Physical activity and anxiety

[Gillyflower18]

Anyone else find that working hard physically makes all the symptoms of anxiety worse or am I an odd duck?

[Sober2007]

Everything that I have read says that physical activity helps ease anxiety over time even if you are feeling it in the moment. Are you remembering to focus on proper breathing while you exert yourself? Is this an experience you've had multiple times? Maybe you were just feeling particularly anxious and it wasn't the physical activity itself that caused it. After you stopped, did your symptoms lessen in a little while? In any case, I applaud you for continuing to work hard even though you weren't feeling very good. Sometimes we just have to keep going even though it is hard.

[Gillyflower18 in reply to Sober2007]

Thanks for the reply. I just got home from work. I try to remember to breath and let things pass by. It’s really hard sometimes. It’s kind of a chicken and egg thing. What comes first it’s hard to tell. Sometimes I just get tired of it all. It’s hard to put on a normal facade all the time.

[JAYnLA]

For a while I noticed that working out at the gym made me more anxious but led to a better day afterwards. I don't know if the increased anxiety was from noticing my heart pounding or if I was just unnerved by the environment. Have you had a recent physical and been found physically healthy?

[Gillyflower18 in reply to JAYnLA]

All the tests say normal healthy etc. hard to accept when you feel yucky. It seems activity is a two edged sword for me.

[JAYnLA in reply to Gillyflower18]

Glad you've been checked and are physically okay. Funny - I went to the gym today, came home and had a massive anxiety attack. Ya just never know!