HOW ANXIETY AFFECTS THE BODY
Anxiety is a primal emotion that everyone experiences. Whether you experience it a lot or more infrequently, you almost definitely have experienced the feeling of dread or fear that is often associated with anxiety. Most people also experience physiological symptoms when they are anxious. We are going to identify those symptoms in this blog and provide some resources to move through them more quickly so that you can find your center and get relief more effectively.
So, how does anxiety affect the body? It depends on the person; however, there are some common manifestations of the physical impacts of anxiety. These include rapid heart rate, shakiness, sudden temperature changes resulting in sweating or shivering, nausea, feeling a pit in your stomach, feeling a lump in your throat, being extra fidgety, feeling paralyzed or spacey, experiencing muscled tension, tingling sensations, etc. The list could go on. Depending on your natural internal coping mechanisms, your body and brain will respond particular to your preferred expression of dysregulation. What we want to do is learn to identify experiences of anxiety that are dysregulating earlier so that we can address the physical and mental manifestations more quickly and get ourselves back into our zones of optimal functioning. This might sound difficult but there are actually a number of small things you can do in any moment that make a significant difference over time.
Becoming Aware of Your Body Sensations
The first step in addressing physical sensations of anxiety is simply growing awareness of them. This may seem obvious but a lot of people have lived with these experiences for so long that they start to become normal and difficult to differentiate from everyday experiences. One way to do this is to make space to scan your body when you are feeling off or distressed. Instead of pushing forward through your day, taking a few minutes to check in with your physical body is a powerful way to grow awareness of your mind-body connection. Take a breath and do a quick scan starting at your feet, moving up to your head. What do you notice when you pay attention to your feet? Maybe it’s hard to keep still. Is there a buzzing sensation pulsing through your limbs? Maybe your hands are cold or you notice a lack of appetite, possibly even some nausea. Is your heart beat steady or does it feel rapid in pace? What does your jaw and facial muscles feel like? Are they tight? Can you relax them at all. Is your temple tense? Maybe your scalp hurts to the touch.
Pay attention to anything you notice without judgement. You are simply giving space to the experience of your body through mindful exploration.
Moving Through the Anxiety
If you are wanting to do more for the sensations you are experiencing, identify how you might be able to move in a way that would feel attentive to the symptoms you have just grown awareness around. Maybe you actually take a walk if you feel the need to move. If you feel more frozen or paralyzed, perhaps you gently hug yourself, pressing your hand gently around your arms and legs, moving up and down your limbs as a way to warm your body up. Massaging the tension in your jaw might feel nice or stretching your neck from side to side. If there is a lot of energy in your body, maybe you do some jumping jacks or press your arms into a wall, as if to do a push-up, utilizing proprioceptive movement to push the anxiety out of your body and into the wall.
Acknowledge Anxiety as Informative
Whether you simply scan your body or choose a movement-based activity to address your anxious experiences, it’s important that you acknowledge your anxiety as an important form of communication rather than a problem. There is a saying that “What you resist, persists!” It couldn’t be more true for anxiety, or any emotion really. If you resist your anxiety, try to push it away, or sweep it under a rug out of fear that it’s bad or maladaptive, it will undoubtably persist. In contrast, if you can befriend the anxiety, ask it what it is trying to inform you of, and attend to your experience of it, you’ll be much more likely to move through it a whole lot quicker.
These are great places to start in growing awareness of and attending to your body-based experiences of anxiety. Scan your body to identify where the anxiety is speaking physically, find a movement practice that feels attentive to your particular physical expression of anxiety, and acknowledge the anxiety as a useful communication tool. It’s not your enemy, even when it feels like it. I hope these practices are a helpful start in changing your relationship to anxiety and finding more calm internally. As always, you can reach me here if you find yourself in need of support!
Take care!
Rachael