Do you know what triggers your anxiety? If not, it is important to find out. Anxiety is a difficult condition that affects millions of people in the United States alone.
Anxiety can be triggered by many different situations, and it’s important to know yours so you can minimize or prevent them from happening in the future.
We all experience anxiety from time to time. Learning how to identify your triggers is a way for you, as the sufferer of anxiety, learn what circumstances might make your symptoms worse.
It also helps you figure out how to stop an attack before it happens in the future. Anxiety is a normal human response to the stresses of life, but it can be an irrational one.
We don’t always know why our anxiety flares up given some specific event or trigger.
Anxiety is common for people, and if you suffer from it sometimes, then this isn’t something rare. Literally millions of Americans have anxiety and it’s the most commonly diagnosed mental health disorder in America.
If you have anxiety on a regular basis, it can help to identify your triggers. It can help to stop an attack from happening or lessen the severity of other symptoms. Let’s explore triggers for anxiety.
Anxiety Symptoms
Before you start to look into your triggers, it can be helpful to know what anxiety looks like. While there is no one single way that anxiety manifests itself, common symptoms are reported by a lot of people who suffer from it.
These include:
● Unwanted sweating
● Irritability
● Feeling restless
● Unnecessary nervousness
● Rapid heart rate
● Feeling lightheaded or faint
● Difficulty sleeping
● Muscle tension
If you’ve been experiencing any of these symptoms, it is incredibly likely that you are experiencing anxiety.
Even if something seems unrelated at the time, be sure to address this with your doctor so they can get to the source.
If all other medical issues are ruled out, you’ll want to consider anxiety the cause. The next step is discovering why it’s happening and identifying triggers.
Let’s take a look at some common triggers before getting into more details of your personal ones.
Common Anxiety Triggers
Some anxiety triggers are common in people who suffer from them on a regular basis. When you read the list below, you will see why—our minds have a natural reaction to traumatic or unforeseen situations like these!
● Health conditions – Changes in your health status, like a new diagnosis or worsening of chronic illness, can lead to increased anxiety.
● Caffeine – The side effects of drinking caffeine are amplified for people experiencing anxiety already. Additional symptoms that can be induced include rapid heart rate, trouble sleeping, and nervousness.
● Crowded places – Too many people in a small, enclosed space can cause you to feel confined and bring on feelings of anxiety. Parties, social events, or other large gatherings with lots of attendees might have the same effect – especially if they’re your first venture into the “real world” in a while.
● Medications – Some medications may cause anxiety symptoms. You should ask your doctor if this is the case with your medications to find out what else you can do in order to manage or lessen these symptoms.
● Stress – Anxiety can also be brought on by worrying too much. Prolonged periods of anxiety, in turn, contribute to unhealthy behaviors that increase your feelings of stress, like skipping meals, drinking coffee or alcohol
● Conflict – Disagreements at work, in your relationships, or even within yourself can cause anxiety. This is common if you are the one responsible or if you believe that there is no way to resolve the situation.
How to Identify YOUR Anxiety Triggers
If you are a person who suffers from anxiety often, it is helpful to know your anxiety triggers.
You may have come across some of the common anxiety triggers like stress and crowded spaces in this article.
It’s important that you identify what personally causes you to experience anxious feelings so you can manage these symptoms or prevent them from happening again.
When looking for causes of personal anxiety, it can be helpful to look to the past.
Some people who experience trauma-based anxiety notice symptoms stemming from events that happened long ago.
Someone with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may have a deep-seated trigger that is revealed in adulthood.
Identifying your own triggers for anxiety is the first step in maintaining the condition and learning how to cope with it in a healthy way. Here are some methods you can use:
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Journaling
Maintaining a daily journal where you write about your thoughts and feelings when your anxiety is triggered provides evidence.
Understanding how it manifests takes time, but being mindful of this may help lessen the severity of other symptoms.
It’s also helpful to journal during the good times. These details can help you figure out what may have triggered your anxiety, or how to stop an attack from happening.
It can also help decrease the severity of other anxiety symptoms when it does happen.
Therapy
If you have been dealing with mental health issues, it may be helpful for you to talk to someone who has also experienced similar challenges.
Asking pertinent questions and exploring new perspectives may help you identify your triggers and come up with an action plan in the event of a panic attack.
A therapist can be partly responsible for your breakthrough on the quest to identify triggers.
By finding a professional to listen and help you find roots of anxiety, he or she may assist in relieving symptoms
Listen to your Body
Remember when you’re feeling anxious – what has been happening in the last few days, weeks, or months leading up to that?
What were your behaviors: does it happen after a string of poor eating habits, too much coffee, lack of sleep the past few days?
Sometimes the clues to what is causing anxiety are in our own bodies.
Be honest
It can be difficult to find the origin of your anxiety when it manifests.
Most people want to avoid bringing up this topic but that’s not helpful and it’s not accurate, because sometimes we need to address the root cause in order for symptoms to lessen.
Don’t avoid speaking about how you are feeling or what caused it. Honesty is the best way to find peace and clarity in dealing with your anxiety.
Understanding what triggers your anxiety is helpful in preventing attacks.
By knowing what provokes you, you can more effectively control it and lessen its effect on yourself.
The most important thing to do when identifying triggers of anxiety is to have an open mind.
Remember that you are not alone in dealing with this mental condition and that it’s okay to seek help from others who are also struggling with such issues.
Anxiety is a condition that affects millions of people in the US alone, and knowing what triggers your symptoms can help you stop an attack before it starts.
Identifying your own personal triggers will also lessen or prevent other anxiety symptoms.
Learning about the cause of your anxiety will lead to more peace-filled living without worry as you take care to avoid those anxious situations.