You are walking down the street like any other day, immersed in your worries, intrusive thoughts and bodily discomfort. Suddenly, you begin to feel discomfort in your body and persistent nausea that, no matter how hard you try, does not go away. Not being able to find a solution that brings you some calm in the face of high stress levels, despair begins to increase. Although this is a fictitious situation, many people have experienced one of these episodes in their lives when anxiety has overwhelmed them. In these cases, anxiety seems something uncontrollable that prevents you from carrying out activities that you had planned. However, there are some treatments that can reduce symptoms considerably.
In this Psychology-Online article, we will provide you with information about What is nausea caused by anxiety and how to relieve it?.
Nausea due to anxiety corresponds to the feeling of vomiting as a result of situations that produce high levels of stress due to daily discomforts. For this reason, these physical manifestations occur at specific moments of greater intensity, alternating with periods of temporary relief.
More specifically, its origin must be found in unpleasant thoughts, behaviors and emotions for the person who lives with this problem. Some of the main symptoms of nausea due to anxiety are:
- Shortness of breath.
- respiratory distress.
- Abdominal pain.
- Discomfort in the chest.
- excessive sweating
- Body tremors.
- Muscle tension.
- palpitations.
Also, these symptoms appear in specific moments of anxiety or as a consequence of fear of uncertainty and the future. In the following article you will find more information about the Effects of anxiety on the body.
Diagnostic criteria for nausea due to anxiety
In the presence of any of these symptoms that arouse considerable severity, it is advisable see a mental health professional so that the person is evaluated and an adequate treatment is established according to their needs.
In order to diagnose nausea due to anxiety, the following conditions must be met:
- Presence of at least five or more symptoms for a period of 30 minutes or more.
- The causes are linked to stressful situations and not to organic factors.
- Disappearance of symptoms when anxiety situations subside.
- The symptoms cannot be explained by the presence of some other mental disorder and/or by the intake of toxic substances or drugs.
Despite the negative consequences of nausea due to anxiety, there are some ways to alleviate this problem and improve the person's quality of life. We explain them below:
- Identify anxiety situations: Recognizing the triggers is a great help to combat this condition. First of all, taking into account what causes nausea due to anxiety will allow you to adopt other alternatives to avoid the negative consequences. On the other hand, it will give you the possibility of evaluating whether it is necessary to face such situations or, on the contrary, to avoid them.
- Improve eating habits: Eating a balanced and healthy diet will reduce stress levels that affect the digestive system. When the central nervous system relaxes, nausea from anxiety may subside.
- psychological therapy: If the symptoms cause serious difficulties in coping with everyday life situations, it is advisable to start a psychological treatment. Psychological therapy will provide you with personalized tools to face moments of anxiety in a more pleasant way.
- practice meditation: This methodology consists of inhaling and exhaling air from a conscious and full breath of the person and that will generate both physical and mental relaxation. After doing this exercise for a while, it will be possible to put aside those negative thoughts that cause nausea due to anxiety. Here you will find some postures to meditate.
To spot the indicators of nausea from anxiety, you need to know how to anticipate it. For this same purpose, here are some ways to prevent nausea due to anxiety:
- write your worries: One way to relieve anxiety is to put into words those thoughts that cause anxiety. In this way you can avoid nausea as a result of this condition and better manage this problem. To achieve this, write down the thoughts that cause you discomfort on a piece of paper or on your mobile and try to find solutions to them.
- Take relaxing infusions: There are several medicinal herbs that relax the central nervous system and can help prevent nausea from anxiety. Among the best known are chamomile, valerian, lavender or passionflower tea, among others.
- Deep breathing: Practice sustained inhalation and exhalation of air in a relaxed environment. After a few minutes doing the breathing exercises the symptoms of anxiety will decrease.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
