What Does Anxiety Feel Like? 

Anxiety is a normal response to some situations. For example, standing in front of a crowd to give a speech can make you anxious but, you’ll likely get over it and feel normal once you start. When anxiety takes over your life and doesn’t allow you to do things as you normally would, you could suffer from an anxiety disorder. So, what does anxiety feel like and how can you prevent it? We’ve got the scoop below. 

What Does Anxiety Feel Like?

The feelings and emotions that are produced with anxiety vary from person to person. On top of that, each person may feel mild to severe symptoms depending on the situation they are in. Though there are big differences, some common feelings when you’re anxious or nervous are included below. 

Nervousness 

You may not know where the sudden onset of nerves comes from but you could start to get nervous, which produces other symptoms that increase the effects of anxiety. 

Rapid Breathing 

One of the first things that happen to your body when you get nervous is you start to breathe more rapidly. You may feel tight in your chest and start to notice your breath speeding up.

Racing Heart

When you start to breathe faster, your heart speeds. A rapid pumping heart when you’re not moving produced further reactions, which makes your anxiety worse. 

Sweating 

When your body is nervous, it starts to react, attempting to cool the body down with sweat. When you have anxiety, your palms may be clammy and you could even start to sweat on the forehead, underarms, or back. 

Twitching 

With anxiety, all the reactions are produced to make the body uneasy. You may find it hard to sit still and find yourself moving around and twitching. 

Racing Thoughts 

Feeling anxious is like a cycle, one that is difficult to stop. You’ll notice that your thoughts may begin to race, filled with uncertainties and worries that will push you further toward anxious feelings. 

Reducing Anxiety 

Understanding what does anxiety feel like and recognizing when you start to feel anxious, you can take steps to reduce the symptoms and get yourself back to normal. If you start to feel an anxious episode coming on, try these three things: 

• Take deep breaths 
• Close your eyes 
• Count your inhales and exhales 

If you start to notice that feelings of anxiety come up often, try to find what triggers it to avoid those situations. 

Understanding What Does Anxiety Feel Like

Once you understand what anxiety feels like and what triggers your feelings of anxiety, you can start to take steps toward reducing your stress. Incorporate movement in your day like exercise and practice mindfulness and mediation. 

Taking small steps every day to relax and keep your mind in a positive place, you can overcome feelings of anxiety and live a more normal life. If anxiety strikes, try out our three ways to combat it, learning what you can do when you have a sudden onset of symptoms.