Guide · anxiety · 3 min read
Why anxiety shows up in your body first — a short read, if you are doing this in the middle of the day
Racing heart, tight chest, churning stomach. Understanding the mechanism makes the symptoms less frightening.
Start here
This is not complicated. It is inconvenient, which is why most people skip it.
Midday is an underrated time for this.
If you only do one thing from this page, do the first point below. It is first because it removes the most friction for the least effort.
What helps
Because the system is physical, physical things work on it: slow exhales, cold water, walking, moving your shoulders.
The physical symptoms come from the same system that gets you out of the way of a car. It is fast, physical and not very smart.
The symptoms are uncomfortable but not dangerous. Chest tightness from anxiety does not damage the heart.
What to do when it does not work
Checking your body for symptoms increases your sensitivity to them. This is why health anxiety tends to escalate.
The symptoms usually peak within ten minutes and then fall, even if nothing is done. Knowing that the peak is short helps more than it sounds.
Your heart rate rises, breathing speeds up and blood moves to your muscles. That is why your hands go cold and your chest feels tight.
Questions people ask
Should I avoid the situations that trigger it?
Avoidance works in the short term and shrinks your world in the long term. This is the pattern CBT is designed to break.
How do I know it is anxiety and not my heart?
That is a question for a doctor, and one worth asking once. After it has been checked, treating new sensations as anxiety is usually correct.
Written for people who want the practical version. No accounts, no tracking, no newsletter wall.