Does Anxiety Make You Tired And Why?

Several situations may spring to mind when you think about anxiety: the unending tossing and turning of a restless night, dread over prospective future occurrences, pandemic-related overload, or full-fledged panic attacks. You've probably had anxious symptoms at some time in your life, even if you haven't been diagnosed with an anxiety condition. In these instances, you may have stomach aches, racing heartbeats, heavy perspiration, chest tightness, jaw/neck/shoulder stiffness, or worrying thoughts as you prepare for the worst-case scenario. Is anxiety, on the other hand, a source of exhaustion?

You may feel exhausted after experiencing these symptoms. The fatigue might be anywhere on the exhaustion scale, from feeling like you've just run a marathon and need to sleep for two days to merely being tired and needing a little nap.

Here are seven ways anxiety drains your energy and how to reclaim it.

1. Stress Hormone Overload

Anxiety may make you weary by causing your body to overproduce stress chemicals. Anxiety and exhaustion are linked through the "fight or flight" reaction. In reality, there are three steps to this process: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. Anxiety causes our bodies to go into high alert mode. This is an instinctive, natural reaction that evolved in the human brain to help it survive.

It made sense for our bodies to rush into action without much deliberation when people faced the genuine, urgent prospect of being attacked by a predator. Even if such hazards are uncommon in modern times, our brains nonetheless react in the same manner they did thousands of years ago.

The hormones and chemicals that rush our bodies to prepare us for safety can influence and be affected by a variety of biological systems, contributing to weariness. The two most important hormones to discuss are adrenaline and cortisol. In order to run, adrenaline is released first, tensing muscles and raising heart rate and blood pressure. Cortisol is produced later in the stress reaction, which improves the brain's glucose use. Given that this is one of our primary fuel sources, it's no surprise that it adds to weariness.

Regularly practising yoga, breathwork, meditation, and/or cardiovascular exercise will help you maintain a healthy baseline level of these stress chemicals. When you've perfected employing these routines for stress reduction during times when you're calm, it's simpler to lean into them during times when you're stressed.

2. Elevated Blood Sugar Levels

Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) is related with anxiety in diabetes patients, and fatigue is one of the most prevalent symptoms. Many persons with hyperglycemia report feeling exhausted all of the time, regardless of how much or how well they sleep, eat, or exercise.

Although this link has been proven to be more widespread and long-lasting in diabetics, it also happens in non-diabetics who are under psychological stress. In reality, the natural stress reaction raises blood pressure, heart rate, and cortisol levels in everyone, all of which raise blood sugar levels. As a result, worry leads to a double dose of weariness due to blood sugar swings.

Take a relaxing walk around the block instead of grabbing for comfort foods like chocolate when you're stressed. Simply moving your body is a terrific stress reliever that also helps to control blood sugar levels.

3. Negative Mindset

Repetitive negative thinking (RNT), which is a frequent sign of worry, can make you weary as well. Rumination (dwelling on sad or dismal thoughts centred on the past) and concern are both part of RNT (angst regarding the future). Some studies believe that a long-term RNT habit might impair the brain's ability to think, reason, and remember.  The energy available for these other more productive tasks is diminished when the brain is busy using its energy supplies to sustain negative thinking patterns.