Symptoms of anxiety

Anxiety feels different for everyone. It also has a lot of symptoms. You might experience some of these, but not others. And you might have others that aren't mentioned here.

But whatever your symptoms, we're here to help.

This anxious hum never faded, even during sleep, waking me with a pounding heart or troubling dreams — a constant, exhausting presence.

Effects of anxiety on your body

These can include:

• A churning feeling in your stomach
• Feeling light-headed or dizzy
• Trembling or shaking
• Pins and needles
• Feeling restless or unable to sit still
• Aches and pains like headaches or sore muscles
• Faster breathing
• A fast, thumping or irregular heartbeat
• Sweating or hot flushes
• Sleep problems
• Grinding your teeth, especially at night
• Nausea (feeling sick)
• Needing the toilet more or less often
• Changes in your sex drive
• Having panic attacks

Effects of anxiety on your mind

These can include:

• Feeling tense, nervous or unable to relax
• Finding it hard to concentrate
• Avoiding the thing that makes you feel anxious
• Having a sense of dread, or fearing the worst
• Feeling like the world is speeding up or slowing down
• Feeling like other people can see you're anxious. Or feeling like other people are looking at you
• Feeling like you can't stop worrying. Or that bad things will happen if you stop worrying
• Worrying about anxiety itself. For example worrying about when panic attacks might happen
• Wanting lots of reassurance from other people. Or worrying that people are angry or upset with you
• Worrying that you're losing touch with reality
• Low mood and depression
• Worrying a lot about things that might happen in the future
• Thinking a lot about bad experiences. Or thinking over a situation again and again. This is sometimes called 'rumination'
• Feeling disconnected from your mind or body, like you're watching a character in a film. Or feeling disconnected from the world around you, like the world isn't real. Learn more in our pages on dissociation and dissociative disorders

Anxiety and physical health problems

Some studies suggest that anxiety can make some physical health problems more likely. For example, being very anxious a lot of the time releases a lot of stress hormones. High levels of these hormones over a long time can lead to high blood pressure.

Having a physical health problem or disability can also make you feel anxious. So it might sometimes feel like your health problems are part of a vicious cycle.

Sometimes it might be hard to work out if your symptoms are related to anxiety. Or to your physical health.

If you're unsure or worried, you can talk to your GP. They can look into what may be causing them.

I constantly thought I was dying of undiagnosed illnesses, because I was convinced that the physical symptoms were too bad to be 'just anxiety'.

Other effects of anxiety

Anxiety symptoms can last for a long time. Or they can come and go. You might find you have difficulty with day-to-day parts of your life. These include:

• Looking after yourself
• Working and holding down a job
• Forming or maintaining relationships
• Trying new things
• Simply enjoying your leisure time

Our information on how to manage anxiety and worry and treatment for anxiety might help if anxiety is impacting your life like this.

Anxiety might also make it more likely for you to use recreational drugs and alcohol. For example, you might drink alcohol to manage your feelings of anxiety. Our pages on drugs, alcohol and addiction explain where to get help and support.

Our legal pages on discrimination at work have information about your rights in the workplace.