Anxiety conditions happen to be mental disorders that entail excessive stress or worrying regarding specific aspects or situations of an individual’s life. Notably, anxiety can disrupt a person’s life by affecting their associations with other people, confidence, and potential to undertake daily tasks in school or at work. Every person suffers from this condition from time to time, though chronic anxiety can become problematic to the quality of an individual’s life. Whereas conceivably most acknowledged for changes in behavior, anxiety can also bring about severe implications on physical health. Moreover, anxiety tends to be a regular aspect of life. For instance, one may have experienced anxiety during a job interview or before addressing a group. Precisely, anxiety intensifies the heart and breathing level, concentrating the flow of blood to the brain, where it is needed (Tiller). This highly physical reaction happens to be preparing a person to deal with an extreme situation. Nevertheless, if it becomes intense, one might begin feeling nauseous and lightheaded. A persistent or excessive problem of anxiety can bring about a devastating influence on a person’s mental and physical health. The national institute of Mental health has found out that women tend to suffer from anxiety more than their men counterparts.
Stressful experiences of life may also intensify the risk of an individual for an anxiety condition. Notably, symptoms mays start years later or instantly. Suffering from a critical medical disorder of a substance abuse condition can also result in anxiety disease. Anxiety conditions may manifest themselves in several forms. These types of infections are as follows:
Generalized Anxiety Condition
The generalized anxiety condition happens to be characterized by excessive anxiety without any sensible reason. It has been estimated that this type of anxiety affects nearly seven million adults in the United States of America every year. The condition is diagnosed when excessive worry regarding several things continues for six months or even more (Fajkowska et al.). If an individual suffers from a mild illness, they are likely to undertake their routine daily tasks. More severe conditions may have a deep influence on the life of an individual.
Social anxiety disorder
Notably, this condition entails a paralyzing dread of social circumstances and being humiliated or judged by others. This social fear can leave an individual feeling alone and ashamed. According to the ADAA, nearly fifteen million individuals live with this condition in the United States of America. The distinctive age when this condition might begin is around thirteen years. More than a third of individuals suffering from social anxiety wait for ten or more years before seeking medical attention or assistance.
Post-traumatic stress disorder
This condition begins after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. The symptoms of the infection can start instantly or delay for years. Known causes entail a physical attack, natural disasters, or war. The episodes experienced by PTSD individuals can be triggered without being warned.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Individuals suffering from the obsessive-compulsive condition may experience feelings of being overwhelmed with the yearning to engage in certain compulsions or rituals repeatedly or experience unwanted and intrusive thoughts that can be obsessive and distressing. Mostly known compulsions comprise checking, counting something, or hand-washing. Known obsessions entail worries regarding cleanliness, the requirement for symmetry, and aggressive impulses.
Phobias
Notably, these include the fear of heights or acrophobia, tight spaces or claustrophobia, and several others. An individual may experience a strong desire to avoid the feared situation or object.
Panic disorder
Panic disorder brings about impending doom, terror, impulsive feelings of anxiety or panic attacks. Physical symptoms include shortness of breath, chest pain, and heart palpitations. Moreover, these attacks may happen unexpectedly, and an individual may also experience another form of anxiety alongside panic disorder.
Effect of Anxiety on the nervous system
Long-term or lengthy panics attack and anxiety can result in the brain releasing stressing hormones daily and frequently. Precisely, this can cause intensification in the occurrence of symptoms like depression, dizziness, and headaches. When individuals feel stressed and anxious, their brain floods their nervous system with chemicals and hormones intended to help them react to a threat. For example, the body releases cortisol and adrenaline that may affect the normal function of the individual’s body. Whereas this might be of assistance for the occasional events when a person is suffering from increased stress, lengthy exposure to these chemicals can harm the patient’s physical health in the long run. For instance, being exposed to cortisol for an extended period may cause weight gain. Therefore, it means that individuals find it hard to undertake their daily activities like they once used to before being exposed to anxiety.
The fact that anxiety affects the immune system means that an individual might get ill more than expected. Notably, the condition takes a toll on the body of the patient and leaves them fighting diseases more frequently than they expect. This may be due to their mental health. When the body realizes an uptick in the condition, cortisol is released. The chemical works to shut down all processes that deprive the fight-or-flight mode of its energy. Specific functions are bound to be similar to the ones that foster the immune response of the body. It can result in an intensified probability of catching the flu or cold or an all-encompassing feeling of sickness. The condition impairs the elements of the system that battle inflections. Notably, research contends that individuals suffering from severe anxiety may tend to be more likely to suffer from colds, flu, and other forms of diseases.
Effects on the Cardiovascular System
Furthermore, conditions associated with anxiety can result in chest pain, palpitations, and rapid heart rate. Individuals might also be at an intensified peril of heart condition and increased blood pressure. If a person is already suffering from a heart condition, these conditions might intensify the danger of coronary occurrences.
Effects of Anxiety on Digestive and Excretory Systems
Additionally, 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.
Effects on the Immune System
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. 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.
Effects on the Breathing System
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.
Other Complications of Anxiety
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. 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.
Anxiety in the Contemporary Society
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 (Lawrence et al., 53). Problems associated with anxiety are popular among individuals suffering from cardiovascular diseases. 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. 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 (Saviola et al.). Diseases associated with anxiety influence nearly three and a half percent of young adults and children in the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, whereas individuals cannot completely confirm that young adults and children in contemporary society suffer more from anxiety than 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
Tiller, John WG. “Depression and anxiety.” The Medical Journal of Australia 199.6 (2013): S28-S31.
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.
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.
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.
Saviola, Francesca, et al. “Trait and state anxiety are mapped differently in the human brain.” Scientific Reports 10.1 (2020): 1-11.
Bandelow, Borwin, Sophie Michaelis, and Dirk Wedekind. “Treatment of anxiety disorders.” Dialogues in clinical neuroscience 19.2 (2017): 93.
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.
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