Dizziness due to anxiety: how it appears and how to combat it.

Several tips to recognize its symptoms and alleviate them in a simple way.

Anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental disorders or alterations worldwide. In fact, it is so frequent that probably most of us will have noticed or will notice anxiety at some time before some event or before the stress of the day to day, not being also not strange to have lived some anxiety crisis.

It is not uncommon that when we are anxious we notice intestinal discomfort, malaise, tachycardia or hyperventilation, being physical symptoms of our high level of anxiety. Another symptom that can occur is the appearance of dizziness. Although dizziness can appear for many reasons, sometimes it is caused by a high level of tension and anxiety. That is to say, dizziness due to anxiety, of which we are going to talk about throughout this article.

Dizziness and anxiety: two basic concepts

Before entering to analyze why we can become dizzy by anxiety and for such to contextualize the situation, we are going to remember briefly what dizziness implies and to what we give the name of anxiety.

What is dizziness?

We give the name of dizziness to that sudden sensation of lightheadedness, dizziness, dullness and narrowing of consciousness that can arise in diverse situations and that cures with a sensation of discomfort, muscular hypotonia, and appearance of blurred vision or tunnel effect. Sometimes the dizziness may end in fainting or loss of consciousness, and although they are usually sudden, sometimes we may notice a slight feeling of mental slowing, general discomfort and/or agitation beforehand.

There are many reasons why we can become dizzy, such as dehydration, hypoglycemia or some diseases of greater or lesser severity, but it is also possible to find with some frequency that the experience of continuous stress, extreme moods or anxiety can cause them.

Anxiety

With regard to the anxiety, we considered as such to a state of generalized and diffuse uneasiness that arises as reaction to the anticipation of some possible evil or danger that can happen in a future, although no directly dangerous stimulation exists at the moment of its appearance. It generates a mental and physiological state characterized by a high level of negative affect and high physiological activation.

Anxiety is characterized by cognitive, physiological and behavioral components.generating responses at each of these levels.

At the cognitive level it affects the way we see situations and the emotions they arouse in us. At the behavioral level it affects what we do or do not do to avoid anxiety with behavioral responses such as attempts to avoid or escape from feared situations. And finally, at the level of physiological activation, the organism reacts to anxiety in different ways, for example by generating the presence of cardiac and respiratory acceleration or with the symptom that is the origin of this article: dizziness.

The presence of anxiety can occur in the face of very diverse phenomena, being generally caused by the presence of traumatic or stressful situations over which we do not have control capacity or the existence of excessive environmental demands for the resources that we consider to have.. It is usually a consequence of some kind of stress that generates a high activation, to which there may be some kind of vulnerability at the biological level.

A very similar concept would be that of anxiety, although there is a small difference: anxiety usually refers more to the physical reaction while when we talk about anxiety we usually talk more about cognitive and emotional aspects.

How does anxiety dizziness appear?

As we have been commenting, one of the possible effects of anxiety at a physiological level is the appearance of dizziness. When this occurs we find that the experience of a negative emotion, usually a very high stress continued over time along with fear, generate an activation of the nervous system in such a way that affects the sympathetic nervous system.

An activation is produced that initially generates a high sensation of muscular tension in response to a possible attack or when we need to defend ourselves. In addition, breathing and heart rate are also elevated, which causes much more oxygen to enter much faster in order to generate energy. But if the stressor is not reduced and continues to be in force, eventually our reserves are depleted and the body is not able to maintain tension permanently, which can lead to loss of muscle tone, discomfort and dizziness.

Among other aspects, hyperventilation, in which our breathing is accelerated and superficial, makes that the levels of oxygen that reach us are not the optimal ones, something that favors dizziness.This can lead to dizziness and vertigo.

Also the level of muscular tension generates a great energetic expenditure that can cause the system to overload. Also, the presence of tachycardia and high Blood Pressure will cause dizziness when blood pressure drops because it cannot be sustained forever.

Dizziness due to anxiety, although annoying, is not dangerous for the subject's life. However, it is advisable to take into account and to rule out if they can be the product of some other type of affectation, especially if nothing has happened.especially if nothing has happened recently to generate a continuous nervousness on our part.

At neuronal level these dizzinesses are explained by the activation of they nuclei of the vestibular system (which works with information on the corporal posture and the balance and that is linked to the dizziness) and its connection with the limbic system (that works among others with emotional information, like the own one of the perception of the fear and the anxiety). It is specifically in the parabrachial nucleus where both systems converge, being this one of the main points that make us feel dizzy when we are nervous and anxious.

Different neurotransmitters, such as cortisol or histamine, are also involved in this alteration.

How can we avoid them?

The fact that the cause of this type of dizziness is the presence of anxiety makes that we can find quite logical the way to avoid them: reduce or learn to manage our level of stress and anxiety in such a way that it does not generate somatic symptoms such as dizziness.

Some of the most simple and basic methodologies, and at the same time useful, is the use of relaxation techniques. Among them, the following stand out the use of breathing techniques such as diaphragmatic breathing.The use of techniques that combine this with the tension and relaxation of muscle groups, such as Jacobson's progressive muscle relaxation.

Another important aspect is to work with the beliefs and thoughts that generate anxiety, if necessary modifying and proposing alternative interpretations of the events with cognitive restructuring techniques. Decatastrophizing or putting oneself in the worst possible scenario to assess the real threat of the worries can also be useful.

In addition, it can also be useful to work on a physiological level with techniques such as biofeedback, so that we learn to assess the state and better manage our basic physiological processes (namely breathing, cardiac activity or muscle activity).

Finally it is important to keep the body hydrated and well nourished.We also need to rest properly, so that our physical condition makes it difficult to suffer from dizziness.