What Does Anxiety Feel Like in the Body?
Have you ever felt your heart racing, your stomach fluttering, or your muscles tightening for no obvious reason?
Maybe it happened before an important meeting, during a crowded event, or even when you were sitting quietly at home. At first, it can feel confusing or alarming, and you might wonder if something is physically wrong. You’re not alone.
Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. adults (about 19.1%) experience an anxiety disorder in a given year. That means physical anxiety symptoms—like heart racing, stomach fluttering, muscle tension—aren’t rare or unusual; they’re common.
Anxiety is our body’s natural response to stress or perceived threat.
It’s designed to protect us, keeping us alert and ready for action. This is often called the fight-or-flight response. It helps us respond to both real and perceived danger — whether that’s crossing a busy street, preparing for an exam, or navigating a tense conversation.
Even when there isn’t an actual threat, the brain can’t always tell the difference, so the body reacts anyway. We still live in stressful and sometimes unsafe environments. This response continues to serve a purpose by helping us stay aware, focused, and ready to cope.
Here’s what’s happening:
A part of your brain called the amygdala detects danger and sends an alarm to your body, even when nothing is physically wrong. It releases chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol. These chemicals are designed to help you survive:
Adrenaline increases your heart rate, tightens your muscles, and sharpens your senses so you can react quickly to danger.
Cortisol helps your body stay alert, regulate energy, and focus on what’s happening around you.
Adrenaline keeps your heart racing and muscles tense, while cortisol can affect your immune system, digestion, sleep, and even memory.
Over months or years, chronic anxiety can contribute to headaches, high blood pressure, stomach problems, and trouble sleeping.
This is why learning to manage anxiety isn’t just about feeling better right now—it’s about protecting your body and brain for the long term.
When anxiety sticks around, your body stays in this survival mode.
That’s why anxiety can feel like you’re constantly bracing for something bad, even when nothing bad is happening. Understanding this can help you be gentle with yourself.
These sensations are your body trying to protect you; they’re not a sign that something is “wrong” with you.
The sensations you feel in your body are signals from your nervous system. These responses can affect many parts of the body.
You might notice:
“Butterflies” in your stomach
Increased heart rate
Shallow breathing
Headaches
Dizziness
Tightness in your neck, shoulders, or jaw
Your skin can feel sensitive or break out
Cold hands and feet
Disrupted sleep
All of this is your body reacting to stress. It can be alarming when your body seems to have a mind of its own, but recognizing these physical signs is the first step toward managing them.
You’re not broken, and you’re not imagining these symptoms.
Anxiety manifests in the body in ways that can be subtle or intense, and understanding this mind-body connection can help you respond with care rather than worry.
How to Cope When Anxiety Shows Up in Your Body
Now that we understand what anxiety looks like in the body, we can focus on ways to counteract it. While talking things through can help, some of the most effective coping tools work through the body first.
This is called bottom-up processing: calming your body so your brain can follow.
Diaphragmatic Breathing (aka Belly Breathing)
One of the simplest and most effective ways to calm anxiety in the body is diaphragmatic breathing, also called belly breathing. This type of breathing uses your diaphragm (the muscle under your lungs) instead of shallow chest breathing, which often happens when you’re anxious.
When you’re anxious, your breathing tends to become fast, shallow, and tight. This signals to your brain that something is wrong, keeping your body stuck in fight-or-flight mode.
Diaphragmatic breathing does the opposite. It sends a message to your nervous system that you are safe.
Here’s what happens in your body when you focus on breathing from your belly:
Your heart rate slows
Your muscles relax
Your blood pressure lowers
Stress hormones like cortisol decrease
Your nervous system shifts into “rest and digest” mode
By slowing and deepening your breath, you directly calm the vagus nerve, which plays a major role in regulating anxiety and emotional safety in the body.
Try It Out!
Place one hand on your chest and one on your stomach.
Inhale slowly through your nose, letting your stomach rise.
Exhale slowly through your mouth, letting your stomach fall.
Repeat for several breaths, aiming for slow, steady breathing.
You don’t need to feel instantly calm for it to be working. Even small shifts in your breath start telling your nervous system that the danger has passed. Over time, this helps your body learn that it doesn’t need to stay on high alert.
Once your breathing helps settle your nervous system, it becomes easier to engage in other body-based tools that keep your body feeling safe, like creativity. Just like breathing, creative activities work from the bottom up, helping regulate your nervous system through movement, focus, rhythm, and expression rather than thoughts alone.
Why Creativity Helps Anxiety in the Body
Creative activities help activate other parts of the brain — especially the areas involved in focus, rhythm, and expression — which naturally quiet the stress response. Doing something with your hands, eyes, breath, or body gives your nervous system something safe to anchor to.
Creative activities like drawing, journaling, coloring, crocheting, baking, music, or even rearranging your space send a message to your nervous system that you are safe.
In other words: Calming your body helps calm your mind.
Creativity gently shifts your body out of survival mode and into a state of focus, grounding, and regulation without forcing yourself to “think differently” or “calm down.”
Anxiety can feel overwhelming when it shows up in your body in ways you don't expect, but these sensations are not random.
Small practices like breathing intentionally or engaging in creative activities can help your body feel safer, calmer, and more grounded even during difficult moments. Meeting your body with patience and care can make a real difference over time.
If anxiety is affecting your daily life, support is available, and you don't have to go through it alone. Understanding what’s happening in your body is a powerful first step toward feeling safer, steadier, and more in control - one breath, one moment at a time.
Hi! I’m Yasmin Aouchria, a third-year Psychology major with a minor in Human Development at the University of Maryland, College Park. I’m passionate about therapy, trauma recovery, and supporting marginalized communities. I hope to help create safe, inclusive spaces where people can heal and grow.