One of the most unfortunate symptoms of an anxiety disorder is insomnia and to those that deal with it bless you all. Not being able to sleep is horrible but what if you have the opposite problem? Leave it to anxiety to be confused about how to make your life harder. It is true however that anxiety can put you in a near slumber and never ending state of sluggishness.
Although feeling tired and slow are not startling (for the most part) they can put a damper on your daily routine. Want to go out? Not really. Want to exercise? Nope. Can you help me move this big heavy thing? No thanks. When you have an anxiety disorder you really can be sidelined by chronic fatigue because its more than just “lazy bones.”
The fatigue brought on by anxiety also goes beyond just feeling sleepy all the time. Your muscles may feel weakened and seriously challenged if you decide to do something even remotely physical.
In addition you may find it difficult to stay awake or focused on anything for any prolonged amount of time. So is all this constant tiredness dangerous? No it’s not and in fact it is very common in people with anxiety disorders. If you feel like you’re just going through the motions of life you really are experiencing a normal anxiety symptom and not some mysterious affliction.
The answer to the why and how come lies in the stress anxiety creates and distributes throughout the body. Here are some of the more specific reasons why you may be feeling run down.
First and foremost if you are experiencing prolonged fatigue make sure that it is anxiety. Once you rule out other potential causes then you should turn your attention to taking action.
Taking action sounds dramatic but what I mean is that you simply need to do something about it. Whether that’s eating better, getting exercise and sleeping right or taking vitamins, and making sure you do all you can to avoid or treat the anxiety blues (A.K.A depression).
Above all you should understand that fatigue related to an anxiety disorder is not all in your head. Anxiety really can make you feel tired and sluggish. It can also last a really long time. We all have bouts of I don’t want to do anything but anxiety fatigue can be a long lasting affair that makes this sentiment semi-permanent.
Moreover be sure to avoid the urge to mask the fatigue by chugging caffeinated drinks and refined sugars. Products such as energy drinks and the like will only make things worse. Address your anxiety disorder and it’s underlying causes and you will then improve your fatigue symptoms. Remember that you’re not lazy just anxious.
I dealt with this issue for years. Walking up stairs, carrying heavy items, anything that required exertion just made me say to myself “here we go again”. That is why it is so important to not ignore your fatigue. You want to make sure that you don’t add any more fuel to the fire. Laying around and not going anywhere just has a way of creating more anxiety. If you make the effort to reenergize yourself you will see a change.
A current bout with anxiety has left me feeling tired, sluggish, and frustrated after doing something as simple as taking a shower. My mind is active but my body is weak. It’s the most bewildering experience. Many probably think it’s laziness but it isn’t. I am just often too exhausted from my body being railroaded by adrenaline to even move. And often lying around makes it worse. My heart rate (blood pressure sometimes too) shoots through the roof (tachycardia)…it’s just so intense.
Depression and anxiety are linked so you could be depressed underneath all the anxiety.
Please seek professional help if you experience this. It may take drugs, therapy, and behavior modification but anxiety disorders can be helped. I wish nothing but luck to all my fellow anxiety sufferers. It’s NOT just in your head but your whole body. Fight on!
Wow thank you for this post. Lately I’ve been feeling so sluggish and unmotivated to do anything, but I had a feeling it wasn’t just pure laziness.
The reason I didn’t want to be bothered with getting up and cleaning my room was not from laziness, but because I couldn’t do it fast enough, and that resulted in me not wanting to do it at all.
I’m a college freshman now, so I have to learn to control my anxiety soon, before it gets in the way of my studies. Thanks for the post! I’m going to try exercising.
Thank you for writing about this symptom of anxiety. It’s one that I think those who don’t have chronic anxiety understand well. The overwhelming fatigue that is felt on a daily basis is almost as bad as the anxiety itself. For me feeling really tired will sometimes exacerbate my anxiety. I also feel embarrassed by how tired I am. Thanks again for bringing this issue up and normalizing it for us anxiety sufferers.
I’m so glad I read this article. I’m almost positive that this is why I feel fear,weakness,blurry vision even after only 3 months I’m feeling I need a new prescription for my glasses. This is 3rd time in 10 months. I don’t sleep yet force myself to be active. I have such memore loss or fog I don’t know one thought from the next. It’s embarrassing. Wish I could focus on meditation, even thinking of going to a hypnotist.
Same as above!
after reading this and everyone’s comments, I started crying because I knew that there was something wrong. Ive always had anxiety, but never like this before. Ive been feeling trapped inside my body, like Im here but not really. Almost numb, but not, because I can feel how stressed it all makes me. My spelling has also gone down the drain, like I don’t have enough space in my brain to remember how to spell simple things! I have so much to be done now, and I just cant bring myself to do them. Im like screaming in my head to get up! Do your work! but, nothing. I don’t know what to do though, or who to see, but Im great I found this. I cam start somewhere.
If you feel like YOU’RE (not your) going through the motions . . .
Thanks for catching the typo Tracy!
I woke up one morning after moving to spain from South Africa and thought I caught a major illness I felt so weak, lost confidence, my heart rate went up and beats so hard I struggle to breath, washing the dishes is a pain for me, fatigue arrrggggh. It’s terrible and wouldn’t wish this feeling on anyone. Thank you for this post. I feel as though I just might have the push to fix this, I cared so little and became so lazy that I just accepted it and could lay in bed for the rest of my days. Hope you all fighting on.