What Does Anxiety Feel Like?

Some people describe it as a knot in the stomach that won’t loosen. Others say it feels like their heart is about to jump out of their chest, or like a weight sitting on their ribs. Some feel it mostly as a buzz of restlessness, as if they’ve had five coffees. Others don’t feel it in the body at all, just a constant hum of worry that never switches off.

Anxiety is one emotion with many faces. Knowing what it can feel like matters, because many people don’t recognize their own anxiety for what it is. They go to the doctor with stomach problems, headaches or chest pains, or they assume they are simply tired, irritable or “not coping”, when the root of it is anxiety.

Why anxiety affects the body so much

Anxiety switches on the body’s threat system, the fight or flight response. When the brain decides there might be danger, the sympathetic nervous system releases adrenaline and other stress hormones, and the whole body prepares to fight or run.

That’s useful if you need to escape a fire. But the same response happens when the danger is a work email, an overdue bill or a worrying thought. Your body is getting ready for a physical emergency that never comes, and all that preparation has to go somewhere.

In a 2014 study, the researcher Lauri Nummenmaa and colleagues in Finland asked more than 700 people to color in where they felt different emotions in their bodies. Anxiety and fear showed up strongly in the chest, with a pattern that was similar across people from different countries. Many of us feel our emotions in the same places.

Physical symptoms of anxiety

Heart and chest

• racing, pounding or fluttering heart
• a feeling that your heart is skipping beats
• tightness, pressure or aching in the chest

Adrenaline speeds up the heart to pump more blood to the muscles. For many people this is the most frightening symptom, because it can feel like a heart problem.

Breathing

• shortness of breath, or feeling you can’t get a full breath
• breathing fast and high in the chest
• sighing or yawning a lot

When anxious, people tend to breathe faster and shallower. Over-breathing, also called hyperventilation, lowers the level of carbon dioxide in the blood, which can lead to other symptoms such as tingling and dizziness.

Stomach and digestion

• butterflies, churning or a knot in the stomach
• nausea
• needing the toilet more often, or diarrhea
• loss of appetite, or eating more than usual

In an emergency, digestion isn’t a priority, so the body diverts blood away from it. The gut is also closely linked to the brain through nerves and chemical signals, which is why stress so often shows up as stomach trouble.

Muscles

• tension in the shoulders, neck and jaw
• headaches, often a tight band around the head
• clenching or grinding your teeth
• aches and pains, especially in the back

Muscles tense to prepare for action. When anxiety lasts for weeks, that tension can turn into real pain.

Other physical signs

• sweating, hot flushes or chills
• trembling or shaking
• dizziness or lightheadedness
• pins and needles in the hands, feet or lips
• dry mouth
• feeling tired and drained, even after rest
• trouble falling or staying asleep

What anxiety feels like in the mind

Anxiety isn’t only physical. It changes how you think and feel too:

• a sense of dread or that something bad is about to happen
• worrying thoughts that are hard to stop
• feeling on edge, restless or unable to relax
• irritability and a short temper
• trouble concentrating, or your mind going blank
• needing reassurance from others
• imagining the worst
• feeling detached from yourself or the world, as if things are unreal

The mental side of anxiety often feeds the physical side. A worrying thought speeds up your heart, you notice your heart racing, and that becomes something new to worry about.

What anxiety makes you do

Anxiety also shows up in behavior, often in ways people don’t link to it:

• avoiding situations, people or tasks
• putting things off
• checking things repeatedly
• over-preparing
• seeking reassurance again and again
• struggling to make decisions
• withdrawing from others

Avoidance is the one to watch most, because it’s the main way anxiety grows over time. We explain why in How to Manage Anxiety.

Anxiety or a panic attack?

Ordinary anxiety tends to build gradually and can last for hours or days at a lower level. A panic attack is a sudden surge of intense fear that peaks within minutes. During a panic attack, people often experience a pounding heart, breathlessness, chest pain, shaking, dizziness, a fear of losing control or going mad, and sometimes a strong feeling that they’re dying.

Panic attacks are frightening but not dangerous in themselves. They usually pass within ten to twenty minutes. If you have them often, or start avoiding places in case one happens, talk to a doctor. Panic disorder is very treatable.

Is it anxiety or something else?

Many symptoms of anxiety can also be caused by physical health problems, including heart and lung conditions, thyroid problems, low blood sugar and some medications. Always see a doctor if you have chest pain, especially if it spreads to your arm, jaw or back, if you faint, or if you have new or unexplained symptoms. Getting checked isn’t overreacting. And once physical causes have been ruled out, many people find it easier to let the symptoms come and go without fearing them.

What helps when anxiety hits your body

• Breathe out slowly. A long, gentle out-breath signals to the nervous system that it can stand down.
• Relax one muscle group at a time. Tense your shoulders for five seconds, then let them drop. Do the same with your hands, jaw and stomach.
• Move. A brisk walk uses up some of the adrenaline your body has prepared.
• Name it. Saying “this is anxiety, it’s uncomfortable but it isn’t dangerous” can take some of the fear out of the symptoms.
• Wait it out. If you don’t fight the feeling or feed it with worried thoughts, the body usually starts to settle within minutes.

If anxiety tends to hit hardest in the evening, see Why Is Anxiety Worse at Night?

A small practice

Next time you feel anxious, before trying to do anything about it, spend thirty seconds scanning your body from head to toe. Where is the anxiety? Jaw, chest, stomach, hands? Then put one hand on that place and breathe slowly into it for six breaths. You’re teaching yourself to notice anxiety early, in the body, before it becomes a storm in the mind.