Do you suffer from constant tingling in your hands, feet or head? Maybe you are suffering from paresthesia due to anxiety. Discover the reason for this anxiety symptom and what to do to combat it.
He tingling in hands and feet It can be due to either a result of our anxiety or the panic that we may feel in a specific situation. Although tingling or paresthesias are not harmful to our health, the reality is that suffering from it can indicate an anxiety problem that must be treated. But, when is the tickling in the hands or body due to anxiety?
People who suffer from an anxiety disorder may experience different emotional, psychological and physical symptoms. Among them, the tingling in the legs and hands It is one of the most common. This condition, better known as anxiety paresthesia, usually occurs due to the flight or fight response that our body emits when experiencing emotional stress.
In the vast majority of cases, this numbness translates into feeling a tingling sensation in the hands or legs. Likewise, anxiety paresthesia They can occur in any part of our body, in fact, they appear in many cases of itching on the soles of the feet or the feeling that the mobile phone vibrates in our pocket when we do not carry it with us.
Why do anxiety paresthesias occur?
There are many factors that cause people to experience anxiety when they feel anxious. tingling in hands and feet Among the most common, we find the following.
Anxiety and stress: When a person is stressed and anxious, they activate a response to this feeling of stress. Our body reacts to stress by activating a series of mechanisms that allow our body to acquire specific physiological, psychological and emotional changes that improve our abilities to cope with the threats we face. Part of these changes includes diverting blood to parts of the body that are vital to our survival. This action may cause a tingling sensation in the arms and legs
Hyperstimulation in response to stress: When our stress responses occur very infrequently, the body is able to recover more quickly from the physiological, psychological, and emotional changes caused by our stress responses. On the other hand, when stress responses occur too frequently, such as when experiencing anxiety, our body has a harder time recovering. This effect is called hyperstimulation of the stress response and causes our nervous system to cause us to have paresthesia as well as tingling in the head, hands, arms and other parts of the body in an erratic manner.
Hyperventilation or hypoventilation: Hyperventilation may be associated with tingling sensation in the head This is because when we breathe too shallowly and don’t take in enough oxygen, our blood carbon dioxide levels drop, which can cause a tingling sensation in our legs, hands, and other parts of our body. On the other hand, when suffering from anxiety, people can also breathe too effusively. This can change the levels of carbon dioxide in the blood and also cause paresthesias in the hands, legs, head, among others.
Muscle tension: Stress and anxiety cause our body to tense and contract. This tension can cause our muscles to produce paresthesia
Vitamin B deficiency: Stress causes our body to use more resources than in its more ‘normal’ state. This also affects the nutrients in our body, such as vitamins. Normally, stress responses can cause a reduction in vitamin B in our body, which may be one of the reasons for feeling this tingling in the hands and arms
Circulation problems: As stress increases in our body, we increase tension in our muscles. This tension ends up restricting the arteries, which causes our blood flow to be reduced. This effect can also produce paresthesias in the hands feet and head.
Reaction to medication: Anti-anxiety medications can also cause the tingling sensation both on the face, feet, hands and the rest of the body. This is a possible side effect and must be reported quickly to a doctor.
Like this numbness of the hands and other parts of the body is mainly caused by anxiety; to try to reduce it, this disorder must be treated. To do this, in addition to going to a mental health professional, the following is also recommended
Self-care strategies: One of the ways of relieve paresthesia due to anxiety It is precisely by establishing healthy lifestyle habits. Among them, try to exercise more and have a more balanced and healthy diet.
Perform breathing exercises: As we have seen tingling in hands and feet due to anxiety It is closely related to the way we breathe. In these cases, to try to combat paresthesia we can do deep breathing exercises.
Do something relaxing: The moment you feel the numbness of hands and legs Due to anxiety, you can try to distract yourself with an activity that is relaxing for you. If at that moment you cannot change activity, you can establish a break of fifteen minutes to free your body from that overwhelming sensation.
Listen to your thoughts: Normally, the paresthesias in hands and feet due to anxiety They occur because of our concerns. In these cases, it is important that you try to observe these thoughts, analyze them and question them.
In addition to all these tips, it is important to remember that paresthesias can also be due to other health problems. Tingling in the hands, feet or head can be a sign of diabetes, circulation problems, nutritional deficiencies, among others. Therefore, it is important to go to a doctor to check if they really are anxiety paresthesia
