How does anxiety drain your energy? (2023)

How does anxiety affect energy levels?

Anxiety can cause low energy levels and lethargy, often described as episodes of no energy, feeling tired, seemingly exhausted, run down, and no ambition to do anything. Often a person can feel revved up and depleted at the same time, almost like pressing the brake and the accelerator simultaneously while driving.

The official name for this phenomenon is adrenal fatigue. Anxiety is like being on high alert. Your body is preparing you to fight or flee; and so it is flooded with energy so that you can respond to a threat. Then, when that adrenaline runs its course, your body goes through a crash that can leave you feeling drained.

Chronic fatigue anxiety symptom descriptions: Here are some of the common descriptions we've heard for the anxiety symptom chronic fatigue: You feel extremely exhausted, fatigued, burnt out, or worn out. A chronic fatigue feeling.

GAD can also have a number of physical symptoms, including: dizziness. tiredness. a noticeably strong, fast or irregular heartbeat (palpitations)

Exhaustion: the symptoms of high functioning anxiety include a variety of physical and emotional manifestations. Whether it's muscle soreness or mental duress (often it's both), people with high-functioning anxiety feel it everywhere, and report being exhausted both physically and mentally.

You feel like you're worrying too much and it's interfering with your work, relationships or other parts of your life. Your fear, worry or anxiety is upsetting to you and difficult to control. You feel depressed, have trouble with alcohol or drug use, or have other mental health concerns along with anxiety.

Success of treatment varies, but most people with an anxiety disorder can be helped with professional care. Benefits of CBT are usually seen in 12 to 16 weeks. Medication may be a short-term or long-term treatment option, depending on severity of symptoms, other medical conditions and individual circumstances.

Some common mental symptoms of anxiety include:

Having a sense of impending danger, panic or doom. Trouble concentrating or thinking about anything other than the present worry. Having difficulty controlling worry. Having the urge to avoid things that trigger anxiety.

What physical symptoms can anxiety cause?

Anxiety makes it harder to try new things, to take risks in your work or personal life, or sometimes to even leave your house. Many people with anxiety feel caged in. They see things they want to do in life but their anxiety keeps them from trying. This can lead to loss of income and unfulfilled potential.

Anxiety disorders are the most common of mental disorders and affect nearly 30% of adults at some point in their lives. But anxiety disorders are treatable and a number of effective treatments are available. Treatment helps most people lead normal productive lives.

Anxiety disorders can cause rapid heart rate, palpitations, and chest pain. You may also be at an increased risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. If you already have heart disease, anxiety disorders may raise the risk of coronary events.

Panic disorder

Panic attacks are intense, overwhelming and often uncontrollable feelings of anxiety. Physical symptoms can include trouble breathing, chest pain, dizziness and sweating.

An anxiety emergency or extreme panic attack may require an ER visit if the sufferer is unable to get it under control. Extreme cases of hyperventilation can lead to tachycardia, an occurrence where the heart is beating so fast that it is unable to properly pump blood throughout the body.

When you feel anxious you might have racing thoughts but also physical symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, tense muscles, trembling, a rapid heartbeat, and pain and bloating in your abdomen.

Following are the main symptoms that can mean that your anxiety is getting worse. Sleeplessness or insomnia is strongly linked to anxiety. Having trouble falling asleep or waking up in the middle of the night and the inability to go back to sleep are significant signs of anxiety.

What causes anxiety in the brain?

Anxiety happens when a part of the brain, the amygdala, senses trouble. When it senses threat, real or imagined, it surges the body with hormones (including cortisol, the stress hormone) and adrenaline to make the body strong, fast and powerful.

Why is anxiety so powerful? Anxiety is there to keep us safe. It is a call to action to fight or flee so we can move through danger. It's there to keep us out of the way of trouble so the signals it sends have to be strong.

But researchers don't know exactly what causes anxiety disorders. They suspect a combination of factors plays a role: Chemical imbalance: Severe or long-lasting stress can change the chemical balance that controls your mood. Experiencing a lot of stress over a long period can lead to an anxiety disorder.

One important step in reversing the anxiety cycle is gradually confronting feared situations. If you do this, it will lead to an improved sense of confidence, which will help reduce your anxiety and allow you to go into situations that are important to you.

Know When to Seek Help

If your anxiety, or the anxiety of a loved one, starts to cause problems in everyday life—such as at school, at work, or with friends and family—it's time to seek professional help. Talk to a health care provider about your mental health.

Untreated anxiety can lead to other mental disorders, such as depression or substance abuse. People with anxiety, especially when not properly treated, have a higher risk of suicide or self-harm behaviors. People with untreated anxiety may lead a life of isolation.

Most of the time fatigue can be traced to one or more of your habits or routines, particularly lack of exercise. It's also commonly related to depression. On occasion, fatigue is a symptom of other underlying conditions that require medical treatment.

You may be too exhausted even to manage your daily affairs. In most cases, there's a reason for the fatigue. It might be allergic rhinitis, anemia, depression, fibromyalgia, chronic kidney disease, liver disease, lung disease (COPD), a bacterial or viral infection, or some other health condition.