Anxiety and Your Body : An Intuitive Connection
By Vishal Verma
Anxiety is very common at all ages. Even youngsters and the elderly experience it.
If you were to pick out 20 random people off the street I can assure you, at least 15 would have faced anxiety at some point in their lives.
Considering that, I want to explore:
What does anxiety do to your body?
The answer is not as complicated as you might think.
Let's start from the top of the human body. How does anxiety affect hair?
You've probably heard about people losing their hair due to stress. Do you know that people who take medications to address anxiety or depression are even more prone to hair loss? Or that they can lose hair at an alarming rate? Here's why. Anti-anxiety and anti-depressive medications are made to relax both your mind and body, helping suppress your symptoms. In some cases, the medication can lead to low potassium in you body (or a low RBC count). When that happens, you lose your hair from all over, even your arms and legs. [Editor's note: Please don't let this dissuade you from trying medication! It doesn't happen in all cases, and medication can really help if you need it. Thank you, MA]
Back to the body. In particular, your trunk and waist. When you're experiencing mental trauma, you start to feel even the smallest of glitches that you might never have paid attention to in the past. Cramps, upset stomach, or even stressed eyes are some examples.
In anxiety you tend to pay more attention toward small aches and pains for no apparent reason. It seems as if there is always something wrong with your body even when everything is "completely fine". I've seen people rushing to the emergency room because of a rapid heart beat. Of course, it turned out to be normal anxiety or a panic attack.
If I could convince you of one thing it would be:
YOUR BODY IS DOING JUST WHAT IT IS MEANT TO DO.
On to the lower part of your body. This is where you might feel more funny or awkward/stressed when experiencing anxiety.
Your legs are wiggly, your fingers are tingling. You might suddenly notice you can't walk straight. At times it feels as if something is eating your leg or legs from the inside.
This is a very common symptoms of anxiety, my friend. It reminds me of an expression I once heard:
YOUR MIND TAKES YOU WHERE YOU WANT TO GO.
I could go on. Your sexual drive is lowered, your stool is weird. Worrying more ends up scaring you more and causing more symptoms.
A Personal Experience
One day, I came across the line "You start to live with what you have, all you need to do is accept it." For some reason, after I read this line, my life got so much easier. I found my anxiety is less problematic and my mind more relaxed.
ACCEPT WHAT YOU HAVE AND NOT RUN FROM IT
Have a healthy life, everyone. Cheers to the beautiful world out there :)
Vishal Verma is a 25-year-old man in India with Generalized Anxiety Disorder. He wants to share his experiences so that others know they aren't alone.
