Top 10 Symptoms of Anxiety and Panic Attacks

Are you wondering if you’re having symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks, but want to double-check?

There are about 40 million American adults (18 and older) who suffer from some form of anxiety—63.1% of those cases do not receive any treatment (1).

This means roughly 1 out of 5 adults you know have anxiety.

I used to have anxiety and panic attacks—the type where you go to the ER because you think you’re having a heart attack, pay for an EKG, and even schedule a cardiology appointment.

Then, the doctor says everything is normal and to take it easy. Perfect. I’ll do that!

Since then, I’ve improved my health and my anxiety has been drastically reduced. One way I’ve achieved this is by developing excellent techniques for setting smart goals.

Still, we both know that when dealing with anxiety, especially if you don’t know what’s causing it, is a rough journey.

Here are some tips on knowing the symptoms of anxiety and how you can reduce them.

1. Sudden, random increase of heart rate

A sudden quickening of your pulse is one of the first symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks.

You’re resting on the coach watching your favorite Netflix series when, suddenly, boom! There’s a flutter in your chest. You check your pulse, and it’s definitely beating faster than normal. But you have no clue why. All you were doing was watching TV.

Now, you’re having shortness of breath.

You’re convinced something is wrong with you, because you shouldn’t be feeling this way. “my heart’s racing, again.”

That’s when your spouse says, “Really?… Again? Stop thinking about it so much!”

You reply, “You’re right. I’ll get right on that, Karen. My heart is only racing at 110 bpm because I’m excited for work tomorrow.”

Karen is my lovely wife, by the way!

Other than the not-so-obvious possibility of a deeper underlying health condition that could sometimes be confused with a panic attack, such as a heart attack (2), it could be that you’ve been struck with an anxiety spell.

Take deep breaths. What helps me is wearing my face mask and breathing slow and steady.

The anxiety usually subsides after a few minutes.

What’s the takeaway?

If you frequently have issues where your heart quickens for no reason, it might be a sign you have anxiety. However, you should still always consider that it could be something more serious. Consult with your doctor if you have symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks.

2. Chronic, Constant Worrying

So, you’re reading this article because you believe you have anxiety? Well, you might just have anxiety.

You are researching a topic of interest, which for you in this moment is anxiety. And, if you have anxiety on your mind, then well, you are probably anxious, and worrying a lot.

Being anxious and worrying go hand-in-hand. You can’t really have one without the other.

If you are anxious, then you are worrying about your anxiety. And if you are worrying too much about your health, job, and whatever else may be, then you are causing yourself anxiety.

It’s a vicious cycle. Some people don’t believe that anxiety is a real disease, or more appropriately, a disorder; They believe it’s simply you ‘worrying too much’.

Anxiety is a real mental illness. And your worries are real, caused by real events and variables which are triggering your negative emotional responses.

Me, personally, I worry about my type 1 diabetes. I’ve been worrying about it for 15 years, from things such as getting low blood sugar at night to having heart disease before 50 years old.

One way I’ve helped to relieve this stress is by using heart strengthening techniques.

What’s the takeaway?

The best thing you can do to stop worrying so much is to always seek new ways to improve yourself, mentally, physically, and spiritually.

3. Angry without reason

Have you been getting bothered by things easily, lately?

Maybe you hate your job? Or you are driving to the store, and the thought of things which shouldn’t be affecting you so much are making you disproportionately angry?

Things like, your spouse told you three times which type of ice cream he wants from Walmart, and for some reason, that really bothers you. Literally, HE just bothers you.

It could be that you are having symptoms of anxiety or a looming panic attack.

The anxiety is causing your sympathetic nervous system to go into overdrive, and it’s tricking your brain into thinking you are in danger. This puts your body into fight-or-flight mode, pushing blood to your muscles from your digestive system, further increasing your heart rate and heightening your senses (3).

You even begin to say, “Wait, I’m not actually angry AT him. Why do I feel so angry?”

“WHY AM I FEELING THIS WAY?”

Disproportionate anger is a classic symptom of chronic generalized anxiety disorder (4).

It’s times like this when you should recognize your behavior. It is not fair to others around you that they suffer as well. Try to correct yourself while also seeking methods to relieve your anxiety.

Consider drinking a cup of the best white tea to calm your mood.

What’s the takeaway?

If you notice you have been getting angry or upset lately for no reason, consider that you may have a chronic anxiety issue. Take note of it and try to correct yourself.

4. Tense, restless, and shaking

Fidgeting, taking deep unfulfilling breaths often, and a restless mind are all signs you may be suffering from symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks.

By restless mind, I don’t mean consistently thinking about random things that pop into your head.

An anxious, restless mind is one that, when every thought passes through, the thought is only partial and then scattered away because new significant thoughts are flooding in.

The incoming thoughts are typically very important matters to you, and you are having trouble sorting them out to determine which to tackle first.

Every thought is dire. This is a sign that you may be overloaded.

Your stress and restlessness may be work-related, legal issues, relationship problems, or general unhappiness in life (which we will discuss later).

The bombardment of highly stressful thoughts can create the fight-or-flight response we talked about. This can cause your need to take deep, frequently shaking breaths to feed your muscles with oxygen that are being pumped full of blood.

Here are a few ways to help relieve the tenseness:

• Wear a face mask for a few minutes. Breath slow in equal intervals.
• Decrease your need for oxygen. Relax your body.
• Find a source of laughter.
• Get yourself sucked into a TV show so your thoughts ease.
• Lie on the couch and have a loved one gently rub your head or hug you.
• Take a warm / hot shower. Hot tubs work well.
• Cook food and listen to a song.

What’s the takeaway?

Ease the restlessness by taking your mind off anxiety-inducing thoughts.

5. Tired and Fatigued from anxiety

Ever have a bad anxiety or panic attack, and just after, you were really tired?

This is a common after-effect for most. Some research suggests it’s due to the tenseness of your muscles, and possibly hormones, but the cause is a bit unclear (5).

For others, being fatigued or tired is a constant issue, and a symptom of anxiety.

I suggest you read our recent article on how to get more energy. Sometimes having no energy can actually be what’s causing your stress.

It’s very frustrating, and quite exhausting for your thoughts to intrusively take over your life. And although your thoughts may not be negative, they could still trigger stress.

Sometimes this stress is almost unavoidable, like you’re having spousal issues. Other times, the fix is easy. Like when your cat keeps clawing your bed covers, so you can just trim the tips of their nails.

What’s the takeaway?

The best thing you can do is to try identify these patterns of stress and work on changing them.

6. Insomnia or anxiety?

Sleep deprivation is one of the worst things you can do to your health. There are direct correlations between anxiety and your sleeping patterns.

In fact, lying in bed unable to sleep and frequently waking in the middle of the night are the two most commonly reported symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks (6).

So, which are you? Anxious or unable to sleep? Research shows you may be both.

Nearly all psychiatric disorders have in common some type of sleeping disruption, and those with insomnia are at high risk of developing anxiety (7).

You should try your best to get 8 hours of sleep per night. Otherwise, you risk developing chronic issues like anxiety.

It’s hard. I’m with you. There have been times when I had sleeping issues and would force myself into a routine of lying down at the same time every night, just to lie awake for three, maybe four hours.

What helped me get to sleep was disconnecting from TV and my cellphone an hour before bed.

The brain is a very powerful organ, and it knows your body better than you. It’s difficult to fool your brain when it comes to, well, you.

You can’t tell yourself, “But—but, I AM winding down. I’m just watching Facebook videos!”

That’s not winding down, it’s winding up. You’re providing intense auditory and visual stimuli to your brain, and in return it’s keeping you wired and awake.

You have to train your body to get into a relaxed and casual routine. Try meditating, reading a book, or playing a game of cards when bedtime is nearing. You need to minimize the light coming into your eyes.

What’s the takeaway?

Taking your mind off negative emotional triggers and limiting the stimuli your brain receives before bed are powerful ways to ease anxiety and insomnia.

7. Avoiding Social Interactions

Tell me if you can relate to this. You adore the idea of going to a big party with all your friends and family. So, you get there, but realize you don’t actually want to talk to anyone. You just wanted to…look at them?

After five minutes, you are ready to go home.

One reason this may happen to you is because you suffer from symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks. But in this circumstance, your anxiety is being exacerbated because you are also asocial.

Maybe you are afraid of being judged by others. Or you believe they are making irrational assumptions about you? Perhaps your own personality humiliates you. You fear that others will notice how asocial you are, and this makes your anxiety even worse.

Why can’t I just be normal? — you ask.

I was a bit asocial growing up. I kept quiet, mostly, read books, played video games, and never went out of my way to make friends.

It was something I eventually grew out of, but I think I forced it—I forced myself to be social. Eventually, it became natural. I gained the ability to become extroverted on demand.

Here are a few tips to Help Mend your asocial behaviors:

• Get a job where you are forced to interact with the public in a personal way (such as a barber or beautician). It may not be your dream job, but it will expose you to situations that will train you to be social.
• Go shopping with friends. Have a drink at the bar.
• Donate your time to a charitable group.
• Start a podcast or YouTube channel and show your face to the world.
• Share the wholesome parts of your life on social media.

If you are asocial by nature, unless you become proactive and take action to enrich your life and control your behaviors, it will be very difficult to change.

To this day, ever so often, I’ll still catch myself preferring a quiet corner during social situations.

This is simply human nature.

Having anxiety and asocial tendencies is hard to balance, and often tricky to distinguish between.

There are many things that could cause you to be one or the other. It’s hard to put all those things into one equation and say, “Yes! This is what’s causing my anxiety. This is why I don’t like being around people!”

What’s the takeaway?

Being asocial isn’t easy. Neither is having anxiety. And together, the situation is even worse. But if you can find a balance and identify which is which during any given moment, then it may help you overcome your struggle.

8. Low Sex Drive Due To Anxiety

Living with anxiety is something that affects you not only at work, on your way to the grocery store, and while eating your morning Cheerios, but in bed.

Not being in the mood can be a symptom of generalized anxiety disorder. It can be a sign of lowered libido. Having anxiety can make you feel unsure about the world, and can heighten your senses and lower your self-esteem (8).

This makes it hard to get close to people, have intimate moments and sexual fantasies, and can even decrease your want to have sex. The last thing you want to do is put negative tension on your relationship.

If your anxiety is affecting you in this way, it might help to seek therapy or marriage counseling.

Communicate with your partner. Be open about the issues you are having.

Remind your partner how much you care about them, and that you do find them desirable. It’s just your anxiety is negatively impacting you.

You need to show your partner that you are aware this problems exists, and that you are trying to fix it.

What’s the takeaway?

It’s been proven that having chronic anxiety can negatively affect your sexual desires. Medications exist to help treat anxiety disorders, and discussing those options with a professional might be worthwhile.

However, like any medication which has side effects, some that treat anxiety and depression have been known to cause decreased sexual desire (9).

Ultimately, you need to develop a treatment plan that works for you. And you don’t have to do it alone.

9. Panic and Fearing For Your health

Are you nervous because you saw an advertisement on TV, you have some of the symptoms, and now you’re questioning your health?

You believe you have finally figured out why you are tired everyday, or why you get frequent headaches, or why your underarm lymph nodes keep swelling twice per year?

Having symptoms of any kind can be alarming, especially for people with medical conditions.

If you are having symptoms that are concerning, you should consult with your doctor.

But what happens when you visit your doctor, and she says (for the fifth time), “I believe these are symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks. We’ve gone over this before.”

However, you won’t take no for an answer. As if having anxiety isn’t a valid answer.

That used to be me. I wouldn’t say I’m cured from worrying, but I certainly don’t obsess anymore. I’m happy with my health, and generally, in life.

Here are a few tips to stop obsessing over your health:

• There’s some comfort in accepting that all human lives will expire. No one will be left behind.
• Eat immune-boosting foods often.
• Treat your anxiety. Obsessing over the what-ifs is a symptom of an underlying anxiety disorder (10). Have a primary care physician and get routine blood work.
• Set smart goals and aim for a brighter future.
• Exercise regularly
• Eat powerful foods that boost your mood, like white tea.

What’s the takeaway?

Ultimately, if you find yourself frequently fearing for your health, it could be a sign that you have some anxiety. Every little thing shouldn’t be scaring you.

Consulting with your physician to overcome your anxiety is a powerful way to help relieve the obsession over your health.

10. General unhappiness

Have you been feeling bored lately, in life? Maybe there isn’t really anything exciting going on at home.

One day, you get to your job and the boss pulls you into his office and gives you a promotion and raise. You didn’t even have to negotiate the salary!

“Finally! This is exactly what I needed.”

This calls for a celebration, and so you go home and do just that. You wake up the next morning, upside down, and the cat is sleeping on your head. Really, Garfield? Bad kitty.

A few days go by, and you’re back to your old routine. But you soon realize the grass isn’t greener.

Your promotion didn’t rid of the deep feelings of boredom and unfulfillment like you thought it would.

The elation was only temporary. It wasn’t real. You’re back to SQUARE ONE.

At this point, your mind is even worse than before the promotion. At least back then, you had a raise to look forward to, or some room for future advancement. Now, you can’t even see yourself getting promoted any higher than you are.

Your next phase in life is out of reach. You are trapped.

This is how it may seem, at least. Because you aren’t actually trapped at your job, physically. Unless?

A lot of the time, this trapped feeling is a result of not setting strong goals, hobbies, and pursuing your passions.

Sure, your work promotion was great. But what about the rest of the things happening in your life?

What’s going on at home? Are you doing what you truly want in life? Have you found purpose and meaning in the things you do daily?

Unless you define your sole identity based off your career, then there must be other things that need to be driving your happiness. Otherwise, you may find yourself confused, lost, and developing chronic anxiety.

In other words, if you wake up everyday thinking about all the things you want in life, and you aren’t excited to go to work, then why would the work promotion be fulfilling?

Why should the promotion fill that dark, gaping hole in your chest?

Especially if you don’t want to be at work in the first place? You are spending precious time climbing a ladder to the wrong building, not pursuing the things you actually desire.

You are trying to make it work.

Sometimes the things that make us thrive the most are made and written into our DNA, our personality, and are beyond our control.

It might help to spend some time self-reflecting on what you really want in life.

Make a plan on how you will get there. You are simply in a temporary phase, and this too shall pass.

If you work hard enough, you will eventually reach that bright place in your mind, and your anxieties will have no where to go, but to be forgotten amidst the shadows of your past.

Conclusion

Actively seeking new ways to improve your health: mentally, physically, and spiritually is one of best ways to help relieve anxiety and prevent panic attacks.

Share below in the comments some ways you have overcome your anxieties. Maybe it can help someone else who suffers from anxiety.

That is all, my friends. Take care, and take it easy.

Here’s a quick recap of the top 10 symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks:

1. Sudden, random increase of heart rate.
2. Chronic, constant worrying.
3. Angry without reason.
4. Always tense and restless.
5. Tired and fatigued from anxiety.
6. Insomnia and frequently waking in the middle of the night.
7. Avoiding social interactions.
8. Low sex drive.
9. Frequently fearing for your health.
10. Generally being unhappy.

That’s all folks! Thanks for reading.

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