November 4th, 2024
Do you experience anxiety and nausea at times but aren’t sure whether they are related? Can anxiety cause nausea? Well, the answer is, yes, you can get nausea from anxiety. Anxiety can cause physical symptoms that interrupt the daily flow of your life such as anxiety nausea.
Just because you have anxiety however, does not mean you will experience nausea from anxiety. It often depends on how stressed you are or how severe your anxiety is, but everyone responds to anxiety differently.
Since nausea is a symptom of being stressed and goes away when you are calm, it is not something you have to be concerned about unless it is persistent or a regular occurrence.
For most people with anxiety, nausea is caused by stress. For others, the anxiety itself can lead to the development of nausea separate from the stress response.
Understanding why anxiety triggers nausea and knowing how to manage it can improve both your physical and mental health. Keep reading to learn why nausea from anxiety happens, how to tell if nausea is from anxiety, and effective anxiety treatments for relief!
Why does anxiety cause nausea? The answer lies in the brain-gut connection. The stomach and brain are connected by the vagus nerve, meaning emotions directly affect gut function. When anxiety triggers a fight-or-flight response, it sends signals to the gut, often resulting in nausea, stomach cramps, and bloating.
This is particularly common in those with an anxiety disorder and nausea, as anxiety can exacerbate digestive issues. Understanding this connection can help in managing both the emotional and physical impacts of anxiety.
It can be challenging to differentiate nausea from anxiety from nausea caused by other health issues. Here are a few tips to help you tell if nausea is likely from anxiety:
Recognizing these patterns can help you determine if your nausea is a result of anxiety or if it’s time to consult a doctor. It may be helpful to track down when you experience nausea, what's going on at the time, and what you've tried to do so far to help it.
That is one way to tell if nausea is caused by anxiety. Tracking this can help you see if your nausea is related to moments when you are feeling anxious or not.
Managing anxiety-induced nausea involves both physical and mental strategies, here is a brief breakdown before we go into more detail:
Mindfulness is a form of meditation that intensely focuses on being in the moment. Mindfulness exercises require the absence of judgment or interpretation of the feelings and senses that are occurring within the moment and encourage engagement with the environment currently around you.
Mindfulness exercise has been proven to help reduce stress because of its ability to relax the body and the mind. There are various types of mindfulness exercises, but it is important to discover which type of exercise works best for you! One exercise is to focus on your breathing.
When you are feeling anxiety nausea, try to sit down, take a deep breath and close your eyes. Focus on your breath as it moves in and out of your body. Sitting and breathing for even just a minute can help.
When the body is under stress it can cause muscle tension in your abdomen, consequently creating the feeling that we understand as nausea. The stress also increases your adrenaline and alters other hormones in the body like the stomach lining or food digestion.
Physical exercise tires your muscles, relaxing the amount of stress that your muscles are putting on your digestive system. Physical exercise also regulates hormones, decreasing the amount of adrenaline produced within the body, which can help control levels of anxiety.
Another bonus to physical exercise is the release of endorphins, the “feel-good” neurotransmitters, that improve our mood, also helping to control levels of Anxiety.
Everything in the body is connected. For example, you can not improve your mental health without also improving your physical health. Dealing with anxiety nausea takes a holistic approach, which includes monitoring what you put in your body.
Decreasing foods with high salt content or grease can decrease feelings of nausea. Eating on an empty stomach or overeating can also result in Nausea. Make sure you consume the recommended amount of water based on your demographics to prevent dehydration, which can also increase anxiety.
Many of us take for granted the importance of sleep, especially if a person has a busy life. Getting a good night’s sleep falls low on our priority of daily tasks. Research has shown that sleep deprivation can increase anxiety and impacts your ability to deal with anxiety. Sleep gives the body's neurons a chance to shut down and repair themselves.
Sleep deprivation creates an imbalance in hormone levels that increase anxiety levels. Too little sleep also increases adrenaline levels which can exacerbate existing anxiety symptoms, like anxiety nausea. Committing to healthy sleep over the long term can help reduce your anxiety.
Alternatively, many people are accustomed to using over-the-counter antiemetic medications like Dramamine, but these shouldn’t be used for an extended period of time.
Medications like Pepto-Bismol or anything containing Bismuth can have adverse effects like stopping up your digestive system and dehydrating you since they're intended for a different cause of nausea, not anxiety nausea. There are other ways to deal with anxiety nausea that can be more effective and have no adverse side effects.
It should be noted that coping with anxiety symptoms such as anxiety nausea is not always a quick fix and may be a long-term issue, depending on the severity of your anxiety. The best way to effectively deal with anxiety nausea is to gain control of your anxiety and understand why you suffer from it.
At Clarity Clinic, you can find the best anxiety therapist near you as well as the best psychiatrist near you for anxiety and depression. Our anxiety treatment centers are equipped to give you the professional help you need, whether you need anxiety medication, anxiety therapy, or support groups, we can help.
We have clinics located throughout Chicago (Loop, River North, Lakeview Broadway, Lakeview Belmont) and surrounding suburbs such as Evanston and Arlington Heights to ensure you get the care you deserve even if you are out of the city. Our Evanston and Arlington Heights clinics make mental health care accessible to those in areas such as Northbrook, Oakbrook, Schaumburg, Winnetka, IL and more!
To top it off, we also offer online therapy and online telehealth visits anywhere in Illinois! You can receive the best medication for anxiety or access the best anxiety therapist in Chicago all from the comfort of your home. Book a consultation with Clarity Clinic today and take control of your anxiety!
Book an Anxiety Consultation!Do you need more support than a weekly therapy session or psychiatry visit can provide? Not to worry, at Clarity Clinic we offer comprehensive support through our on-site PHP program for anxiety, on-site IOP program for anxiety, and virtual IOP program for anxiety.
These intensive programs provide a higher level of care, with structured sessions multiple times a week, access to group and individual therapy, skills-building workshops, and dedicated guidance from our experienced mental health team.
Whether you prefer in-person PHP or IOP treatment or the flexibility of virtual IOP care, our programs are tailored to help you develop effective coping strategies, manage anxiety symptoms, and regain control over your life.
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