Health effects of anxiety: the most common problems

These are the effects of anxiety on health both in the long and short term.

Anxiety is a psychophysiological state that most people have experienced at one time or another in their lives. However, not all of us to the same degree, nor during the same period of time. That is to say, it is not the same to suffer from anxiety at a specific moment, as it is to suffer from it for days, weeks or months.

The effects of anxiety on health will vary from one case to another, the effects being different in the short term than in the long term.. In this article we explain what these effects are just at the moment of experiencing anxiety, and what they are when we suffer anxiety for a long time.

As we will see, anxiety does not have a single physiological "target", and therefore we explain it by referring to each of our organs.

Short-term health effects of anxiety.

Before explaining the health effects of anxiety, let's briefly recall what anxiety consists of.

Anxiety involves a series of alterations in the organism, at different levels: behavioral, physiological, emotional? It is an abnormal state of overexcitement, nervousness and tension, in which we find ourselves when our resources are insufficient to cope with the demands or requirements of the environment.

Although there are different types of anxiety disorders, anxiety itself has fairly common symptoms. Therefore, today we are going to talk about anxiety in general, and the effects of anxiety on health, since our body "speaks", and we must listen to it and take care of it in order not to get sick in the long term.

Specifically, we are now going to know these effects in initial moments of anxiety, when our body begins to experience it:

1. Skin reactions

The health effects of anxiety affect our skin. Anxiety causes us to feel stress, and stress increases our blood flow. This causes some people's skin tone (face) to turn pale, and others to turn red. All this is due to the fact that, when experiencing anxiety, our sympathetic nervous system sends out more blood, our sympathetic nervous system sends more blood than usual to the different muscles of our body..

In addition, this response of our organism could accelerate premature skin aging. Another effect derived from anxiety, in this sense, is an increase in histamine (inflammatory substance), which can increase the probability of suffering inflammations.

2. Spleen activity

The spleen is an organ that belongs to the lymphatic system; it is considered the "center of activity" of the immune system, and facilitates the destruction of red blood cells and platelets.

When we feel anxious the spleen releases more red and white blood cells, so that our body gets more oxygen (during an anxious episode). (during an anxious episode). In addition, our blood flow increases by 300 to 400%.

Muscle tension

The health effects of anxiety also affect our muscles. Thus, when we are anxious, our muscles contract. This is what we call muscular tension. If anxiety is prolonged over time (or even if it does not), we can suffer muscle pain caused by this tension, as well as migraines, neck pain, stiffness in different areas of the body, etc.

4. Throat problems

Another health effect of anxiety is throat problems. When we feel anxious, our body fluids are dispersed throughout the body. This causes a certain tension and stiffness, which leads to a drying out of the throatas well as swallowing difficulties. A hoarse voice may also appear.

Long-term health disturbances

We have talked about the effects of anxiety on health when we suffer anxiety practically in the moment, but.... what happens when the anxiety is prolonged for a continuous period? Other more serious health problems arise. We are going to know these problems through each of our organs:

1. Stomach

At the stomach level, when we suffer anxiety over a longer period of time, a propensity to suffer stomach ulcers appears.. The ulcer consists of a deep lesion of the mucosa of the stomach (or duodenum), originated by different factors (aggressive and defensive) of the mucosa.

On the other hand, digestive problems derived from anxiety also appear at the stomach level, as well as changes in our metabolism. This is because, when we experience anxiety over a period of time, our body cannot regulate digestion well, which leads to long-term effects on the intestines.

Our body also cannot absorb nutrients wellThis leads to various disorders, such as diarrhea, heartburn, bloating, etc. In extreme cases, it can even lead to loss of sphincter control.

2. Heart

Another of the effects of anxiety on health is a greater propensity to suffer cardiovascular diseases. Cardiovascular diseases affect the coronary arteries, which are related to the heart or blood vessels.

This increased risk of cardiovascular disease is due to the fact that our heart rate is continuously increasing, and in addition, our blood pressure is also elevated and we over-produce cortisol ("the stress hormone").

Other effects that can appear in the heart (or related) are: arrhythmias, hypertension, strokes, heart attacks... As we can see, these are very serious symptoms.

3. Lungs

What effect does anxiety have on the lungs? What happens is that our expiratory functions (which allow us to breathe normally) become weaker. Thus, breathing difficulties, Asthma problems (which are exacerbated in asthmatics), etc. may appear.

Specifically asthmatic people are more likely to experience a panic attackaccording to research (2005) conducted at the University of Sao Paulo.

4. Immune system

Let us remember that the immune system is the one that protects us from harmful agents; specifically, it prevents us from possible infections or diseases. Thus, another effect of anxiety on health has to do with the immune system.

When we suffer from anxiety, this is weakened, and therefore we are much more prone to suffer from certain diseases, because our body is "down" in this sense. The most common diseases to which we are more exposed when we suffer long-term anxiety are: colds (colds), infections and inflammations..

5. Brain

Another of the effects of anxiety on health affects the brain or its functioning; thus, changes appear in it, and we can also suffer sleep problems, for example (insomnia, unrefreshing sleep, etc.).

On the other hand, our nervous system (NS) becomes "saturated" and cannot function normally.. All this is mainly due to the fact that anxiety also causes psychological symptoms (i.e. we also respond psychologically to anxiety).

Other problems associated with mental functioning, caused by anxiety, are: short and long term memory difficulties, attention and concentration problems, etc. On the other hand, we may also suffer from other symptoms that affect our daily functioning, such as: fatigue, physical and emotional exhaustion, etc.

Bibliographical references:

• Amigo, I. (2012). Manual de Psicología de la Salud. Madrid: Pirámide.
• Amigo, I., Fernández, C. and Pérez, M. (2009). Manual de Psicología de la Salud. Madrid: Pirámide.
• Belloch, A., Sandín, B. and Ramos, F. (2010). Manual de Psicopatología. Volume II. Madrid: McGraw-Hill. (Topics 1 and 12).
• Brannon, L. and Feist, J. (2001). Health Psychology. Parainfo: Madrid.