5 anxiety symptoms that might point to a disorder

Again, the occasional worries are normal—but for those with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), those worries don’t necessarily go away.

People with GAD worry about typical things—including health, money, or family problems—but on a larger scale. They continue to worry about those things even when there’s not a clear reason to worry. This anxiety is also often hard to control, and makes it difficult for sufferers to focus on their daily tasks.

Adults typically need seven to nine hours of sleep every night—and when your sleep schedule starts to suffer, it’s a sign that something is off.

Stress and anxiety can cause sleeping problems, or make other issues, like falling and staying asleep, worse. Because sleeping disorders can lead to anxiety—or anxiety can lead to sleeping disorders—it’s best to talk to your doctor to determine the underlying causes and what you can do to correct them.

Some anxiety isn’t generalized at all; on the contrary, it’s attached to a specific situation or thing—like flying, animals, or crowds. If the fear becomes overwhelming, disruptive, and way out of proportion to the actual risk involved, it’s a telltale sign of phobia, a type of anxiety disorder.

Although phobias can be crippling, they’re not obvious at all times. In fact, they may not surface until you confront a specific situation and discover you’re incapable of overcoming your fear. A person who’s afraid of snakes can go for years without having a problem.

Near-constant muscle tension—whether it consists of clenching your jaw, balling your fists, or flexing muscles throughout your body—often accompanies anxiety disorders. This symptom can be so persistent and pervasive that people who have lived with it for a long time may stop noticing it after a while.

Regular exercise can help keep muscle tension under control, but the tension may flare up if an injury or other unforeseen event disrupts a person’s workout habits, Winston says. “Suddenly they’re a wreck, because they can’t handle their anxiety in that way and now they’re incredibly restless and irritable.

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