Can Anxiety Cause Dizziness?

Anxiety is an emotion that is generally characterized by tension and worries which can lead to palpitation and increased blood pressure. Anxiety can be accompanied by varied symptoms such as breathlessness, panic, increased heart rate, muscle stiffness, tremors in the extremities, flush of blood in the cheeks, butterflies in the stomach and many more symptoms. People suffering from anxiety also complain of having symptoms of dizziness. What really needs to be understood here is can anxiety really cause dizziness or the symptoms of anxiety together contribute towards experiencing this symptom.

Dizziness is a very common symptom of anxiety. In fact, anxiety is often accompanied by dizziness wherein you will feel woozy and sometime you may need to sit down or lie down due to wooziness. However, apart from anxiety, there are many causes due to which you may feel dizziness such as hyperventilation, panic, vision, dehydration, etc. It is generally seen that when a person feels dizziness due to anxiety it generally does not remains for too long a period. If you take some rest or lie down than the dizziness goes away. However, if you observe that your dizziness remains for a longer period of time and do not go away even after taking rest, then it is advisable to contact a doctor.

Why Anxiety Causes Dizziness?

Intense anxiety may give you a feel of losing balance and due to this, it is always advisable to lie down whenever you feel dizziness. Several studies in this realm have revealed that there are neural pathways which can connect vestibular nuclei along with the limbic system of our body. Both stress and anxiety generally affect the vestibular function which results in dizziness. There are various factors due to which you feel dizziness due to anxiety:

Lack of Breath: During anxiety, you generally breathe in a much faster way than what you generally do in a normal condition. Since you inhale more air than what you can release, you can experience dizziness. This is known as hyperventilation where you inhale more amount of oxygen and release less carbon dioxide.
Panic and Anguish: At the time of anxiety, our heartbeat becomes faster and our blood pressure increases rapidly. During that moment it is natural that you feel a headache and weakness. After that when the blood pressure starts to decrease, you generally feel dizziness.
Muscles Tension: When people are afraid or become too excited, then the muscles generally get contracted making them to experience discomfort and tightness. This discomfort may give rise to dizziness.
Stress: Stress is a constant state of mental overloading. It is one of the main causes of anxiety. The overload of mental state can affect the nervous system due to which you may feel weak, get confused, feel the sense of despair, headache, and get a strange feeling of disconnection and discomfort. Prolonged stress might cause dizziness.

Conclusion

Anxiety, at a moderate level, is not a dangerous disease and do not cause any serious health effect but it becomes very unpleasant when you feel dizziness. Due to dizziness, a person may feel tired and discomfort. Sometimes, it may cause confusion and lack of balance while walking. Anxiety should be treated quickly to avoid discomfort and unpleasant feelings or worsening of the condition to anxiety panics. It is always advisable to perform regular exercise, yoga which can help you to remove anxiety. Doctors also advise to participate in outdoor games, physical activities, and team works to get rid of anxiety.

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Can Anxiety Cause Dizziness?