Why do anxious feelings create the need to go to toilet frequently?
193 Answers
Last Updated: 02/19/2022 at 2:01pm
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Top Rated Answers
Anonymous
January 3rd, 2018 11:42pm
Anxiety causes the body to over work, because the brain is trying to calm its self down, for some the brain makes the body want to urinate, for others it might be something else. It’s usually contractions around the stomach and gut area.
One can feel the need to go to the toilet often when they are feeling anxious because the nervousness can make your stomach turn or hurt, also the fight or flight system is activated, pressure builds up inside of the body which can make stool feel like it needs to come out.
Has to do with your brain and the fight or fight that is going on inside of the persons head this can act in different ways depending on the person dealing with anxious thoughts.
Adrenaline is pumped by the body when you feel anxious, and that puts pressure on the bladder. It's the fight or flight response. It's just a natural body response.
Anonymous
January 31st, 2018 9:45pm
Could be a flight or fight response. When an anxiety-provoking situation occurs, our sympathetic nervous system starts up (e.g. accelerated heart rate, sweat), causing a fight or flight situation, where we either stay still (typically freeze), or run away from the problem. Making your bladder feel full is one way the system creates that 'flight' for you, so you can escape the situation.
Anxiety is more than an emotional issue, it causes physical reactions. Our bodies enter a fight or flight mode and going to the toilet is part of that. When this happens, as hard as it is to deal with, try to cut back on your liquid intake but still make sure you are remaining hydrated. It will eventually even out.
It is part of the fight or flight response of the body that make our digestive system react like that
Our bodies and our psychological well being are tightly knit. Our emotional health can trigger a number of bodily functions as a method of relieving stress, and going to the toilet is one of them, and it is completely normal. Another implication is vomiting. That's why people who are really nervous, sometimes vomit.
Anonymous
March 4th, 2018 8:26pm
The gut is heavily connected with anxiety-like effects, and so the frequent need originates. There are a lot of studies that show the gut-anxiety connectivity.
Anonymous
March 16th, 2018 5:30pm
Its a flight or fight reaction. When you're faced with a stressful/difficult situation, muscle tension occurs at your stomach/bladder, causing urges to make toilet trips.
Anonymous
March 23rd, 2018 6:01pm
Anxiety causes our heart rate to go up, which causes our mind to enter that "fight or flight" mode. Because of this, our body quickly tries to evacuate anything that will only deteriorate our ability to "fight" or "run away" from danger; this includes the sudden urge to want to go to the bathroom to empty our body of any waste. This allows the body to feel "lighter" so you can move quickly on your feet if anything was to occur.
Anonymous
March 28th, 2018 4:10pm
Anxiety is different for every person. Some people with anxiety may experience the feeling of needing to go to the toilet, some others may feel like they need to go away and some other may have other experiences. Anxiety is a spectrum.
Anonymous
April 5th, 2018 6:18am
Feeling anxious may cause you to have stomach cramps, which could result in the need to go to the bathroom frequently.
Anonymous
April 20th, 2018 3:26am
Anxiety increases the metabolic rate in the body, temporarily. So that may affect digestion of food as well.
I believe it may be due to the fact that your digestive system is very fragile and any slight changes to you can cause changes to it.
It may also be because when we're feeling anxious, the stress from that feeling can cause us to enter 'fight or flight' mode which different people handle different ways. Some people sweat, others shake, some people need to go to toilet.
There is also the possibility that IBS is involved, it may be a good idea to get that checked out just to be safe.
A lot of time anxiety is linked to our desire to control something or a situation. In most cases, we have the ability to control our bladders, and knowing where the nearest bathroom is is another part of that control. I find that when dealing with anxiety, holding onto things that we can control (or feel we can) can actually be helpful. If it is causing you distress, it may be worth looking into further and working to develop different means of control.
Anonymous
May 3rd, 2018 6:59am
Anxiety creates a lot of pressure on your body and your hormones and affects your digestion system. It is very common for people with anxiety.
Sometimes you may become frightened and this will result in the need to use the bathroom. This is common when experiencing anxiety.
Anxiety triggers physical symptoms in people including nausea and stomach pains at times. These are caused by the chemicals in your brain that are produced when you are in an anxious situation. So, even though having to go to the bathroom more sucks, it is a completely normal reaction to anxiety.
When your body is stressed, it goes into a flight or fight response. The flight response can cause your body to have the shakes, cause you to feel nauseous, dizzy, accelerated heart rate, faint, etc. When your body is in it's flight response your body is working twice as hard because it thinks its in trouble and is trying to protect you. In this case, frequent trips to the bathroom is a just a normal response to your body's stress levels.
Anonymous
June 23rd, 2018 8:13am
So when one has IBS on occasion, how bad can things turn out? Can it get to the point of creating an ulcer in the colon? I do have a terrible pain in the abdominal area, is that a hint? I’m supposed to have an endoscopy soon, because there’s that pain, but I’m also worried it can be worse.
Anxiety can cause discomfort in your stomache and other physical discomfort. This can cause gastrointestinal issues and make an anxious person go to the restroom more frequently.
Anxiety often causes discomfort in the mind and the body. Therefore, the anxious feelings affect your body, and alot of the time that can be your stomach, which often causes more toilet use. However this does help as it is a sense of letting go.
There is actually something I learned recently. When people are in the sympathetic nervous system mode (fight or flight), their blood flow leaves the digestive/GI system (to go to your limbs as if you'll run away), which causes stomach issues.
Anonymous
July 26th, 2018 9:50pm
Is it something you ate? I get like that when something I eat doesn't go well with my body and it rejects it.
Anonymous
October 3rd, 2018 5:40am
Anxiety triggers the release of adrenaline from the adrenal glands located atop your kidneys. Your body's response to adrenaline causes your body to produce blood sugar from fat stores and direct your blood away from your core into your skeletal muscles in preparation to make a quick getaway. While your blood is being directed toward your skeletal muscles, it is also being directed away from your vital organs. For this reason some people begin to feel nauseous, and have difficulty breathing. In more acute responses it can cause people and animals to lose continence. People who experience chronic anxiety will likely experience frequent diarrhea from incomplete digestion as well, which will also contribute to the sudden urge to void their bowels.
They are several hyphotesis: The first one is that when we are anxious, the nervous system operates at a higher level of sensitivity, which could cause the bladder to activate the mechanisms even if it is not completely full. In addition, the adrenaline generated by the stress situation could activate the mechanism to give relief to the body. Another possibility is that, in a state of anxiety, many of the muscles of the body become tense, and among them could be those of the bladder. That's what I've listen and read. I'm not sure if that's the real reason.
It has to do with the fact that our body is preparing for a dangerous situation, and it wants to make sure we have all the attention necessary to deal with it without distractions.
If you notice, it generally happens up until the point you have to deal with the "dangerous thing." For example, if you are nervous about an exam, you'll go to the bathroom for a few hours before and then once the time comes, you can sit through the exam quite normally.
Basically, it's the body emptying itself out so that you can give your all to the upsetting situation. Imagine having to fight a tiger and all of a sudden you have to pee ;)
Anxiety involves the activation of the fight-or-flight response. This is an ancient mechanism that brains have developed to get us out of dodge as quickly and efficiently as possible. If something makes us afraid, we better get out of there or be prepared to fight that thing. Part of fight-or-flight is that we can't be "wasting" any energy on digesting food, or holding urine in the body. Our has to be dedicated to our muscles and limbs. So, for the same reason fear causes people to soil themselves or throw up, anxiety creates the urge to go to the toilet.
I actually have Pelvic Floor Dysfunction, in part because of anxiety. Most people don't realize how tense their body is, and all muscles in the body are connected. When people get very anxious their whole body is often subconsciously tense. Bladder and bowel muscles can involuntarily contract. Of course, nausea doesn't help.
Progression muscle relaxation is one of the best methods for relaxing your entire body. Keeping your physical body relaxed will help keep you from going to the bathroom all day long. Often just taking some deep breaths and relaxing your muscles when you get the urge to go to the bathroom helps.
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