– why do we get that heavy feeling in our chest when we’re anxious?
In: 1090
[removed]
Anxious, stressed out -> sympathic nerve activity ⬆️ adrenaline ⬆️ -> blood vessel constricts, heart rate and heart stroke ⬆️ -> bloodflow to digestive organs ⬇️ -> even more blood is ready to be pumped -> the extra blood flow doesn’t really go anywhere since you’re not using your muscles -> heart works really hard, extra blood in your lungs too -> feeling of fullness in your chest
There are basically two components to an emotion. After your sensory system is presented with an ’emotionally competent stimulus’ (ECS), like, say, your foot gets stuck in a railway track when a train is coming, the first part of emotion is a series of automatic reactions from your brain’s motor system, which we call ‘neurohumoral’ responses. At this point, you haven’t felt anything yet. Feeling, which is the 2nd component of emotion, is when the sensory part of your brain senses all these hormones that have started flowing, muscles contracting, etc. That’s when you become consciously aware of things like a tight chest.
Ok, so why is your chest tight? First, the motor component of emotion increases the base level of tone in your muscles, like switching on your shields, so they are less susceptible to bleeding when injured, and ready to spring into action for things like fighting or running. This includes the intercostal muscles between your ribs, which makes it hard for you to relax and get a normal volume of air. Therefore, anxious people occasionally take a deep, sighing breath and will report their chest feels tight or constricted.
Our torso has something called a vagus nerve in it, and not really any other nerves (it’s a big complicated junk of chunks, who wants to waste energy knowing exactly where your liver is?) So when something is wrong and your body can’t identify the problem, it blames the torso and the nerve starts sending signals to corroborate. That’s also why anxious kids complain of tummyaches and develop coughs.
Would doing physical exercise before having to, let’s say give a speech help with anxiety and being nervous?
? My anxiety manifests as a light kinda out of body thing. The shakes and light headed.
a simple definition of anxiety is your fight-or-flight system kicks in when there is no need for it to. Like Steve Martin said, your body thinks you are face to face with a lion except there’s no lion. So your heart beats faster and your body pumps adrenaline to prepare for getting the hell out of there or doing battle. But there’s no need for that so you just sit there breathing faster not knowing what to do.
For some lucky people, SSRIs like Lexapro will increase your fight or flight threshold and you will feel this reaction far less. Before I started taking Lexapro, if I thought of going to work the next day I’d feel the adrenaline in my belly. After I took it for a few months, I pretty much lost that reaction when thinking about anxiety inducing activities like socializing or sitting on a crowded bus.
I was talking about this earlier! But the vomit reaction to stress. Our bodies are hilarious.
What happens during stress to make your stomach hurt?
Latest Answers