What is the relation between anxiety vs. stress? There is no doubt that there is a very strong relationship between anxiety and stress: when we are under a great deal of stress, we tend to feel anxious and upset, and inevitably, one exacerbates the other.
Stress affects the body in different ways. When we are stressed we usually feel tense and wound up like a coil. Stress is often linked to the body’s fight or flight mechanism, which is why adrenaline is released when we are placed under an enormous amount of stress.
Anxiety is more of an emotional state than a physical one and when we are feeling anxious, we are fearful, upset and unsure of ourselves or the nature of the situation we are anxious about. Like stress, anxiety often causes a wide range of physiological symptoms such as the release of adrenaline or nervous sweating.
Even though stress and anxiety cannot be classed as identical states of mind, it is obvious that they are extremely closely linked and one tends to affect the other. For example, when we are stressed at work, we start to feel anxious about our ability to do the job, or when we are anxious about a work project, we feel stressed.
What is the relation between anxiety vs. stress and how can we deal with it?
Because stress and anxiety are so inextricably linked, you cannot deal with one without addressing the other and the only way to tackle both is to identify what exactly is making you feel stressed and/or anxious.
For some people, anxiety is caused by subconscious issues that they are unable to focus on—the anxiety is constantly there, simmering away below the surface of everyday life, but they cannot pinpoint what exactly is making them feel this way. It is often easier to identify what is making you feel stressed, and therefore stress is easier to deal with. For many people, their job is very stressful, whereas for others it might be living with a difficult or dysfunctional relationship.
There are many ways to deal with stress and feelings of anxiety. When the cause of the anxiety is not obvious, counseling and therapy can often help to identify any underlying issues: once you know what you are afraid of, you can move forward and conquer your fears.
There are also lots of medications available to help alleviate the problems caused by anxiety and stress. Tranquilizers and antidepressants can counteract the symptoms of anxiety and stress and are very useful for those individuals who are struggling to cope with everyday life because of high levels of anxiety and stress.
For those under a great deal of stress because of a difficult job or personal life, stress management techniques can help to relieve stress and reduce the associated symptoms of anxiety. These include relaxation techniques such as aromatherapy, self hypnosis and even regular exercise routines.
If you are suffering from the physiological symptoms of stress and anxiety, it is very important that you seek professional help. Prolonged exposure to stress and anxiety can cause serious long term health problems, but effective management will help to break the vicious cycle.
Leave a Reply