Breathing difficulties or shortness of breath can be scary. Shortness of breath, also called dyspnoea, is a common symptom of anxiety. In many cases of our bodily system, our mental health often affects our physical health. The link between anxiety and of shortness of breath and is a perfect example for this.
Anxiety brings about changes in the heart rate of the individual. The brain reacts to fearful situations with a fight or flight response. This prepares the body muscles to prepare for an action. Eventually, the heart struggles to pump more blood to the organs. It enhances the heart rate. This is basically responsible for the occurrence of the breathing complications.
Symptoms of Anxiety and Shortness of Breath
Anxiety is a natural response of the body to a fearful situation. The fight or flight response prepares the body in both physical and mental ways. It stimulates the body to either fight back or run away from threatening situations. One of the main responses of anxiety is this shortness of breath. It feels like tightness in the chest. It causes suffocation and struggling for air.
The following symptoms occur as a result of anxiety:
- A faster rate of breathing called hyperventilation.
- Feeling of tightness in the chest
- A feeling of breathlessness, associated with suffocation
- Feeling some kind of obstacles or lumps in the throat
- Tension and discomfort in the muscles
- A faster heartbeat causing heart palpitations
- Fainting due to feeling of dizziness and unsteadiness
- Discomfort in the stomach causing nausea and vomiting tendency
- A constant restlessness and irritability
- Feeling of abdominal distress
- Sweating and trembling gestures
- Panicking
How is shortness of breath caused by anxiety?
Anxiety is the reaction to fearful situations by our body. It does not yield any kind of life risk. But anxiety brings about the mental state of life risks. Anxiety makes people run for life. It gives rise to shortness of breath with different other medical symptoms. Anxiety generates a bodily response through the fight or flight mechanism.
This mechanism prepares our body to escape the fearful situation. This makes the body generate more energy for our muscles for action. As a result, the body supplies more oxygen to the organs. This causes fast breathing in the individual. The increase in the heart rate gives rise to the shortness of breath.
These symptoms are actually normal body reactions in response to anxiety. The body basically designs these mechanisms. This is to get the victim out of the anxious phase. In this way, the anxiety-provoking events cause shortness of breath.
Healthcare Techniques to Get Rid of Shortness of Breath during Anxiety
The shortness of breath from anxiety attacks is a counterintuitive experience for people. This mechanism tends the body to focus on breathing to get out of the actual issue. It enables the individual to keep oneself under control in such anxious phenomenon. It also ensures the supply of adequate oxygen levels to the lungs of the individual.
The shortness of breath actually experiences breather either through the mouth or the chest. In such cases, medical experts recommend breathing through the diaphragm. This is probably because the diaphragm is the most efficient breathing muscle in our body. The technique of diaphragmatic breathing can be helpful in this case.
Breathing through the diaphragm slows down our breathing rate. It decreases the demand of our body for oxygen. It also uses less effort and energy to breathe. Besides clenching muscles is another technique for relieving anxiety. This sensation drags the focus from anxiety. You can also talk with yourself to distract your mind from anxiety. Mindful distractions like sudden shocks can also help people get out of anxiety.
Preventive Measures against Shortness of Breath during Anxiety
A common phrase says ‘Prevention is better than cure’. You need to deal with the anxiety symptoms before getting into it. You need to practice techniques beforehand on how to get over it.
Maintaining a thought log is one of the best preventive techniques to overcome anxiety. This means you can note down the series of thoughts giving rise to your anxiety. Based on this, you can explore factors triggering your anxiety in a calmer state. The thought log will also help your doctor to understand the reasons for your anxiety in detail. For example, you can record the date, the immediate thought during anxiety, or your present reaction in that context.
Moreover, mobile applications are available these days to track anxiety levels. Meditation is another way to get control over your anxiety.
Treatments for Shortness of Breath
Psychiatrists mostly recommended psychotherapies like cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for anxiety. The following medications may also prove beneficial:
- Antidepressants regulate the levels of neurotransmitters in our body. They serve as long-term solutions for cases of depression and anxiety.
- Benzodiazepines act as sedatives to calm down anxiety for a short-term basis. However, they may have side effects such as dizziness.
- You can also use medications for high blood pressure such as beta blockers for treating certain symptoms of anxiety.
Other Factors Causing Shortness of Breath
Shortness of breath, suffocation, chest tightness, and other symptoms of anxiety may be the signs of other health conditions. So it is better to get a physical check-up to monitor your actual health issue. For example, people often mistake anxiety or panic attacks to be heart attack. This fear further increases the panic in such situations.
Shortness of breath may also occur due to the following reasons:
- Doing exercise for long hours
- Changes in the altitude. For example, travelling to a mountainous region
- Putting on tight clothes
- A sedentary lifestyle
Diseased health conditions can also cause shortness of breath:
- COPD or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Heart attack or heart failure
- Low blood pressure
- Pneumonia
However, an instant health screening can further relieve the person. This can also alleviate the anxious state in the person. Consulting a local private GP in London is the basic solution to treat anxiety and shortness of breath.