What is it?
Anxiety is an emotion you feel when you’re worried about something. We all experience it. Your body tenses up, and your mind becomes fixated on the thing you’re worried about. Anxiety can affect a number of things: appetite, sleep, home life and work performance.
A little anxiety can be useful. For example, if you’re anxious about an upcoming exam, it might motivate you to study. But if you’re so anxious that you can’t concentrate on studying, the anxiety is no longer useful.
When anxiety starts to interfere with your daily life, you might have an
anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health concern in the United States. Over 40 million adults in the U.S. (19.1%) have an anxiety disorder and approximately 7% of children aged 3-17 experience issues with anxiety each year.
Symptoms
Everyone’s experience with anxiety is different, but some of the common symptoms of anxiety disorders include:
• Feeling restless and irritable
• Difficulty concentrating
• Muscle pain, tightness, or soreness
• Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep
• Feeling exhausted even after a full night’s sleep
• Going out of your way to avoid situations that make you anxious
• Intrusive thoughts (unwanted thoughts or worries that won’t go away)
Additional Information
To learn more about the types of anxiety, treatments and how to support someone:
NAMI.org
Mental Health America.org
