Anxiety and exercise

[D Ray Morton]

The advice you get exercise and it helps anxiety. I 100% agree. Yet sadly I cant, just done a 10min walk with bags, i am out of breath, i boil up my head is so hot, get twitchy and need to sit down for 20mins.

I am a pretty fit 34 yo man. I told me doctor that exercise had became harder over the past 6mth.

Does anxiety cause this for anyone?

[NotCool]

Yeah. It used to do that to me, sometimes still does. I've had panic attacks during exercise, my worst one was a few months ago when I was hiking through the forest in my city and experiences a bad attack - tight chest, perspiration, difficulty breathing, fear of losing control/passing out in the middle of the forest.

That's just one of the incidents. Usually whenever I'm starting to exercise after a long break, I have difficulties and my anxiety peaks - this manifests in difficulties breathing, adrenaline surges, heart beating fast, feeling surreal etc.. Best way to combat it is to take it slow. The old walk/run/walk/run (repeat) method works best. We were made for running, and once you do it for a bit and realize you didn't pass out, you some how break out of the shell. It might take some time, but it's worth it in the end.

[hbug2416]

Working out consistently is just about the only thing that helps with my anxiety. I take meds but I KNOW working out helps significantly, and I can tell a difference if I get off track. For me, it makes me feel stronger, like I'm fighting off the anxiety myself. I'm challenging my body to get rid of the anxiety. I don't know, I know it sounds cheesy. And it's SO HARD to get in a routine. But it definitely helps me.