Anxiety can cause you to experience a range of symptoms like shaking and trembling, sweating, nausea, and rapid heartbeat. You may also get pains in your stomach and tension in your neck and shoulders. It can cause sleep problems and make you irritable as well. If your anxiety builds, you may have a very real sense that something bad is going to happen to you. You may even feel like you are losing control and experience physical symptoms similar to a heart attack.

Anxiety and fear can be very intense feelings, and you may tend to avoid situations where you believe they may occur – like social gatherings or particular places. This can lead you to limit your interactions with the wider world, and can greatly impact the way you live your life.

Learning relaxation techniques like controlled breathing can help you reduce the symptoms of anxiety when they first occur. Finding out more about anxiety and things you can do to control it is a positive step towards recovery. We have some resources below to help you get started.