Anxiety

Anxiety is a feeling of unease or worry about the future. It’s normal to feel anxious when you face something difficult or dangerous. It's also normal to become anxious when faced with a stressful situation such as a job interview.

Learning disability and conditions

Mild anxiety can often be positive and useful, by helping you to stay alert and perform well when you do important tasks. However, if your anxiety lasts a long time and is severe, it can interfere with your everyday life.

How does anxiety feel?

When you are anxious, you may feel worried or stressed about the future. You may also:

• have difficulty sleeping (insomnia)
• feel tired
• feel irritable
• have trouble concentrating

There are a lot of different ways that people can experience anxiety.

The feelings can also either be about something in particular or about life much more generally. Some people who experience anxiety also have depression.

There can also be physical changes to your body when you become anxious.

This happens when your body releases adrenaline. Adrenaline is a hormone that historically has helped us to ‘fight or flight’ – to either fend off danger or run away from it. In the modern world, adrenaline is more likely to be produced in situations where, although you feel anxious, you are not actually in physical danger.

The physical symptoms of anxiety can include:

• A racing heartbeat (palpitations)
• Tension in your muscles, which may be painful
• Stomach cramps
• Feeling sick
• Diarrhoea
• Shortness of breath or breathing quickly
• Dizziness or feeling faint
• Needing to go to the toilet more often than usual
• Trembling or shaking
• Sweating
• A headache
• Numb or tingling fingers, toes or lips