What Happens To Your Circulation When You Feel Anxious – Health Digest

Whether it’s giving a big presentation or getting hit with an unexpected bill, everyone feels anxiety from time to time. That mental and emotional stress activates your sympathetic nervous system — also known as the “fight or flight” response — to help your body deal with a perceived threat. When this happens, you might notice physical symptoms like sweaty palms, a faster heartbeat, and quicker breathing.

Anxiety can also make it feel like your blood is racing through your veins. That’s because adrenaline rushes blood to your muscles and heart to get you ready to act. Your blood pressure goes up, helping pump blood more forcefully throughout your body. But here’s the catch: if you start breathing too fast, your arteries can actually constrict instead of dilate. That makes it harder for blood to flow, putting even more pressure on your arteries. As blood flow decreases, you might feel lightheaded or notice tingling in your hands or feet. You may also feel hot flashes.

Once the stressful situation passes, your parasympathetic nervous system helps bring your body back into balance, restoring your heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure. But when stress and anxiety become chronic, they can take a serious toll on your cardiovascular system.

It’s important to differentiate between feeling anxious and having an anxiety disorder. Feeling anxious about a situation or challenge in your life can happen no matter how much yoga or meditation you do. It’s a natural response to stress, and your body prepares itself to meet those challenges. An anxiety disorder, on the other hand, involves persistent worry on most days for six months or more. Anxiety can even occur without any clear cause or stressful situation. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, about one in five people in the United States have some type of anxiety disorder.

People with an anxiety disorder may be at a higher risk for heart disease because their bodies are constantly reacting to perceived threats, according to a 2021 review in Health Psychology Open. When stress hormone levels stay elevated over time, they can cause inflammation and damage to blood vessels. This damage can lead to clogged arteries, coronary heart disease, and heart attacks. In addition, some people with anxiety may develop unhealthy habits that also raise heart disease risk, such as smoking, excessive alcohol use, physical inactivity, and poor diet.

Even if you don’t have an anxiety disorder, chronic stress can still affect your heart health. The University of Rochester Medical Center says ongoing stress can keep cortisol levels high and raise your cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, and blood pressure — all of which increase your risk of heart disease. Even mild stress can reduce blood flow and oxygen to your heart.

Psychotherapy, medication, or a combination of the two are effective options for treating anxiety disorders. If you’ve been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, getting treatment can help reduce your risk of complications from heart disease. A 2024 study in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that people with heart conditions who used medication or psychotherapy to treat their depression or anxiety were 74% less likely to visit the emergency room for heart-related issues. They were also 66% less likely to die from any cause.

(Here are 15 ways to reduce anxiety.)

People dealing with anxiety or chronic stress may also find relief through alternative therapies like breathing exercises, yoga, or meditation. Exercise not only relieves muscle tension but also encourages deep breathing and improves circulation. According to a 2023 article in Heart and Mind, exercise helps train your body to handle stress by lowering cortisol levels, reducing heart rate, and stabilizing your mood during stressful situations. Plus, regular physical activity supports heart health and can help reverse unhealthy lifestyle habits linked to both anxiety and heart disease.