People are familiar with the typical signs of anxiety, fear, worry, thoughts, hyper-vigilance, e.t.c. But people don't realize that there are many hidden signs of anxiety that are much more prevalent than we don't talk about.
These signs include:
Irritability
People don't always associate anxiety with anger or irritability, but it often co-exists. This incidence is especially seen with men because men are socialized not to express fear, but they are not socialized to avoid anger. . Therefore, anxiety tends to come out that way, and the person exhibits more irritability, anger, and frustration, which signifies that we may be dealing with anxiety.
Physical symptoms
Fear can make your stomach turn, literally! Physical symptoms like stomach issues are a big one, as well as irritable bowel syndrome. Also, a person may have stomach issues like an unsettled stomach. They may deal with diarrhea, IBS, and other stomach problems due to anxiety.
Memory issues
This is another significant symptom that's often overlooked. You may find that you're struggling with cognitive impairment when studying for an exam or trying to show up for work. You may struggle with memory or comprehension, for instance, you may get an email, and you find yourself reading it twelve times to understand what they're asking you. In that case, you may find that you have anxiety about that job or the role that you're trying to fit in, and it's causing your brain not to function effectively.
These symptoms are all by design. Our bodies are designed so that when we're anxious, they shut down specific processes. Therefore, our high-functioning brain processes like our executive functioning and ability to think, concentrate, or reason things out intentionally shut down. Our GI system also shuts down, which is why when people get anxious, they have to go to the bathroom because their digestive system also shuts down. You may even find yourself running from the situation because your body shuts down all other processes to give you the energy to flee.
The reality, however, is that we are often frightened by things that don't need those functions to shut down. Another thing that may shut down is your reproductive system.
Executive functioning of your brain and your frontal cortex shuts down as all your energy it goes into what they call lizard brain. So your flight, flight, freeze, and fawn reaction are heightened the digestive system shuts down, and the reproductive system shuts down. Over time this is why anxiety around infertility can make the issue worse.
So even if you don't know that you're anxious and not feeling anxious, these things are causing other symptoms in your body which affect your quality of life.
Doom scrolling
When we are anxious, we often look for other things to keep us on edge, whether it's doom scrolling on Twitter or watching true crime and different genres that feed that part of the brain that's constantly looking for things to be anxious about. If there are no situations in our lives to feed that part of the brain that's anxious, we will look for things outside our environment.
To Conclude:
Anxiety is a prevalent issue in our society. Although familiar with it, we don't know the hidden symptoms. Now that you know them, you can look for ways to cope with anxiety.
