Stress and Anxiety – Are They Related?

Pin It

We all know that stress and anxiety tend to go hand in hand, but do you know what they are and how they tend to pair up so well? If you are an adult who works and pays your bills, it is likely that you experience stress once in a while. When you add that to money problems that you just cannot seem to get out of, worries over your kids and how they are doing and a boss who is just never happy with anything you do and it’s likely that you also suffer from some anxiety.

It is possible to feel stress without anxiety, but it is rare that one will feel anxiety without stress. See, when a person is stressed, it triggers the “fight or flight” response that is instinctive in every animal, including humans. When this happens, we experience a jolt of what is called adrenaline, which offers temporarily enhanced performance abilities. With fear in the dark, we find we can hear well. If we face stress at work, we can often get a temporary boost that will help us to stay up late enough to get that project done well. Stress in small doses is good, but when we suffer from too much of it, we can begin to face problems.

It’s important to realize that many of us experience a bit of stress and anxiety here and there and this is normal, but for those who have anxiety disorder, it’s important to know that it’s triggered by extreme amounts of stress at some time, which our bodies are not able to deal with. This extreme stress will often cause an overload of adrenaline and the body can begin to shake, and the person who suffers with this can often experience chest pains, shortness of breath and even become light headed. This is what happens when the body is suffering from a panic attack. The extreme stress has caused an overload of adrenaline and the initial panic attack is usually the body’s way of getting rid of the extra adrenaline.

Over time, however, panic attacks may not have to do with any external stimuli, but rather, the condition becomes mental, meaning that when a person begins to feel too much stress and anxiety, the brain begins to release excess amounts of adrenaline, which will cause a panic attack. So, if a person feels anxiety over a slightly stressful event, they are likely to think they need the added adrenaline and the brain kicks into overdrive.

This is why stress and anxiety are so closely related because the amount of stress that we think we feel can determine how much anxiety we feel. For this reason, many people are now working through their feelings in an effort to not only de-stress on a daily basis, but also working to ease anxiety so they can help to ease their panic attacks and begin to feel more comfortable in their own lives again.

Pin It
About Jennifer Johnson

I suffered with social anxiety and stress for years. I discovered what my triggers were and learned to control them. Hopefully some of the natural anxiety relief techniques I have tried, will also be your solution. Follow me on Twitter · G+ Health Solutions · Pinterest

 Name: Email: We respect your email privacyPowered by AWeber Autoresponder 

Comments

  1. Stress and Anxiety says:

    When we are stressed, it depletes reserves of potassium and magnesium (among other things). The pancreas and heart are among the first to feel the effects of these deficiencies and can become weakened. When this happens, bile production, enzyme production, digestive health and so on can become depressed and sickened, allowing cancer and other serious ailments to enter. So beets helps strengthen the pancreas, which stops the downward cycle somewhat.

Speak Your Mind

*

CommentLuv badge