Anxiety affects the digestive and excretory systems of individuals. People experiencing or suffering from anxiety may have digestive problems, diarrhea, nausea, and stomachaches. They can also lose their appetite because of the increased thoughts they might be experiencing. Notably, these issues make individuals uncomfortable that they find it hard to complete their daily activities or adhere to their plans. There may be a link between the development of irritable bowel syndrome and anxiety conditions after a bowel contagion. Precisely, this disease can lead to constipation, diarrhea, or vomiting.
Notably, anxiety can impact the flight-or-fight stress reaction of an individual and release several hormones and chemicals, like adrenaline, into their system. The short-term effect of this is that it intensifies individuals’ breathing rate and pulse and makes their brain receive increased amounts of oxygen. Precisely, this prepares an individual to react appropriately to an extreme circumstance. The immune system of such a person may even acquire a brief enhancement. With frequent stress, the body gets back to usual functioning after the stress (Oflaz, 1002). Nevertheless, if a person frequently feels stressed or anxious or goes for an extended period, the body of such individuals never obtains the signal to get back to its usual operational capability. This can weaken the immune system, leaving the body increasingly susceptible to frequent diseases and viral infections. Also, the regular vaccines received by individuals might fail to function if one is suffering from anxiety.
The condition leads to shallow and rapid breathing. Precisely, if an individual is suffering from a chronic or severe obstructive pulmonary disease, they may be at a heightened peril of hospitalization from complications associated with anxiety. Furthermore, anxiety can make symptoms of asthma worse.
It can also result in other influences by causing symptoms like depression, insomnia, social isolation, muscle tension, and headaches. If individuals suffer from PTSD, they may get flashbacks that relive a repeated and frequent traumatic experience. One might often become startled and angry quickly and conceivably become expressively withdrawn. They can also experience sadness, insomnia, and nightmares (Bandelow et al., 93). Remarkably, interrupted sleep happens to be a well-recognized side effect or complication of several conditions associated with mental health, including anxiety. Nevertheless, even though a person tends to be sleeping without being disrupted, anxiety may bring about nightmares or vivid dreams. It is known that the mind does not remain essentially quiet when individuals sleep. During the day, being stressed and anxious can extend during the night, bringing about fear-founded nightmares and sleep issues that make it hard to get proper rest.
Several individuals contend that anxiety and stress can bring about breaking out of the skin, and there tends to be some reality in the argument. Anxiety brings about stress that causes the body of individuals to intensify the production of hormones that can heighten the production of oil. This can result in acne and other conditions of the disease. Also, these conditions can exacerbate current conditions of the skin like fever, blisters, rosacea, psoriasis, and eczema. Studies have also added that anxiety can lead to hives and rashes (Himanshu and Nutan). Seeking the help of a dermatologist can assist an individual. However, they may want to visit a mental health expert if they perceive that anxiety could cause their skin-associated conditions.
Anxiety can result in alterations in the patterns of speech since it leads to individuals second-guessing themselves and talking with minimal authority. Anxious judgments may distract individuals from what they are talking about and make it less possible to deliver their perspectives tangentially and confidently. In an intensively tech-savvy society, it is not a doubt that several individuals spend a lot of time in front of a screen or on their smartphones. Nevertheless, if individuals need to stay on their smartphones more frequently, they could be keeping away from dealing with the condition. Most individuals do not want to face anxiety; hence it happens to be natural that they attempt to avoid this feeling or experience (Zvolensky et al., 447). Scholars have argued that distraction tends to be evading an occurrence or a situation. With minicomputers at their exposure at all times, several individuals opt to scroll through social media or play video games to avoid the discomfort that comes with anxiety.
Even though it happens to be the increasingly known sign of being mentally distressed in almost every nation across the globe, anxiety is frequently brought forwards as an artifact of contemporary Western societies. Perse, the idea of anxiety was initially brought into light as a psychoanalytic and philosophical idea in the first half of the twentieth century (Rehman et al., 45). To a most significant extent, anxiety indicates to the self-esteem that an overwhelmingly awful occurrence is about to occur and that the body has to utilize a defense technique in reaction. Individuals learn to handle the anxiety that has been triggered by actual threats, like the fear of being attacked by an animal, either by staying away from circumstances that may potentially entail the danger or risk, or by physically avoiding them.
The actual effect of anxiety in contemporary society can be hidden when it happens to be a symptom of treatable or other physical issues that can be prioritized in any successive health intervention. Problems associated with anxiety are popular among individuals suffering from cardiovascular diseases (Yang and Sherry, 330). For instance, panic conditions happen to be up to ten times more common among individuals suffering from a chronic pulmonary illness compared to the general public. Studies have also discovered that individuals suffering from GAD tend to be at an increased peril of coronary condition of the heart. In contrast, anxiety has also been associated with the intensified occurrence of gastrointestinal issues, arthritis, typhoid, allergies, and migraines (Gotardi., 46). Individuals with anxiety conditions tend to be four times as likely as others to suffer from high blood pressure. Several studies have indicated a connection between the decreased function of white blood cells and anxiety. Notably, as discussed earlier, this is a sign of a weak immune system.
Moreover, there happen to be emerging facts proving a connection between Alzheimer’s condition and stress. Also, anxiety is linked to unhealthy life choices like poor diet, too much consumption of alcohol, and smoking. Diseases associated with anxiety influence nearly three and a half percent of young adults and children in the United Kingdom (Southward and Shannon, 65). Nevertheless, whereas individuals cannot completely confirm that young adults and children in contemporary society suffer more from anxiety than the past generations, psychological health issues in young individuals are astonishingly prevalent.
Several individuals experiencing anxiety issues tend to hide or avoid seeking medical help because they believe it may bring down their ego or self-esteem. Notably, this is because they think that the causes of anxiety cannot be spoken out loud to any other individuals. Many individuals think that they suffer from anxiety because of financial problems caused by the increased levels of unemployment in the current employment world. Nevertheless, anxiety can arise from relationship and family issues. Therefore, individuals must seek help early enough before leading to more severe problems like chronic conditions. These issues alter the health of the patients, hence making it difficult to accomplish or complete their daily tasks.
Works Cited
Bandelow, Borwin, Sophie Michaelis, and Dirk Wedekind. “Treatment of anxiety disorders.” Dialogues in clinical neuroscience 19.2 (2017): 93.
Fajkowska, Małgorzata, Ewa Domaradzka, and Agata Wytykowska. “Types of anxiety and depression: Theoretical assumptions and development of the Anxiety and Depression Questionnaire.” Frontiers in Psychology 8 (2018): 2376.
Gotardi, Gisele C., et al. “Adverse effects of anxiety on attentional control differ as a function of experience: A simulated driving study.” Applied ergonomics 74 (2019): 41-47.
Himanshu, Sharmila, and Nutan Deepa Sarkar. “A review of behavioral tests to evaluate different types of anxiety and anti-anxiety effects.” Clinical Psychopharmacology and Neuroscience 18.3 (2020): 341.
Lawrence, Peter J., Kou Murayama, and Cathy Creswell. “Systematic review and meta-analysis: anxiety and depressive disorders in offspring of parents with anxiety disorders.” Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 58.1 (2019): 46-60.
Oflaz, Adnan. “The Effects of Anxiety, Shyness and Language Learning Strategies on Speaking Skills and Academic Achievement.” European Journal of Educational Research 8.4 (2019): 999-1011.
Rehman, Usama, et al. “Depression, anxiety and stress among Indians in times of Covid-19 lockdown.” Community mental health journal 57.1 (2021): 42-48.
Saviola, Francesca, et al. “Trait and state anxiety are mapped differently in the human brain.” Scientific Reports 10.1 (2020): 1-11.
Southward, Matthew W., and Shannon Sauer-Zavala. “Dimensions of skill use in the unified protocol: Exploring unique effects on anxiety and depression.” Journal of consulting and clinical psychology (2021).
Tiller, John WG. “Depression and anxiety.” The Medical Journal of Australia 199.6 (2013): S28-S31.
Yang, Jie-Chi, M. Y. D. Lin, and Sherry Y. Chen. “Effects of anxiety levels on learning performance and gaming performance in digital game‐based learning.” Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 34.3 (2018): 324-334.
Zvolensky, Michael J., et al. “Effects of anxiety sensitivity reduction on smoking abstinence: An analysis from a panic prevention program.” Journal of consulting and clinical psychology 86.5 (2018): 474.
write