Exercise brings on Physical Anxiety symptoms, anyone else?

Hello Mate.

Yeah I feel you, when I play football or run that little bit to fast I get this really strange weightlessness sensation, almost like I can't control my legs. I had an ECG when playing football and I pressed a button when I felt it come on, but nothing happened! No idea what it was, but I think it could be associated with anxiety as I always thought about it, to a point that I refused to do exercise for a while. I have seen quite a few other posts like this so i think it's all related! either that or I'm really unfit!

yes and yes. I have had anxiety since childhood and it progressively got worse throughout the years. I’m actually in my 60s and I am a veteran of this ha ha.

I had a sudden appearance of multiple sensations in my 20s and I thought I had some horrible disease. All of my testing was normal. After thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that all of my sensations w were to the stress and anxiety I have had for a long time. It’s the straw that broke the camels back. The body can only take so much before it has a breakdown. Anxiety and stress tend to target The nervous system. that’s why we get these sensations. It’s not harmful but it’s scary.

Anxiety takes a toll on the body, including the nervous system, and the muscles. It tires us out! So, when we exercise, we are putting additional stress on the body and that’s why you feel the way you do. It’s not gonna hurt anything it’s just what it is.

If I get really anxious, even now, I can get some of those sensations back but not like it was when I was in my 20s. I work on eating healthy and exercising which really helps. Sometimes I go a little slower with exercise if I feel I’m not up to par but I still exercise.

definitely try to stay away from caffeine and sugars. They are inflammatory in nature and will worsen any anxiety or depression that we have. Stick to the healthy foods. and keep hydrated!

one of the things that is recommended during acute anxiety and stress is to either splash your face with cold water or even take a cool shower. I know you said it brings on sensations however, the cold activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the calming system. And it turns off the, sympathetic nervous system, which creates the anxiety.

there are lots of people who are going through the same thing. Try to relax your mind as much as you can. If you get a negative or fearful thought, acknowledge it, and let it blow away. You have to be consistent and eventually the brain will learn to ignore it. 99% of the things we worry about never actually happen. Hope this helps at least a little bit!

First of all: GAD is not health anxiety. I think this is important. If you worry only about your health, you have health anxiety or health OCD.

Secondly, your idea that physical exercise adds more stress to your body is only partly true. Physical exercise is good stress. The problem you are currently in is typical for HA suffers. You start exercising and your NORMAL body sensations are getting highlighted by your anxiety. This causes you to freak out about the symptoms which results in negative stress.

For me today I was freaking out about a pain in my finger that suddenly appeared. I was already starting to google "if that could be anxiety related". I was already digging the hole when I said "ok stop that, I go now for a fast 5k run. After the run the pain in my finger was gone. Anxiety causes stress, if anxiety is not treated right, you are having chronic stress. Chronic stress lead to chronic symptoms. Take your SSRI and try to start therapy and keep a DAILY exercise routine as soon as you can get back to exercise. This is 100% cureable.