Why do i feel worried all the time

Feeling you have a companion and a guide in the process may ease your concern. To help ease your worries or unease, you can always bring along a companion when possible. Relationship problems, arguments, disagreements — these conflicts can all trigger or worsen anxiety.

If conflict particularly triggers you, you may need to learn conflict resolution strategies. Also, talk with a therapist or other mental health expert to learn how to manage the feelings these conflicts cause.

Daily stressors like traffic jams or missing your train can cause anyone anxiety. But long-term or chronic stress can lead to long-term anxiety and worsening symptoms, as well as other health problems.

Stress can also lead to behaviors like skipping meals, drinking alcohol , or not getting enough sleep. These factors can trigger or worsen anxiety, too.

Treating and preventing stress often requires learning coping mechanisms. A therapist or counselor can help you learn to recognize your sources of stress and handle them when they become overwhelming or problematic.

Public speaking , talking in front of your boss, performing in a competition, or even just reading aloud is a common trigger of anxiety. If your job or hobbies require this, your doctor or therapist can work with you to learn ways to be more comfortable in these settings.

Also, positive reinforcements from friends and colleagues can help you feel more comfortable and confident. These triggers may be difficult to identify, but a mental health specialist is trained to help you identify them. These may begin with a smell, a place, or even a song. Personal triggers remind you, either consciously or unconsciously, of a bad memory or traumatic event in your life.

Individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD frequently experience anxiety triggers from environmental triggers. If you can identify and understand your triggers, you can work to avoid them and to cope. You can learn specific coping strategies to handle the triggers when they happen. The most common symptoms of anxiety include:. If you experience these symptoms regularly for six months or more, you may have generalized anxiety disorder GAD.

Other types of anxiety disorders exist as well. The symptoms for those may be different than GAD. Find out more about diagnosing GAD. The exact cause of GAD is not fully understood, although it's likely that a combination of several factors plays a role.

Slightly more women are affected than men, and the condition is more common in people from the ages of 35 to GAD can have a significant effect on your daily life, but several different treatments are available that can ease your symptoms.

With treatment, many people are able to control their anxiety levels. But some treatments may need to be continued for a long time and there may be periods when your symptoms worsen. Anxiety is a feeling of unease, worry or fear. Everyone feels anxious at some point in their life, but for some people it can be an ongoing problem. A little bit of anxiety can be helpful; for example, feeling anxious before an exam might make you more alert and improve your performance.

But too much anxiety could make you tired and unable to concentrate. These cause the physical symptoms of anxiety, such as an increased heart rate and increased sweating. Anxiety can also be a symptom of another condition, such as panic disorder when you have panic attacks or post-traumatic stress disorder , which is caused by frightening or distressing events.

Try to notice the sensation of your feet hitting the ground, for example, or the rhythm of your breathing, or the feeling of the wind on your skin. The core symptom of GAD is chronic worrying. But, in fact, worrying is self-generated. The trigger comes from the outside, but your internal running dialogue keeps it going.

You run over the feared situation in your mind and think about all the ways you might deal with it. But more often than not, worrying is unproductive—sapping your mental and emotional energy without resulting in any concrete problem-solving strategies or actions. This may involve challenging irrational worrisome thoughts, learning how to stop worrying , and learning to accept uncertainty in your life.

Anxiety is more than just a feeling. Your heart pounds, you breathe faster, your muscles tense up, and you feel light-headed. Your heart rate slows down, you breathe slower and more deeply, your muscles relax, and your blood pressure stabilizes. Deep breathing. This hyperventilation causes symptoms such as dizziness, breathlessness, lightheadedness, and tingly hands and feet. These physical symptoms are frightening, leading to further anxiety and panic.

But by breathing deeply from the diaphragm, you can reverse these symptoms and calm yourself down. The technique involves systematically tensing and then releasing different muscle groups in your body. As your body relaxes, your mind will follow. Research shows that mindfulness meditation can actually change your brain. With regular practice, meditation boosts activity on the left side of the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for feelings of serenity and joy.

A healthy, balanced lifestyle plays a big role in keeping the symptoms of GAD at bay. In addition to regular exercise and relaxation, try adopting these other lifestyle habits to tackle chronic anxiety and worry:. Get enough sleep. Anxiety and worry can cause insomnia , as anyone whose racing thoughts have kept them up at night can attest.

But lack of sleep can also contribute to anxiety. Improve your sleep at night by changing any daytime habits or bedtime routines that can contribute to sleeplessness. Limit caffeine. Stop drinking or at least cut back on caffeinated beverages, including soda, coffee, and tea.

Caffeine is a stimulant that can trigger all kinds of jittery physiological effects that look and feel a lot like anxiety—from pounding heart and trembling hands to agitation and restlessness. Caffeine can also make GAD symptoms worse, cause insomnia, and even trigger panic attacks. Avoid alcohol and nicotine. Having a few drinks may temporarily help you feel less anxious, but alcohol actually makes anxiety symptoms worse as it wears off. While it may seem like cigarettes are calming, nicotine is actually a powerful stimulant that leads to higher, not lower, levels of anxiety.

Eat right. Going too long without eating leads to low blood sugar—which can make you feel anxious and irritable—so start the day right with breakfast and continue with regular meals. Eat plenty of fruits, and vegetables, which stabilize blood sugar and boost serotonin, a neurotransmitter with calming effects. Reduce the amount of refined carbs and sugar you eat, too. Sugary snacks and desserts cause blood sugar to spike and then crash, leaving you feeling emotionally and physically drained.

CBT examines distortions in our ways of looking at the world and ourselves. Your therapist will help you identify automatic negative thoughts that contribute to your anxiety. CBT involves learning about generalized anxiety disorder. It also teaches you how to distinguish between helpful and unhelpful worry. An increased understanding of your anxiety encourages a more accepting and proactive response to it. You learn to monitor your anxiety, including what triggers it, the specific things you worry about, and the severity and length of a particular episode.

This helps you get perspective, as well as track your progress.