Body and Anxiety: How Stress Shows Up Physically

You're looking for the cause of your headache, but it lives in your nervous system.

Anxiety isn't just in your head. It's first and foremost in your body. When your brain registers a threat, it sends a signal to your body: get ready. Your heart beats faster to pump blood to your muscles. Your breathing quickens to get more oxygen into your bloodstream. Your stomach tightens because digestion becomes secondary. You need to run or fight.

But modern anxiety doesn't require running or fighting. You're sitting in a meeting while your body gears up for escape. You're lying in bed while your heart pounds like you just sprinted. You're on a bus with muscles tensed as if for battle. Your body is ready for action, but there's no action to take. And all that energy gets stuck inside—as pain, tension, fatigue.