Understanding Anxiety: Causes, Symptoms, and Triggers

Anxiety engulfs your thoughts and makes you feel uncomfortable. You feel a sense of terror and have panic attacks during the peak phases of anxiety. This guide will help you to understand the actual meaning of anxiety. Additionally, it would give a close overview of causes, symptoms, and triggers leading to the anxiety phases.

Occasional anxiety is common as people are always worried about degrading health and wealth in their daily lives. Moreover, stressful life events and medications also change the natural response of a person and entertain anxiety in life. Hence, even sudden small incidents like the ringing of a phone or a doorbell seem to be initiating fear within a person.

Explaining Anxiety

Anxiety is detected when an individual finds himself to be struggling with fear, distress, and feelings. They are always in a fight-or-flight situation within his brain. Small events like speaking with an unknown person or attending a call from an unknown number feel like a burden to him. He feels crippled and sometimes acts like a mannequin without doing any corresponding actions. Anxiety has been framed into six common parts-

• General anxiety disorder involves unrealistic feelings without any kind of possible stressors in the situation.
• Phobic disorders include facing an object or situation that is stressful.
• Panic disorders where a person with a resting heart can suddenly have anxiety due to stress and overthinking.
• Social anxiety where an individual feels a lack of self-worth. He also finds himself incapable of facing society and overthinks about judgment made by others.
• Separative anxiety disorder where people face anxiety attacks after separations or break-ups in their lives.

Who can be affected by anxiety?

Anxiety have been common among people irrespective of their age. Children and adolescents are also having anxiety attacks due to a lack of target fulfillment. Nevertheless, people present from the age group of 16 to 30 years are having anxiety attacks more than any other age group. Additionally, experts also find people above 70 years more prone to anxiety attacks. Then have identified some common risk factors associated with anxiety-

• People who are shy and develop negative thoughts more quickly can have anxiety disorder.
• Genetics plays a major role in running anxiety disorders in one's blood.
• Survival from traumatic events like road accidents or falling from a height could lead to anxiety.
• Withdrawal from alcohol may lead to anxiety disorders.

Causes of Anxiety

Underlying health issues majorly give birth to anxiety. You might be more prone to anxiety than others if you possess at least one of these medical issues-

• Complicated heart disease like Arrhythmias. An irregular heartbeat makes a person much more tense and induces a fear of death.
• Diabetes also leads to anxiety. You can have mood changes and feel anxious while checking the results of a blood test.
• Problems like Hyperthyroid. Stress hormones lead to a disruption in the body resulting in anxiety.
• Respiratory diseases like COPD or Asthma. Any shortness of breath could lead to a thought of choking, and you might have an anxiety attack.
• Irritable bowel syndromes can be one of the rising causes of anxiety. Severe conditions of constipation or piles might make you anxious during every toilet visit.
• Intense depression or bipolar might be one of the major reasons for anxiety. You are always tense about your mood and behaviour towards loved ones.

Common symptoms of anxiety

You might not have identified the anxiety symptoms even when they regularly visit you. Check the list of the symptoms present below and be cautious if you have faced them lately-

• Trouble concentrating and making decisions over small issues. It might include situations where you were perplexed about choosing a dress because of its colour.
• Feeling restless or tense in everyday situations.
• Experiencing a sense of nausea and stress in your abdomen.
• Sweating and shaking during regular sessions of sleep.
• Insomnia causes & symptoms and trouble sleeping.
• Having a sense of danger. You might be enjoying dinner with your family and then sense danger because of your neighbour knocking on the door.

Triggers causing anxiety

Triggers generally refer to the reactivation of trauma symptoms within a person. This trigger works as a catalyst for anxiety attacks in one's body. Some of the common triggers that yield anxiety are mentioned below-

• Health issues are one of the major factors that can trigger anxiety. A simple flu can cause anxiety about attending a professional meeting scheduled after five days.
• OTC pills can result in anxiety. You might be over birth control or weight management pills that trigger anxiety levels in your body.
• Removing caffeine from one diet. You might be dependent on your morning coffee and removing it for weight management can worsen anxiety.
• Skipping meals or fasting during the day. Fasting during the Lent can make your blood sugar drop and may make your hands tremble.
• Personal triggers can also be a viable cause. You might have faced sexual abuse and remember the fragrance of the abuser. Any similar fragrances drifting towards your nose would lead to anxiety.

How to prevent anxiety with common steps?

Here are some of the common steps that would help in checking anxiety and living better. Practicing these remedies would help in positively improving your life-

• Always try to keep a positive view. Train your mind to take everything positively.
• Never skip meals. Timely meals help you maintain a stable blood sugar level.
• Drink adequate water daily. Water levels help in making the hormones work better in your body and minimise adrenaline rushes.
• Exercise is one of the key factors that reduce stress in one's body. It helps in promoting a better relaxation in your body.
• Join any personal grooming session to make yourself more presentable. These classes will help you to dress well maintain good hygiene and feel better.

Treatment of Anxiety

When you can't cure anxiety by resorting to the remedies present above then you might need medical supervision. Some of the common medical treatments for anxiety disorders are present below-

• Consumption of antidepressants like SNRIs and SSRIs could be common to treat anxiety.
• Benzodiazepines also can help in minimising panic and worry. It is most suitable for patients who faced life-threatening situations earlier.
• Beta-blockers might also be used to reduce physical symptoms of anxiety.
• Behavioural treatments help in pattern recognition and controlling uncontrollable feelings. This treatment is useful for patients who have been subjected to abuse or molestation.

Conclusion

Anxiety has been common and makes you face stress episodes in your daily life. You also face some symptoms but likely do not give them good importance as they go away on their own. Nevertheless, start developing some habits from today to keep anxiety at bay. You might think that anxiety might go away on its own but it's not the case. Severe anxiety sometimes creates much more grave situations than expected. Suicide and acute depression are common among people having anxiety. Hence, don't refrain from getting yourself treated if you are facing anxiety symptoms for more than one year.