When Anxiety Starts Affecting Your Daily Life: Signs It's Time to Get Help
Anxiety isn't the pit in your stomach you feel before a huge presentation at work or the sense of panic that washes over you when you almost miss a deadline. Everyone has that struggle. But when that same pit in your stomach arrives without invitation, overstays its welcome, and prevents you from doing even the simplest things, something is wrong.
However, that's the frustrating part: anxiety doesn't kick off with a big bang announcing itself. It gradually courses through your system like regular stress until, one day, you realize you're avoiding things, canceling plans, lying awake at 3 AM more nights than not, and essentially, behaving differently than usual.
Five Signs You Have Anxiety
Here's a list of top 5 signs of anxiety to help you prepare better for controlling it:
1. Physical Symptoms That Raise Red Flags
The first thing people fail to recognize is that anxiety lives beyond our brains. It manifests within our bodies in ways that don't seem connected to mental health at all. That heaviness in your chest that seems never-ending? The tightness in your shoulders? Those aren't signs that you need a massage.
The symptoms may include headaches that stick around, gastrointestinal issues your doctor can't figure out, chronic fatigue even when you're well-rested, and jittery restlessness that makes it impossible to sit still. You might feel dizzy and short of breath or note heart palpitations that send you to the ER multiple times only for the doctor to tell you that your heart is fine; you just have "some anxiety."
But knowing it's anxiety doesn't make those symptoms any less real or frustrating. Getting sick more often or realizing that common colds last longer than they should because you have a system prepared to go into fight-or-flight at a moment's notice takes a toll.
2. When Worry Becomes Your Default Setting
Normal worry has an "off" switch. You worry about something, acknowledge it exists, maybe lose some sleep over it, but ultimately, reassured nothing catastrophic is coming, you can move on. Anxiety that's become problematic possesses no such switch. It transforms someone from saying, "I'm concerned about this work presentation" to "I've spent three days mapping out every negative scenario, and now I'm contemplating calling out sick."
When anxiety runs your life, worry hums in the background perpetually without your control. You wake up worried, you spend the day worried and go to bed worried, and often about things you can't control that may or may not ever happen. The escalation of "what ifs" becomes deafening.
This doesn't take a toll on you alone; it takes a toll on those around you as well. Friends and family might attempt to reassure you that these fears won't happen or they're nothing but irrational; however, that doesn't help silencing them.
3. Avoidance Starts Running Your Life
The absolute biggest red flag indicating anxiety has become an issue is how easily people start to avoid things that make them anxious as they restructure their lives around avoiding such circumstances. Sure, missing one social engagement because you're not feeling well is understandable. But when it becomes habit, turning down invitations time and time again or creating excuses for situations they were once fine with? That's problematic.
Avoidance thrives in the short term, meaning you skip the birthday party because you're uncomfortable, and sure as the sun shines, you don't have to deal with the anxiety that follows. But over time, your brain registers that avoiding bad feelings has made the bad feelings go away. Suddenly, the list of things avoided grows from specific scenarios to entire categories of experiences.
You've given up dating because first dates give you too much anxiety. You're no longer applying to jobs for which you're qualified because interviewing seems insurmountable. Your world has shrunk, and as it does, it traps you further.
4. Sleep Problems and Racing Thoughts
Anxiety vs. sleep go hand-in-hand when there's anxiety for prolonged periods of time because people can't shut their brains down enough to fall asleep! You lay there mapping out everything that happened during the day, everything that needs to get done in the upcoming day, and every possible worst-case scenario imaginable.
And when you finally do fall asleep? It's often not restful. You wake up throughout the night or wake up far too early without the ability to doze off again. Then the following day, that lack of quality sleep enhances anxiety and compounds the issue for the next night.
Racing thoughts don't just occur during sleep; during the day, you may find it challenging to focus on one thought long enough because you're immediately jumping into the next concern or worry or issue at hand.
5. Impact on Relationships and Work
When anxiety becomes all-consuming over how you engage with others around you, it's unignorable. You may find yourself snapping for no reason at all or feeling irritable and short-tempered, in ways you've never acted, or perhaps withdrawing from otherwise good relationships because social interaction feels like too much work.
Anxiety also increasingly invades spaces that would otherwise be fine. Work/school-type environments are where it spirals into disaster mode. Tasks that once felt easy now feel insurmountable as procrastination becomes rampant, not because people are lazy, but the anxiety of needing to complete x job perfectly is paralyzing.
It's nearly impossible to focus when your mind is racing; meetings become a daunting venture; even checking email can trigger anxiety over what might be waiting there instead of looking forward to catching up on work!
Getting Professional Support
When anxiety becomes an undeniable part of life it's clear once professional help isn't only recommended but needed; thankfully, anxiety is one of the most treatable mental health concerns out there! Therapy, approaches like cognitive behavioral therapy, can provide you with tangible tools to manage anxious thoughts and allow you to break those cycles!
If you have health insurance, getting support might be easier than you think! Many insurance plans nowadays cover mental health services, and connecting with Cigna therapists or any other in-network providers mean getting help without scrambling first about how you'll pay for it! All that matters is taking the first step and reaching out!
Additionally, medication can work wonders for many, either on its own or complementary to therapy! Some people fear if they "need" medication or what it says about them, but if your brain chemistry contributes to acute anxiety episodes, medication can help balance everything out so therapy and coping mechanisms actually work!
Small Steps Make a Difference
While professional help is genuinely recommended for significant anxiety concerns, there are steps one can take personally that truly help! Exercise is one of the most effective ways for reducing symptoms, not just because it makes you healthier but it's a release! Joining a gym isn't even necessary; simply taking a walk every day can make a difference!
Sleep hygiene is critical too. Establishing a nighttime routine regardless of lights-off time and keeping the room dark and cool will help ease people into sleeping better! Cutting back on caffeine after noon can do more good than you'd expect! Even mindfulness or meditation are suggested frequently, and there's a reason why: they work! You don't need to become an expert, but even five minutes of meditative breathing can jumpstart success in curbing anxious thinking patterns!
Moving Forward
Finally, reaching out for help with anxiety won't mean immediate success where feelings go from "terrible" to "better"! Instead, some days will be easier than others; you'll have one good week followed by one horrible day that'll make you question if anything is working whatsoever. This is normal! Making progress does not mean bad days with anxiety won't exist, but it does mean they'll be more infrequent if bad days occur at all!
Just note any small improvements instead of drastic turnarounds. Perhaps you avoided one thing this week instead of three; maybe out of seven nights this week, you were able to sleep through twice instead of not being able to at all. This counts as progress even if right now, it doesn't feel good enough!
The hardest thing about recognizing mental health issues is admitting something's wrong in the first place and wanting to do something about it; living with anxiety because it closes off your world from relationships or prevents you from doing what you need/want to do is no way to live. It doesn't mean you're weak; it means you're finally advocating for your mental health, and that's always worth it!
