Anxiety 101
Anxiety is a natural survival response to perceived danger, but when it becomes chronic, it can lead to uncomfortable symptoms and disrupt daily life. This guide explains what anxiety is, what causes it, how it affects the body and mind, and how to overcome it effectively.
Quick Summary
- Anxiety is a future-focused fear response triggered by perceived threats.
- It becomes a disorder when it interferes with daily living.
- Symptoms include racing heart, tense muscles, insomnia, trembling, dizziness, and intrusive thoughts, to name a few.
- Anxiety is caused by apprehensive behavior (how we think and act).
- The body reacts with a stress response (fight or flight).
- Chronic anxiety can lead to hyperstimulation, where the body stays stressed.
- Anxiety symptoms aren’t dangerous—they're signs of an overworked stress system.
- With the right tools and support, anxiety disorder can be outgrown.
Anxiety Tests
Table of contents
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a state of mental, emotional, and physical uneasiness in response to anticipating a future threat, real or imagined. It’s part of our built-in survival system that prepares the body to escape danger.
Key Point: Where fear is a response to a current threat, anxiety is a response to something that might happen.
For example, if you're standing in the street and see a speeding car heading your way, the thought of being hit creates anxiety. That anxiety is what motivates you to jump out of harm’s way.
In this way, anxiety helps us survive. It’s not bad or dangerous—it’s protective.
But when anxiety becomes chronic, it can lead to distressing symptoms and impair daily functioning. That’s when it becomes a problem.
What causes anxiety?
Anxiety is caused by behavior—specifically, apprehensive behavior.
Behavior includes how we think, interpret, and respond to life situations.
When we think something bad might happen—and we dwell on that possibility—we’re behaving apprehensively. That kind of thinking can activate the body’s stress response and create the experience of anxiety.
For example, worry is a type of apprehensive behavior:
Worry: Allowing one’s mind to dwell on difficult, troubling, or potentially harmful thoughts.
This mental behavior alone can trigger anxiety, even if nothing bad is actually happening.
Thought ➜ Perception ➜ Decision ➜ Response = Anxiety
What happens when we’re anxious?
When we behave apprehensively, the body activates its stress response (also called the fight, flight, or freeze response). This survival mechanism releases stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol.
These hormones:
- Increase heart rate
- Sharpen focus
- Tighten muscles
- Speed up breathing
- Heighten senses
To name a few.
All these changes are meant to prepare you to face danger. The stronger the perceived threat, the stronger the stress response.
The stress response is not harmful—it’s helpful. But too much of it, too often, wears the body down.
For more detailed information about the stress response and the many changes it can bring about, visit our “Stress Response” section.
What are anxiety symptoms?
There are two main types of anxiety symptoms:
1. Symptoms of an Active Stress Response
These occur when the stress response is triggered in the moment:
- Racing heart
- Shortness of breath
- Sweating
- Trembling
- Muscle tension
- Dizziness
- Feeling overwhelmed or on edge
These symptoms subside when the stress response ends and the body returns to baseline.
2. Symptoms of Hyperstimulation
When we behave anxiously too often, the body doesn’t get enough time to recover. This leads to hyperstimulation—a state where the body stays in a partial stress response mode.
Common hyperstimulation symptoms include:
- Fatigue
- Insomnia
- Digestive issues
- Brain fog
- Skin problems
- Nervous energy
- Intrusive thoughts
Anxiety symptoms are symptoms of stress caused by anxious behavior.
Visit our Anxiety Symptoms section for a listing of all anxiety symptoms with links to each for more information.
Are anxiety symptoms dangerous?
No. Anxiety symptoms are not dangerous, even when they feel intense or strange.
They are the body’s normal reaction to stress hormones, not signs of a medical emergency.
That includes:
- Anxiety attack symptoms
- Panic symptoms
- Long-lasting hyperstimulation effects
Even though they can feel scary, they are completely reversible with proper understanding and stress reduction.
Go to the corresponding section for more detailed information about the “Stress Response” or “Hyperstimulation”.
What is an anxiety attack?
An anxiety attack is a high-degree episode of anxiety marked by an intense stress response. Symptoms might include:
- Sudden sense of fear
- Pounding heart
- Shaking
- Trouble breathing
- Feeling out of control
Anxiety attacks build gradually and last longer than panic attacks, which come on suddenly and are shorter in duration.
Key Difference: Panic attacks are a clinical term (DSM-5). Anxiety attacks are not, but both are treatable.
Visit our Anxiety and Panic Attack Symptoms article for more detailed information about them.
What is anxiety disorder?
Everyone experiences anxiety. That’s normal.
But anxiety becomes a disorder when it:
- Interferes with work or school
- Disrupts sleep, relationships, or health
- Becomes frequent, intense, or hard to control
Anxiety disorder isn’t a disease—it’s a pattern of chronic, unhelpful behavior that creates lifestyle impairment.
It’s important to know: Anxiety disorder is highly treatable. Many people fully outgrow it by learning healthier coping skills and reducing stress.
What causes anxiety disorder?
At its core, anxiety disorder is caused by ongoing apprehensive behavior—the tendency to worry, overthink, avoid, or catastrophize.
This behavior overstimulates the body and leads to chronic symptoms, which can then become their own source of fear.
Examples of lifestyle interference:
- Avoiding social events due to fear of judgment
- Refusing to drive because of panic attacks
- Obsessively researching symptoms, fearing a medical condition
Anxiety disorder isn’t a flaw or weakness. It’s a learned way of coping. Anxious behavior can be replaced with healthy coping mechanisms with the right support.
Conclusion: Anxiety Is Understandable—and Treatable
Anxiety isn’t random, dangerous, or permanent. It’s a sign that your body is reacting to how you think and interpret life’s challenges. The good news? You can change how you think and cope—starting today.
You don’t need to fear anxiety anymore. You need a path forward.
Ready to Heal?
If you’re tired of feeling anxious and want expert help from someone who truly understands, visit our Recommended Therapists page.
Or explore Anxiety Recovery 101 to learn the next steps toward full recovery.
Common Anxiety Symptoms
Additional Resources
- For a comprehensive list of Anxiety Disorders Symptoms Signs, Types, Causes, Diagnosis, and Treatment.
- Anxiety and panic attacks symptoms can be powerful experiences. Find out what they are and how to stop them.
- How to stop an anxiety attack and panic.
- Free online anxiety tests to screen for anxiety. Two minute tests with instant results. Such as:
- Anxiety 101 is a summarized description of anxiety, anxiety disorder, and how to overcome it.
Return to our Anxiety Articles page.
anxietycentre.com: Information, support, and therapy for anxiety disorder and its symptoms, including Anxiety 101.
References
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Teixeira, Renata Roland, et al. “Chronic Stress Induces a Hyporeactivity of the Autonomic Nervous System in Response to Acute Mental Stressor and Impairs Cognitive Performance in Business Executives.” Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2015.
Yaribeygi, Habib, et al. “The Impact of Stress on Body Function: A Review.” EXCLI Journal, Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, 2017.