Signs anxiety is starting to affect your daily life
Anxiety is a normal and often helpful response to stress. It can motivate us to prepare, focus and respond to challenges. However, when anxiety becomes persistent, attaches itself to multiple areas of life, or begins to affect our wellbeing, it can become difficult to manage. Research suggests that around 1 in 10 people in the UK are living with an anxiety disorder at any one time. While everyone's experience is different, here are five common signs that anxiety may be affecting your daily life.
Anxiety affecting your work or studies
Anxiety can see us move towards stimuli - taking them head on and tackling them exhaustingly, or hiding away from these stressors, avoiding and procrastinating. If you find yourself either hiding away from the jobs that you have to do, or obsessively tackling them and always thinking about them, it could be a sign that anxiety is having an impact on your life. Try to recognise the patterns that are true for you and gently push against them.
Constant worrying and overthinking
If you find that your thoughts are circling round and round, anticipating the worst outcomes, worrying about the future, and obsessing, anxiety could be behind them. Many of the thoughts associated with anxiety relate to fear about what might happen in the future, expecting or planning for the worst possible outcomes and how to prevent them. The experience of this can be exhausting - these are the kinds of thoughts that can keep you awake at night and keep you busy as you plan for every eventuality.
Anxiety affecting your relationships
If your thoughts are preoccupying you, you might find it harder to focus on the things that bring you joy in life, including relationships. Struggling to stay focused on conversation could be a sign that your anxious thoughts are having an impact. Alternatively, you might feel that the effort of socialising is just too much, as a source of worry in itself, or at the end of a long day when your battery is depleted.
Withdrawing from activities you enjoy
Along with pulling back from socialising, you may find yourself withdrawing from other aspects of life that normally bring you pleasure. This is understandable when anxiety is exhausting you, and giving yourself the grace to rest is incredibly important. However, withdrawing from life can result in the idea of returning to engaging in activities and socialising feeling overwhelming and a source of anxiety, so pushing yourself when you can to engage in your activities can be a good idea to maintain your healthy habits.
Sleep problems and physical symptoms of anxiety
The tension of anxiety and the whirring thoughts can be disruptive to your sleep patterns, creating a vicious cycle. The less well-rested you are, the more you may experience anxiety, and of course then, the less you may be able to sleep. Anxiety is associated with release of cortisol, a hormone which can have an impact on your digestive system, blood sugar and immunity, so anxiety can also affect how much you eat, how your stomach feels and how susceptible you are to other physical health issues. If you notice yourself feeling regularly run down, this could be an impact of anxiety on your body.
Experiencing one or more of these signs does not necessarily mean you have an anxiety disorder. However, if anxiety is regularly affecting your work, relationships, sleep or quality of life, it may be worth exploring additional support. Talking therapy can help you understand the patterns behind anxiety and develop ways of responding differently to anxious thoughts and feelings.
