The link between stress and anxiety
To understand the link between stress and anxiety it’s important to first understand the stress response.
The stress response’s origin in 3 points:
Evolved thousands of years ago;
Evolved as a survival strategy;
Evolved to adjust physiology and behavior to deal with BRIEF, life-threatening situations.
Over the years, the frequency of confronting life-threatening stressors (e.g., a predator in the woods) decreased —> the frequency of confronting non-life-threatening stressors (e.g., traffic) increased.
Many mental and physical health problems, especially anxiety, develop out of a CHRONICALLY elevated stress response.
Ask yourself, how often is my stress response elevated?
Here are a 5 signs:
Elevated heart rate
Shallow breathing
Muscle tension
Stomach cramps
Racing thoughts
If you resonate with even one of these signs, there are likely other signs occurring not listed here.
RECAP
It’s too easy these days for a person’s stress response to be chronically elevated because stressors are EVERYWHERE.
What to do about it in 4 steps:
Practice identifying your stress-response signs;
Figure out why you’re in a stress response; find connections between stress and stressors;
Practice labeling each sign; be as specific as possible (e.g., whereas “I feel anxious” is general, “I notice a hallow feeling in my chest which is leading me to believe I’m anxious” is more specific);
Engage in what’s referred to as a regulation activity (e.g., diaphragmatic breathing, mindful movement, permission giving).
Anxiety management is possible through therapy. Check out our practice’s anxiety treatment page for more information on anxiety and the forms of anxiety our therapists treat.
