Anxiety – 5 Signs You Have It (and it’s not just stress)

Anxiety isn’t just feeling a bit worried about your Monday morning presentation or getting butterflies before a first date. In a 2024 poll, 43% of U.S. adults reported feeling more anxious than the previous year, compared to 37% in 2023 and 32% in 2022.

The global picture is equally concerning: 17.2% of Australians aged 16-85 years had an anxiety disorder in the past 12 months, making anxiety the most common mental health condition in Australia. Meanwhile, across Europe, anxiety topped the list as the most prevalent mental health condition, affecting 17% of the population – so if you’re reading this wondering whether you’re part of this global statistic, you’re definitely not alone.

The tricky thing about anxiety is that it’s become so normalized in our culture that many people dismiss legitimate symptoms as just “being stressed” or “having a lot on their plate.” But here’s the reality check: pathological anxiety is triggered when there is an overestimation of perceived threat or an erroneous danger appraisal of a situation, which is a fancy way of saying your brain’s alarm system is going off when there’s no actual fire.

If you’ve been wondering whether what you’re experiencing goes beyond normal stress, here are five research-backed signs that suggest you might be dealing with significant anxiety – and why recognizing them matters more than you think.

Your anxiety isn’t just living rent-free in your head – it’s throwing a full-blown tantrum throughout your entire body. If you have an anxiety disorder, you may experience physical signs of anxiety, such as a pounding heart and sweating. But wait, there’s more! Physical symptoms include a pounding or rapid heartbeat, unexplained aches and pains, dizziness, and shortness of breath.

The research on this is pretty clear: sweating, hot flushes, and blushing are symptoms frequently reported by individuals with anxiety disorders and represent important reinforcers of anxiogenic cognitions and behaviours. Translation? Your body’s physical reactions aren’t just annoying side effects – they’re actually feeding back into your anxiety, creating a lovely little cycle that keeps you trapped.

Here’s what’s particularly sneaky about anxiety’s physical symptoms: they can mimic serious medical conditions. Sweating and a strange fluttering sensation in your chest are common symptoms of anxiety or a panic attack, but they are also signs of a dangerous heart condition called atrial fibrillation. So yes, that means you might find yourself in the emergency room convinced you’re having a heart attack, only to be told it’s “just anxiety.” Fun times.

Australian research confirms this pattern, showing that physical symptoms of anxiety are often the first signs people notice, yet they’re frequently misinterpreted as purely medical issues rather than mental health concerns. The key difference? Anxiety often causes physical symptoms, such as a racing heart or knots in your stomach, but these symptoms are generally less intense and last longer than a panic attack, which has very intense but brief symptoms.

Social anxiety isn’t just being an introvert who needs alone time to recharge. It’s when the thought of social interaction triggers the same fight-or-flight response you’d have if you encountered a bear in the wilderness. Social anxiety disorder involves an overwhelming worry about social situations, being overly self-conscious and fearing others judging you.

This global phenomenon is particularly concerning among young people: Australian research shows that young adults aged 16-25 years have shown the largest increases in anxiety disorder prevalence over the past 13 years, while European data indicates that almost 50% of the EU population reported experiencing emotional or psychological problems in the previous year.

This isn’t about being shy or preferring small groups. We’re talking about a level of fear that makes you cancel plans, avoid networking events that could help your career, or spend hours analyzing a simple text message before hitting send. In severe cases, a person might feel intense fear in common situations, avoid social encounters, or refuse to leave their home.

The research shows that social anxiety goes beyond just feeling uncomfortable – it actively interferes with your life. Australian data reveals that 3.2 million Australians have an anxiety-related condition, representing a significant increase from previous years. When your fear of judgment becomes so intense that you’re missing out on relationships, opportunities, or experiences, that’s when you know it’s crossed the line from normal social nervousness into anxiety territory.

What makes social anxiety particularly exhausting is the mental gymnastics involved. You’re not just worried about the actual social event – you’re worried about being worried, analyzing every possible scenario, and then replaying every interaction afterward looking for signs that people thought you were weird. It’s like having a very critical movie reviewer living in your head, except they never give positive reviews.

Persistent, intrusive thoughts are anxiety’s calling card. We’re not talking about normal worrying here – we’re talking about thoughts that show up uninvited, refuse to leave, and bring all their catastrophic friends with them.

These feelings are typically accompanied by physical tension and other behavioural and cognitive symptoms. They are difficult to control, cause significant distress and can last a long time if untreated. The key phrase here is “difficult to control.” Normal worry responds to logic, distraction, or problem-solving. Anxiety thoughts? They laugh in the face of your rational mind.

This is where anxiety gets particularly cruel. Your brain becomes convinced that if you just think about the problem enough, you’ll somehow prevent it from happening. Spoiler alert: this doesn’t work, but try telling that to your anxious brain at 3 AM when it’s running through every possible way your life could fall apart.

The latest research shows that anxiety manifests as a future-oriented mood state that consists of a complex cognitive, affective, physiological, and behavioral response system associated with preparation for the anticipated events or circumstances perceived as threatening. Your brain thinks it’s protecting you by constantly scanning for threats, but instead, it’s creating a mental environment where everything feels dangerous. This pattern is remarkably consistent across cultures: WHO European data shows that more than 150 million people in the European Region live with a mental health condition, with anxiety being a primary driver of this epidemic.

What’s particularly frustrating is that these thoughts often focus on things that are either completely out of your control or extremely unlikely to happen. Your brain becomes a master at taking a tiny possibility and turning it into an inevitable catastrophe. Lost your keys? Clearly, this means you’re becoming irresponsible and will eventually lose your job and end up homeless. That’s anxiety logic for you.

Ah, sleep. That thing you desperately need but can’t seem to achieve because your brain decides bedtime is the perfect time to host its own TED talk about everything that could go wrong in your life. Even if you can fall asleep, it is often hard to stay that way. Anxiety and sleep have a relationship that’s more toxic than a reality TV show. Anxiety makes it hard to fall asleep, stay asleep, and feel rested when you wake up. But here’s the kicker – lack of sleep makes anxiety worse, creating another one of those delightful cycles that anxiety seems to specialize in.

The research on this connection is extensive. Poor sleep doesn’t just make you tired – it makes your brain more reactive to stress and less capable of regulating emotions. When you’re sleep-deprived, your brain’s threat detection system becomes hypervigilant, essentially lowering the threshold for what triggers your anxiety response.

The research on this connection is extensive. Poor sleep doesn’t just make you tired – it makes your brain more reactive to stress and less capable of regulating emotions. When you’re sleep-deprived, your brain’s threat detection system becomes hypervigilant, essentially lowering the threshold for what triggers your anxiety response.

What’s particularly maddening about anxiety-related sleep issues is that they often involve what experts call “sleep anxiety” – becoming anxious about not being able to sleep, which then makes it even harder to sleep. You start watching the clock, calculating how many hours you have left, and convincing yourself that you won’t be able to function tomorrow, which keeps you awake even longer.

The physical symptoms of anxiety don’t take a break just because you’re trying to sleep either. Many people have heart palpitations from situational anxiety that happens now and then, and these palpitations have a special talent for showing up right when you’re trying to relax and fall asleep.

Here’s where anxiety gets really sneaky: it convinces you that avoiding things that make you anxious is a perfectly reasonable coping strategy. Spoiler alert – it’s not.

Changes in behavior, such as avoiding everyday activities you used to do is one of the key behavioral signs of anxiety. This isn’t about avoiding genuinely dangerous situations – this is about avoiding normal, everyday activities because they trigger your anxiety. Maybe you’ve stopped going to certain stores because crowds make you anxious. Perhaps you’ve been “too busy” to see friends because social situations feel overwhelming. You might have turned down job opportunities because the interview process seemed too stressful, or avoided trying new things because the uncertainty feels unbearable.

The problem with avoidance is that it works – in the short term. When you avoid something that makes you anxious, you feel immediate relief. Your brain interprets this as confirmation that the thing you avoided was indeed dangerous, which makes you more likely to avoid it in the future. Before you know it, your world has shrunk to only include things that feel “safe,” which is usually a very small and limiting space.

Recent research has highlighted how significantly anxiety can impact daily functioning. Anxiety disorders interfere with daily activities and can impair a person’s family, social relationships and overall quality of life. When avoidance becomes your primary coping mechanism, you’re not actually managing your anxiety – you’re letting it manage you.

Australian mental health data confirms this pattern, showing that avoidance behaviours are among the most disabling aspects of anxiety disorders, often leading to significant impairment in work, study, and social functioning. The particularly insidious thing about avoidance is that it often happens gradually. You don’t wake up one day and decide to avoid everything – it’s a slow process of making small concessions to your anxiety until you realize you’ve given up major parts of your life.

If you’re reading this and recognizing yourself in multiple signs, you’re probably dealing with anxiety that goes beyond normal stress. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the future burden of anxiety disorders, necessitating greater attention towards young individuals, particularly women, so if you’ve noticed these symptoms getting worse in recent years, you’re not imagining it.

Here’s the thing about anxiety: it’s incredibly treatable, but it rarely gets better on its own. Anxiety disorders can last a long time if untreated, and they tend to get worse over time, not better. The good news? There is an urgent need for the adoption of targeted prevention and treatment strategies on a global scale, and mental health professionals have more effective treatments for anxiety than ever before.

The first step is recognizing that what you’re experiencing isn’t normal stress, character weakness, or something you just need to “get over.” Anxiety is a legitimate medical condition that responds well to treatment – whether that’s therapy, medication, lifestyle changes, or a combination of approaches.

If you’ve recognized yourself in these signs, the most important thing to understand is that seeking help isn’t admitting defeat – it’s taking control. 70% of people are experiencing financial anxiety, significantly impacting both their mental and physical well-being, which means anxiety is affecting people’s ability to work, make decisions, and live their lives.

You wouldn’t ignore chest pain and hope it goes away on its own, so why would you do that with anxiety symptoms that are actively interfering with your life? The stigma around mental health treatment is becoming less relevant as more people realize that taking care of your mental health is just as important as taking care of your physical health.

Consider starting with your primary care doctor, who can rule out medical causes for your symptoms and refer you to mental health professionals if needed. Beta-blockers can help control some of the physical symptoms of panic disorder, such as rapid heart rate, sweating, and tremors, and there are many other medication options available if that route feels right for you. Before seeking these medications though, try out some of these techniques that I wrote about in a previous article HERE.

Therapy, particularly cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), has strong research support for treating anxiety disorders. Australian clinical guidelines recommend CBT as a first-line treatment for anxiety disorders, with numerous studies showing its effectiveness across different populations and anxiety types. There are also self-help strategies that can be effective, though they work best when combined with professional support. European treatment guidelines emphasize the importance of early intervention and comprehensive care, showing that the sooner you address anxiety, the better your outcomes are likely to be.

The bottom line? Anxiety is common, treatable, and nothing to be ashamed of. Stress from election-related news was associated with a higher likelihood of experiencing symptoms of both depression and anxiety, showing that external factors are contributing to rising anxiety levels across the population.

You don’t have to live with anxiety symptoms that are making your life smaller, harder, or less enjoyable. Recognition is the first step, but it’s the action you take next that will determine whether anxiety continues to run the show or whether you take back control of your life. Remember: seeking help for anxiety isn’t a sign of weakness – it’s a sign that you’re ready to stop letting fear make decisions for your life. And honestly? It’s about time.