The most significant aspect of combatting signs of anxiety is that you have to accept it. A lot of people will probably hide the fact that they are highly stressed and anxious. Or, there are people who think that if they speak about their stress and anxiety, their near and dear ones will begin to worry. There are also those obstinate people who believe that they can do everything needed to eliminate their stress factor all by themselves, and hence they do not think they need to tell anyone about it.
“Whatever the situation may be, keeping your stress and signs of anxiety to yourself is highly counterproductive. Not only are you not going to come out of your stressful situation, but you are actually going to aggravate it.”
To understand what you can do to remove your stress and anxiety, the first and most important thing is to accept that you are stressed. You can do this by looking out for the signs of anxiety. Here, we are going to classify the stress signals as indicators of short-term and long-term anxiety. Short-term signals of anxiety usually manifest themselves when the stress-causing factor has been recent, or if something has happened recently that has aggravated the factor. Long-term anxiety is chronic. This happens mostly due to internal stressors, though even external stressors that have tormented you for a long time can cause such responses.
Signs of anxiety, short-term
The following is a list of the bodily symptoms of short-term anxiety:
- Your heartbeat becomes quicker.
- You sweat more profusely.
- You experience sweat on the palms of your hands and the undersides of your feet. There is also a cold sensation there.
- You find different sets of muscles in your body suddenly go tight despite your attempts to control them.
- Your breath becomes heavier.
- Your mouth runs drier.
- You have a sick feeling in the stomach.
- You have to go to the bathroom repeatedly.
- Things like muscular spasms, extreme fatigue, headaches and shortness of breath happen to you.
Here are some ways in which short-term anxiety can affect your productivity.
- You are not able to think clearly.
- You find it difficult to make choices.
- You find it difficult to build strategies.
- You become disinterested in things that previously used to interest you.
- You feel guilty about entertaining yourself.
- You feel bad about the simplest and the most necessary things in life too; like, you may want feel bad about eating your food.
- You become either very dejected or very short-tempered.
- You feel worried when you laugh.
If any of these signs of anxiety start appearing, it means that you are facing some stressful situation. But, that situation is definitely solvable; only you can put in the right efforts once you have detected what it is.
Signs of anxiety, long-term
The signs of long-term anxiety are often quite radical. You need to be more worried about them, because it is possible that you have long forgotten what caused the stress in the first place. People suffering from long-terms are usually prone to the following signs and signals:
- Several of your habits change. This refers mainly to food and sleep. If you are eating differently than before, or sleeping in any way that is different, then it might mean that you are suffering from some kind of stress, which may not be quite apparent at that moment.
- Mood changes happen within you. You feel disoriented and confused. You act in a very emotionally driven manner.
- Vices take hold of you. You start smoking and alcoholism, maybe even drugs.
- You neglect work and relationships, and spend more time doing nothing.
- You become careless of your looks.
- You become uncaring for the people around you.
- You talk more gloomy things as the days pass by.
These signs of anxiety indicate that there is some long-standing stress within you. Something has snapped, and you have to take stock of the situation as soon as you can.
Do you notice some of the short and long term signs of anxiety within you? Share your experiences and accomplishments in the comment section below.
I definitely have both. my case started this past August out of no where, was driving and just had a sinking feeling rush through my body felt numb, took about a month for me to realize it was something in my head after ruling out and seeing every doctor i could to rule out something physical. I have been seeing a therapist for a month and while it helps to talk through things, my biggest issue now is the physical symptoms (i am on 40mg of Propranolol) and by not feeling the nervousness my mind is now running wild with worry. I am seeing a Psychiatrist for the first time tomorrow and i am even thinking about hypnosis. My anxiety while appears to be general, it mostly manifest itself with pending social events, so i believe i am leaning to SA now.
i enjoy your site and YT vids, wish you would post more often as i have watched them all already.
Thank you Nick for your input, definitely will be putting more frequent messages in video form in the future.
I’ve got the signs. Recognized them coming on awhile back but thought I could soldier on through. i still have a tendency to view my anxiety threshold as a weakness. Ended up having to take some serious r/r time at home to unhinge, recoup and regroup or I was gonna end up in the hospital. Now, after a couple of days of being away from the situations and challenging my propensity towards catastrophizing events and situations in my life – this time I’m formulating a plan to deal with them and take care of me in the process when I have to go back and face them again tomorrow.
You have the right approach form dealing with this it seems Lisa.
For me, it appears that i was able to suppress the anxiety without knowing it before the August event. It’s as if my mind forgot how during the long drive.
Dennis – Will you be in NYC anytime soon?
I was hit by lightning almost 15 years ago and I have every sign of both of the short and long term anxiety. I also get panic attacks. I have great support from my Mom but it is still hard to cope with anxiety, stress and PTSD. I force myself to do things I am not comfortable with in hopes that my pain will be less. I can remember being a pretty relaxed person before the lightning strike and just want to be that way again even though I know it will not happen. The signs was a good read but I cannot think of many other things I can do to help myself.
I have both signs of short and long term anxiety. I have been diagnosed with anxiety since January 20, 2014 and it’s been a grueling battle ever since. I did have a month (August) that I saw hope only for my headaches/migraines to come back and my anxiety sky rocketed back again. Now I am back to coping but I know that I can break free from anxiety as I am again slowly starting to feel a little normal again day after day.
Momentum is on your side it seems Andrew.
I deffenetly have symptoms of both long and short, what has me down at the ment is I have been anxety free for over a year and about a month or 2 ago it has come back, always light headed and feel shaky I just want it to stop so I can get on with my life again 🙁
I’m going through a relapse, I battled through for a few months but I’ve now taking time out from an intense job, to relax regroup and use some mindfulness.
Concerns on where it will end up but I think that’s perhaps my anxiety looking for an outlet.
My fiance was wondering at one time if he had anxiety or not. This list would have made it much easier to self diagnose. Thanks for this.
You’re very welcome Debbie.
It’s great that you pointed out how the signs of long-term anxiety are often quite radical. I’ve been monitoring my younger sister lately and I think she is experiencing anxiety. I want to help her out, so I think she should try out anxiety therapy.
Absolutely could be a viable option when suffering from anxiety. Also, check out the anxiety guy YouTube channel which is a great resource on YouTube for anxiety support. Much love.