Feeling Numb or Tingly? It Might Be Anxiety

“You can experience anxiety-related numbness in a lot of ways. For some, it feels like pins and needles — that prickling you get when a body part “falls asleep.” It can also just feel like a complete loss of sensation in one part of your body. You might also notice other sensations, like: Tingles, The prickling of your hairs standing up and a mild burning feeling. While numbness can affect just about any part of your body, it often involves your legs, arms, hands, and feet. The sensation doesn’t necessarily spread through the entire body part, though. You might only notice it in your fingertips or toes, for example. It can also show up along your scalp or the back of your neck. It can also show up in your face. Some people even experience tingling and numbness on the tip of their tongue, for example. Finally, numbness might appear on one or both sides of your body or show up in a few different places. It won’t necessarily follow a specific pattern.

Why it happens

Anxiety-related numbness happens for two main reasons:

The fight-or-flight response

Anxiety happens when you feel threatened or stressed.

To handle this perceived threat, your body responds with what’s known as the fight-or-flight response. Your brain begins sending signals to the rest of your body right away, telling it to get ready to face the threat or escape from it. One important part of these preparations is an increase in blood flow to your muscles and important organs, or the areas of your body that would provide the most support for fighting or fleeing. Where does that blood come from? Your extremities, or the parts of your body that aren’t as essential to a fight-or-flight situation. This rapid flow of blood away from your hands and feet can often cause temporary numbness.

Hyperventilation

If you live with anxiety, you might have some experience with how it can affect your breathing. When you feel very anxious, you might find yourself breathing rapidly or irregularly. Even though this might not last very long, it can still decrease the amount of carbon dioxide in your blood. In response, your blood vessels begin to constrict, and your body shuts off blood flow to less essential areas of your body, like your extremities, in order to keep blood flowing where you need it most. As blood flows away from your fingers, toes, and face, these areas may feel numb or tingly. If hyperventilation continues, the loss of blood flow to your brain can cause more significant numbness in your extremities and eventually a loss of consciousness. It’s also worth noting that anxiety can often increase sensitivity to physical and emotional reactions — other people’s reactions, yes, but also your own. Some people with anxiety, particularly health anxiety, might notice numbness and tingling that happens for a perfectly ordinary reason, like sitting still too long, but see it as something more serious. This response is pretty common, but it can still frighten you and worsen your anxiety.”

Read the complete article available at Healthline

Reflection: Have you ever experienced any type of tingling/numbing sensation due to anxiety?

#Anxiety #Numb #Tingly