Anxiety is a mental disorder that can show up in many different ways. The most common type of anxiety is Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Millions of people all over the world suffer from GAD. It occurs when your body continues to experience stress even after the source of the stress has passed.
In addition, anxiety can also be described as a feeling of worry, fear, and unease, typically about something that might happen in the future. It can be overwhelming and affect everyone differently. Some people may experience physical symptoms such as nausea, shortness of breath, chest pain, or heart palpitations.
The exact cause of anxiety and anxiety disorders is difficult to pinpoint. However, environmental factors, genetics, specific emotions, events, and experiences can induce anxiety. These elements are called anxiety triggers. Anxiety triggers differ from person to person. There are also cases where anxiety attacks trigger for no apparent reason.
To overcome your anxiety, you must first identify what causes it and figure out ways to cope.
Medications
Specific prescriptions and over-the-counter medications can trigger your anxiety. This is because some active ingredients can make you feel unwell or uneasy. That feeling can be the start of an anxiety attack, wherein additional anxiety symptoms can appear.
Some medications that have these effects include birth control pills, weight loss medicines, and cough and congestion prescriptions.
If a medicine triggers or worsens your anxiety, talk to your doctor as soon as possible. Be honest about how they affect your body and look for alternative medicine that doesn’t trigger your anxiety. Moreover, doctors can prescribe you medicines specifically for anxiety. Consult them if you need one or want information about zoloft vs wellbutrin.
Caffeine
Many people regularly drink coffee in the morning or anytime they wake up. However, excessive amounts of caffeine can trigger or even worsen your anxiety. That is because caffeine can increase the levels of epinephrine in our bodies. Epinephrine is a hormone that plays a significant part in our flight-or-fight response.
That is why drinking a lot of coffee or any other caffeinated beverage can make people feel anxious and on edge. Furthermore, a study in 2010 concluded that people with social anxiety disorder and panic disorder are more susceptible to the anxiety-inducing effects because of caffeine.
Lessening your caffeine intake can help improve the feeling of anxiety. You can also try substituting your caffeinated drinks into non-caffeinated options.
Stress
Most if not all people experience being stressed at some point in their life. It can be brought about by the death of a family member, receiving a severe illness diagnosis, becoming a parent, divorce, job loss, and many more significant life events. A seemingly insignificant and harmless event such as missing your bus or traffic jams can also cause anxiety.
Unfortunately, stress is one of the most common anxiety triggers. What makes it worse is that stress is challenging to manage, which results in equally difficult anxiety to control. Stress can make people sleep less, skip meals, and drink alcohol. These effects can also trigger or worsen your anxiety.
Each person has a different way of treating or handling stress. However, a therapist or counselor is often needed to identify your primary sources of stress. They can also teach you how to handle or cope with stress when it becomes overwhelming and problematic.
Conflict
A conflict, problem, and disagreement can arise at any point of your day. It can be an argument with your spouse, parent, child, friend, coworker, random internet person, and many more. Unfortunately, conflict is also one of the most common anxiety triggers. However, all is not lost because you can address conflict as an anxiety trigger.
You can start by learning various conflict resolution strategies. Moreover, you can always talk about handling a situation involving a disagreement. Counselors, therapists, and any other mental health expert can help you what to do.
Financial Concerns
Worrying about your financial situation can trigger and worsen anxiety. This includes overthinking paying rent, saving money, paying debt, unstable income, and having unexpected bills.
According to a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association last 2017, around 72% of the people in the United States reports that they’re stressed about money from the past month.
When you can’t manage your money on your own, try hiring a financial adviser to aid you. You can also talk to a supportive family member and a trusted friend.
The Bottom Line
Anxiety is a natural response that prepares your body for danger or stress. These triggers typically occur because your brain perceives a situation as dangerous or stressful and goes into “survival mode.”
Furthermore, dealing with anxiety is a tricky thing. As stated above, it can come from a lot of different things. Whether it’s interpersonal relationships, work stressors, or the general chaos of everyday life, many different things can cause you anxiety. However, identifying your triggers is the first step to coping with them.
