How they work together

Anxiety is a feeling that is enduring and at times beyond understanding. The feelings of helplessness, fear, and powerlessness are common with anxiety. It is a tough opponent most people face and can be a draining force in life. When you think about anxiety, think of it as the mental component, while the physical component is called stress. Stress is how the body responds when anxiety is present. The body and brain are parallel systems, just as anxiety and stress are parallel in operation.

Stress can be measured based on certain chemical levels in our body and brain. When we feel threatened, physically or mentally, our body will respond with a “stress response”. The stress response is simply our body preparing itself to survive whatever threatening situation the brain is perceiving. This response will be explained later, but it is important to understand that our stress response and anxiety are related. The stress response is responsible for elevating our heartbeat, breathing, blood pressure, contracting our muscles, and at times escalating our anxiety. When our stress response occurs along with high levels of anxiety ,we are likely to experience a panic attack.

The stress response is a key component to reducing anxiety. Understanding how our stress response works will help us understand how we can stop our stress response and limit its impact on anxiety. For information on how our stress response works take a look at our Inner Workings of Our Stress Response blog.