lay still while in bed, you likely struggle with restlessness.
Brain Fog:
What is it?
It is defined as a temporary state of diminished mental capacity marked by an inability to concentrate, think, or reason clearly.
How to recognize it.
This one is easy to spot, and you will notice that you struggle to think. Your mind will wander, and you will be easily distracted. When you struggle with brain fog, you will find it very hard to focus or be productive.
Muscle Tension:
What is it?
Muscle tension refers to the condition in which muscles of the body remain semi-contracted for an extended period.
How to recognize it.
If you find that specific muscles such as the back, shoulders, or legs are constantly sore, or if your teeth are sore for no known reason, chances are you are experiencing anxiety through muscle tension.
Insomnia:
What is it?
Insomnia is defined as a sleep disorder that can make it hard to fall asleep, hard to stay asleep, or cause you to wake up too early and not be able to get back to sleep.
How to recognize it.
If you find that you have a pattern in your sleeping habits that does not allow you to fall asleep, stay asleep or fall back asleep once you have woken up too early to begin your day.
Panic Attacks:
What is it?
A panic attack is defined as a sudden episode of intense fear that triggers severe physical reactions when there is no real danger or apparent cause.
How to recognize it.
Some of the ways you can recognize the onset of a panic attract are if you feel a sense of pending doom, overwhelming fear or nervousness when there is no real danger, chest pain, headache, dizziness, rapid heartbeat, hot flashes, stomach cramps, or nausea could also be good indicators of a panic attack.
Irritability:
What is it?
Irritability is defined as the quality or state of being irritable: such as quick excitability to annoyance, impatience, or anger.
How to recognize it.
When you have excessive mood swings, you quickly become annoyed or angry even when there is no reason. If you find yourself becoming aggressive with others without cause, or if you have outbursts of anger often, you are likely experiencing your anxiety through irritability.
Nervousness:
What is it?
Nervousness is a feeling brought on by your body’s stress response. This involves a series of hormonal and physiological responses that help prepare you to handle a perceived or imagined threat. In other words, it is your fight, flee or freeze response to a situation you preserve as a danger to you or someone you care for.
What is the difference between nervousness and anxiety?
Anxiety can and does, in many cases, present with more than one of the symptoms listed throughout this blog, where nervousness will only present with the fear response. If you find you only struggle with fear but none of the other systems listed, you are likely only dealing with nervousness or worry ( provided the worry is not excessive, as explained above)
Final thoughts:
Now that you have a list to work with, you should recognize whether you are struggling with Anxiety or not.
If you struggle with more than one of the issues on the list above, you are likely dealing with anxiety. Now that you recognize that you have a problem, the next step is finding a resolution.
You can do this either through researching techniques such as meditation, music therapies, or relaxing techniques such as a hot bath after a hard day or fifteen minutes alone between your work time and family time doing something that you enjoy and will help you relax and unwind from your day.
You could seek a solution by speaking to your family doctor or a psychologist. However, when looking for your solution, you must be looking for the right solution for you, which will help on your terms. Dealing with anxiety is never easy, but it is a problem that can be managed no matter how hectic your life is.
As always, I hope that you found this information helpful. If you want to share something relevant to this topic, please feel free to do so in the commit section below.
Until next week, Namaste.
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