8 Anxiety Triggers & How To Address Them
There are a number of anxiety triggers that people can experience that affect how they feel. We will cover 8 of them in this article.
What Causes Anxiety?
Anxiety can be caused by mental, physical, emotional factors and can be triggered by certain events or situations in one’s life. Generally stress is what causes anxiety. Stress can come from things like work, change in family situation or relationship issues or any number of things.
Anxiety can often be accompanied with panic attacks which feel like impending doom. Often the heart starts beating faster, the palms sweat and one feels really tense and anxious for a couple of minutes. When you experience this it feels like the whole world is ending, but pretty soon after it passes and you feel normal again.
Anxiety Triggers
Below we will explore some of the common triggers which can trigger anxiety or a panic attack.
1. Work stress or job change
Have you had a stressful time at work lately? Maybe your Boss is giving you a lot of grief about meeting your deadlines and you feel a lot of pressure to perform. Maybe you just started a new job and don’t know anyone yet, and you feel isolated and afraid. Either way work stress can affect you in a big way. Affecting your mood, and maybe causing anxious thoughts.
A good strategy to overcome work stress is to get a diary or planner and to plan out all your days. Put all your work commitments into the planner and schedule time for travel and also family time and personal time. You will feel much better if you have a schedule and have everything written down.
If you find it difficult to switch off and go to sleep. I would suggest getting a journal and writing down your thoughts every night. Even you may like to create a to-do list with all the things you need to do for the next day. Get out of your thoughts and get it onto paper is crucial.
Amazon has great diaries/planners/journals/to do lists at a reasonable price. I would suggest you go here to check them out.
2. Change in living arrangements
Have you recently changes your living arrangements? Maybe you moved house or a flat mate has recently moved in with you. Or you could be struggling because you moved to a new house in a new neighborhood. Changes in living arrangements may have you feeling anxious.
I would suggest communication here. If you moved or have a flat mate then I would encourage you to communicate openly with them over any issues that may be occurring. Sitting down and having a frank conversation instead of yelling or getting aggressive is the best strategy.
If the issue is you have moved house and you are settling in, I would suggest joining some local groups. Meetup is one great website where you can meet others in your local area.
3. Pregnancy and giving birth
You may have given birth recently and are struggling to cope with the new baby. Maybe you suffer from a lack of sleep because the baby is keeping you up at night. Pregnancy and looking after a new born can be very stressful especially if you don’t have enough support around you.
I would suggest here that you speak to your family and friend’s and get some people around you that can help you with your baby. I would see if someone could do some cooking for you, or maybe someone could baby sit one afternoon so you can take a much needed nap. Either way I would suggest you ask people around you for some help.
4. Family and relationship problems
You maybe experiencing family and relationship problems, with your spouse, or children or loved one. You could be fighting a lot with your spouse over family issues, finances or any number of things. There could be issues with your kids, like sneaking out after curfew or other poor behavior.
My suggestion is communication. Have a conversation with your spouse when you are both calm about the situation. Seek to address it by confronting it head on. If the issue is finances, look to sit down and do a budget. Also I would look for ways to make extra money if money is tight. Selling stuff on ebay or facebook marketplace is one easy and quick way to raise money you may need for bills.
With your kids, you need to talk with your kids further and get them to realize that their actions aren’t the best. If needed you may want to discipline them further, but make this decision after you have given it some time to think.
5. Major emotional shock following a stressful or traumatic event
You have have experienced a shock after having a car accident, or you may be a veteran. Or you may have been injured some how. Recovery from a stressful event is difficult. My suggestion is you seek help from professionals and loved ones to get support to help you heal. You may need to see a Doctor, and also a Psychologist to help you recover. You may need to seek disability or an insurance claim. Whatever it is. Seek the help you need and seek it early.
6. Verbal, sexual, physical or emotional abuse or trauma
What you might be going through is abuse or trauma. The fact of the matter is that you are not responsible from what happened to you. You are not what happened to you, you are separate to that. Seek help from professionals and loved ones to help you to move forward. Psychologists are very helpful in a situation like this, make sure you reach out when you are ready though, don’t feel like you need to rush it.
7. Death or loss of a loved one
A death of a loved one is a shock to the system. You may have not been expecting the death and it may have come out of the blue. Either way it is important that you acknowledge the loss, and take the time to grieve. Grieving may look different to everyone, but do what you feel is natural and do what you feel is right. There is no rush to heal from it. Speak to professionals where needed and lean on loved ones for emotional support. You can do this!
8. Too much stimulants
Another cause of anxiety is consuming too many stimulants. This can be as simple as drinking too much coffee or cola, or maybe you are engaging in recreational drugs. You may be experiencing panic attacks from these activities. Either way you need to address the issue of these stimulants wreaking havoc in your life. Where possible reduce the stimulant as much as possible and seek advice from your Physician over what to do.
As you can see there are a number of different anxiety triggers that can affect people at different stages in life. Identify which one/s you are dealing with and take the steps to address the issue.
There is always help available, contact 1–800–273-TALK (8255) in America if you are in crisis. If you live outside of America google “helpline anxiety” and you should be able to find some support agencies which can support.
