Stress and Anxiety

Stress and anxiety, while two different things, can have similar symptoms and can certainly be related to each other. Many people are unable to differentiate between the two, confusing the symptoms of each with each other. Stress can often lead to anxiety but it does not always have to. If you take the proper steps to relieve stress before it escalates into anxiety you can avoid a lot of problems.

So, how can you tell if it is stress or anxiety that you are suffering from? You will need to understand what stress is, what anxiety is, how they are different and how they are related.

Stress

Stress is the body's way of responding to situations. These can be either positive or negative situations. The original fight-or-flight response from ancient times is still the same, even though we rarely face life and death situations on a daily basis anymore. Our stresses nowadays are more emotional in nature than the physical threats that our ancestors used to face. We may be having marital troubles, problems at work, frustrations with children, a car accident, financial troubles or a myriad of different problems that will stress us out. Regardless of the cause of the stress, the body’s reaction is the same. The brain sends stress hormones out into the bloodstream, which causes more blood to be sent to the large muscles in the body to prepare us to fight or run away. Since we do not normally fight or run away, the hormones and chemicals that are released are not burned off, so they build up in the body and cause prolonged stress effects. Initially, our temperature will rise, your heartbeat speeds up and we become very alert. Adrenalin and Cortisol is released and we feel a rush of energy. Afterwards, we feel the after-effects of stress and those are the ones that cause problems. Stress manifests itself in many forms. When you are under a lot of stress you may feel numerous different symptoms emotionally, physically and mentally. You may find that you are more irritable than usual, you may be having trouble sleeping or you may be having chest pains or high blood pressure.

Some other warning signs of stress include lack of appetite, excessive worry about insignificant things, lack of patience, feeling overwhelmed, poor memory and trouble concentrating, unexplained weight loss or gain and headaches or dizziness. If you are experiencing any of these signs, you are probably suffering from excess stress. You should take time now to address your stress with stress relief methods before it develops into anxiety, depression, high blood pressure or heart problems.

Anxiety

Anxiety is a psychological and physical state that is made up of cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioural characteristics. These characteristics combine to create a terrible feeling of nervousness, apprehension, fear, agony and worry. Anxiety can be triggered by an event, situation, thought or emotion; or it can seem to come out of nowhere. While anxiety feels very similar to intense fear, the difference is that with fear comes the need to escape or avoid the situation, whereas with anxiety you feel that there is no escape and that you have no control at all.

What does anxiety feel like? It is a completely out-of-control feeling that is extremely unpleasant. Often you will get very warm or cold and dizzy, things around you seem to be spinning out of control, your heart starts pounding, you begin to sweat you may have trouble breathing. These are some of the typical symptoms of an anxiety attack.

Many people experience some degree of anxiety in their lives. Often it is not a full-blown anxiety attack, but they may feel mild anxiety over a period of time. Often they don't even really know that they have anxiety until it has escalated into a serious anxiety disorder. Knowing the warning signs of anxiety is important in order for you to deal with it before it is too late.

Some common signs of anxiety to watch out for:

• Persistent and unreasonable fears and worries. You may worry about unusual things like going to the store or getting stuck in traffic.
• Feeling very uncomfortable in crowds or in enclosed places like a car, elevator or small room.
• Persistent anxious thought that you cannot control
• Being very nervous about things that normally would not bother you at all.
• Feeling like you are losing control
• Feeling nervous all of the time, but not knowing why

A common problem with anxiety is that once it starts it is hard to break the cycle. You begin to get anxious about the anxiety itself, fearing another attack or worrying that it will never stop. This creates even more anxiety and it becomes very hard to get out of the vicious circle.

Although stress and anxiety are two different conditions, they can be totally separate, but they can also be related. Stress can often lead to anxiety if left untreated and dealing with anxiety is very stressful.

If you are under a lot of stress, you should look into stress management techniques to keep it under control so that it doesn’t end up escalating into anxiety, depression or other serious conditions. If your stress has gotten to the point of disrupting your sleep, affecting your appetite or causing physical symptoms like abdominal upset, chest pains, dizziness or high blood pressure you are very much at risk of developing serious health concerns like anxiety, depression, heart problems or many other conditions.

If your stress has already advanced enough that you have developed anxiety, you need to see a doctor. Anxiety is a serious medical condition that can be managed and treated with medication and therapy. When left untreated, anxiety will only get worse. It quickly worsens into panic attacks and can even lead to agoraphobia and other problems.