03/23/2026
Anxiety doesn’t just affect your thoughts — it affects your body too.
When anxiety activates the brain’s fear center, it triggers the fight-or-flight response, releasing stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones can impact heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, and other systems in the body.
That’s why anxiety can show up as symptoms like a racing heart, stomach discomfort, nausea, or muscle tension.
Sometimes those physical sensations can create a feedback loop — the body feels something unusual, the brain interprets it as danger, and anxiety increases.
Understanding the mind-body connection is an important step in learning how to manage anxiety.
Swipe through to learn why anxiety can feel so physical.
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Anne Vickers Psychotherapy