When Anxiety Shows Up in the Body: Understanding Physical Symptoms
- Aurora Center for Psychology and Wellbeing
- Dec 5
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 6
Anxiety isn’t just something we “think.”For many people, anxiety is something they feel deeply in the body, sometimes long before they consciously recognize worry or fear.
If you’ve ever experienced tightness in your chest, a knot in your stomach, trembling, dizziness, or difficulty swallowing, you may have wondered:
“Is this anxiety, or is something wrong with me?”
You are not alone.
Anxiety often communicates through physical sensations, and learning to understand these signals can help you feel more grounded, safe, and in control.
Why Anxiety Creates Physical Symptoms
Anxiety activates the body’s fight-or-flight system, even when there is no immediate threat. When this system turns on:
your heart beats faster
muscles tense
breathing changes
digestion slows down
the body prepares for action
This can create sensations that feel confusing, alarming, or uncomfortable.Importantly, these sensations are not dangerous, they’re signals from the nervous system trying to protect you.
Understanding them reduces fear, shame, and “What’s happening to me?” moments.
Common Physical Symptoms of Anxiety
Everyone experiences anxiety differently, but some of the most common body-based symptoms include:
✔ Chest tightness or pressure: Your muscles contract to prepare the body for action.
✔ Shortness of breath or “air hunger”: The nervous system shifts your breathing patterns, often without your awareness.
✔ Stomach issues (nausea, cramps, urgency): Digestion slows during fight-or-flight, and the gut has its own sensitive nervous system.
✔ Racing heart or palpitations: The heart pumps faster to deliver oxygen to your muscles.
✔ Dizziness or feeling light-headed: Changes in breathing and blood flow can create this sensation.
✔ “Lump in the throat” or difficulty swallowing: The throat muscles tighten with activation.
✔ Tingling or numbness in hands and feet: Blood shifts away from extremities toward major organs.
✔ Trembling or shakiness: Muscles prepare for movement or release stored tension.
These sensations can be deeply uncomfortable, especially if you don’t know why they’re happening.
Why Physical Symptoms Feel Scary
When the body reacts strongly, the mind often assumes:
“Something is wrong with me.”
“I’m having a medical emergency.”
“I’m losing control.”
“This will never stop.”
But in many cases, the body is simply overwhelmed and signaling that it needs support.
Your body is not malfunctioning: it’s communicating.
This is why mind–body awareness is so important in therapy.
How Trauma and Stress Amplify Body Symptoms
If you have a history of trauma, chronic stress, or difficult life experiences, your nervous system may be more sensitive to activation. This means:
smaller stressors feel big
the body reacts faster
symptoms last longer
the “return to calm” takes more time
In IFS terms, protective parts may step in quickly to manage reactions.In mind–body therapy, we consider this a sign of a system doing its best to stay safe—not a personal failing.
How to Care for Anxiety When It Shows Up in the Body
Here are gentle strategies that help regulate physical symptoms:
1. Slow the breath (especially the exhale): Longer exhales calm the vagus nerve.
2. Drop your shoulders and relax your jaw: This interrupts the fight-or-flight posture.
3. Place a hand on your chest or abdomen: Self-touch signals safety and can regulate the nervous system.
4. Name the sensation, not the fear: “Chest tightness” → instead of “I’m not okay.”
5. Engage your senses. Look at something steady, touch something textured, sip water.
6. Move gently. Walking, stretching, shaking out your hands; all of this helps.
7. Meet yourself with compassion: Your body is not overreacting; it’s trying to protect you.
When Physical Symptoms Interfere With Daily Life
If anxiety-related physical symptoms are:
frequent
intense
confusing
or interfering with your functioning
…therapy can help you explore the patterns underneath and develop tools for regulation, safety, and understanding.
Some clients also benefit from brain-based interventions like tDCS to support emotional and physiological balance.
You Don’t Have to Manage Anxiety Alone
If your body feels overwhelmed, tense, or out of balance, support is available.Together, we can explore how your nervous system communicates, what your symptoms mean, and which tools help you regulate more consistently.
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