How To Relieve Nausea Due To Anxiety? 6 Strategies That Will Help You Deal With Them
Why can we suffer from nausea due to anxiety? What can we do to deal with these symptoms? Find out how nausea is linked to this disorder and how to relieve it.
The Anxiety not only affects us emotionally In fact, this disorder can disrupt our ability to live a high-quality life. In fact, we tend to think of anxiety as a condition that causes psychological symptoms, but in reality, it also causes different physical symptoms. For example, it is very possible that people may feel butterflies in their stomach before facing an exam or a meeting. Or, they may feel a little dizzy at the prospect of taking a flight or riding in a crowded elevator. In cases where anxiety is very severe, our stomach can turn, causing nausea that is difficult to manage. But why does this symptom arise and how can we deal with it?
Some of the physical symptoms of anxiety They include sweating, rapid breathing, increased heart rate, and even nausea, among other digestive problems. In fact, these symptoms have a very strong link with the flight, fight or freeze response that our body triggers when faced with danger.
This reaction causes our body to activate the sympathetic nervous system, responsible for the response we have described. When facing a threat or stressor, the body releases hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline, triggering a series of reactions where resources are prioritized to give us the opportunity for immediate survival. This involves diverting blood from the digestive system to muscles that may react to these events, which causes us to end up experiencing physical symptoms such as sweating, a rapid heart rate, breathing difficulties, and increased blood pressure.
Another phenomenon that can explain the feeling of nausea due to anxiety It is the connection that our intestine has with the brain. This is why specialists can often name the intestine as ‘the second brain’. This is because both the brain and the gut are interrelated and each can influence the other.
Additionally, our intestinal walls have neurons (nerve cells) that make up our gastrointestinal nervous system. This system is connected to our central nervous system, which consists of our brain and spinal cord. These connections are a two-way network, meaning each can affect the other. In one direction, the brain can trigger gut responses to thoughts and emotions. In the other, the intestine can trigger an emotional and cognitive response due to the connection it has with the brain.
How can we relieve nausea caused by anxiety?
If the anxiety is causing you to suffer from nausea there are some tips that you can take into account to deal with these symptoms:
Sip an ice-cold drink: This will help you reduce the impact of nausea caused by anxiety, as well as the physical symptoms that this disorder can cause. Additionally, it is important that you try to avoid caffeinated drinks at all costs.
Do exercise: For example, running can be a very powerful tool to combat your anxiety. This involves focusing on tiring your muscles, reducing the amount of tension they put on your stomach. In addition, exercise also releases endorphins, that is, the ‘well-being’ hormones that improve our mood.
Deep breaths: Deep breathing is one of the techniques that can help you reduce stress. This involves taking slow, controlled breaths to cope with the racing response of the heart and mind. Other coping mechanisms include progressive muscle relaxation and visualization, two strategies that will help you relax the response our body may have to a stressful situation.
Have a light and healthy diet: Diet can be one of the factors that ends up affecting your anxiety and, therefore, creating a reaction such as nausea. For example, heavy and unhealthy foods tend to cause these types of reactions in our body.
Mindfulness techniques: Another way to reduce stress and that can help people who suffer from nausea due to anxiety They are mindfulness exercises. This involves performing a meditation that will help us be more present, that is, to put our attention on the here and now.
Focus on your self-care: Taking time for self-care, as well as taking care of our body’s basic needs, can help us reduce feelings of anxiety.
Even though the nausea due to anxiety They are not dangerous, the reality is that this symptom is telling us that we are facing a disorder that affects us more than we thought. For this reason, if you experience them, it is recommended that you go to a professional psychologist to analyze why it happens to you and how to deal with this anxiety. In fact, anxiety is a condition that can cause many very severe physical and psychological symptoms. One of them is precisely nausea, since it can be difficult to cope with and even worsen anxiety. Therefore, it is crucial that if we suffer from this symptom, we work to address this disorder.
