Anxiety is a very common mental illness that many people suffer from. It’s becoming so popular in fact that you will find talking about anxiety on social media will bring out many connections who can relate to how you feel. Anxiety is a form of mental illness that can bring you down for the day, week or even month if you allow it to take over your thoughts. It includes many emotional symptoms, but did you know that anxiety can trigger physical symptoms, too?
Today I’m going to share some strange physical symptoms of anxiety so that you are more aware of how anxiety can impact your entire being.
Contents
5 Strange Physical Symptoms of Anxiety
Excessive Burping
Yes, you can experience excessive burping when suffering from anxiety. This is due to the fact that anxiety can trigger gastrointestinal problems. The excessive burping can be brought on first and foremost by your intense breathing that occurs when hyperventilating due to anxious thoughts. In addition to breathing changes causing this physical symptom of anxiety, your inability to digest food properly with anxiety is also a culprit.
Smelling Something That Isn’t There
This is called phantosmia and is a form of hallucination. This physical symptom can occur right before an anxiety or panic attack. The person will smell something in the air that really isn’t there. This can be triggered by a previous experience that made you have an anxiety attack. The brain brings back the scent associated with that anxiety attack and you suddenly smell the scent in the air even though it’s not actually a scent that’s around at the given moment.
Insomnia
People who don’t suffer from anxiety aren’t fully aware of how deeply this mental illness impact your entire life. Anxiety can trigger insomnia where you have intense difficulties falling asleep and staying asleep. Insomnia can be triggered by anxious thoughts, panic attacks or stress that’s now increasing your anxiety levels. Anxiety induced insomnia is extremely frustrating and can trigger your anxiety to get more intense as you go without sleep for longer periods of time.
Cold Hands and Feet
Anxiety triggers an adrenaline rush in your body which then leaves your hands and feet cold. This means you should invest in some heavy socks and gloves when you are diagnosed with anxiety. Blood is basically drawn away from our hands and feet as a fight or flight instinct that humans naturally have as part of our survival technique. With anxiety bringing on irrational fears, it’s no wonder our body goes into fight or flight mode, which causes our hands and feet to be extremely cold.
Burning Tongue
When someone is experiencing high levels of anxiety they tend to focus more on physical pain or differences in their body. This burning tongue sensation can be combined with burning lips as well and isn’t well documented for anxiety patients but many people who suffer from anxiety have stated that their tongue feels as if it’s burning when they experience a panic attack. This can truly just be a side effect of anxious people focusing on physical pain when they’re experiencing a high level of anxiety in their life.
If you or someone you know experiences any of these physical symptoms of anxiety, then it’s important to discuss them with your doctor. While most of these physical symptoms aren’t a major issue, they can be quite overwhelming to an anxious person and cause anxiety to increase rather than reduce in time.
Photo Credit: Asdrubal luna rawpixel Joshua Rawson-Harris
3 Comments
I would also add uncontrollable shaking, debilitating stress headaches and eczema flare ups to that list. Laugh a minute this anxiety thing, isn’t it?
These are awful there’s a never ending list of physical symptoms of which I’ve had a lot of
Stress does impact on health. Therefore it would seem wise for Government, etc to aim towards creating an environment of stability, sense of security, sense of wellbeing, sense of community spirit, meaningful activities, etc.