Why does exercise makes me feel anxious

[bazman29]

Hi all,

For years I've suffered with general anxiety and a few bouts of panic attacks.

One of my main ways of coping with my anxiety was exercise. I played a lot of sport and exercised regularly in the gym. I'm now in my mid 40s and still pretty fit. Recently as my lifestyle has changed, the amount of time I have available to exercise has reduced which has resulted in short periods when I've not exercised. Interestingly, as a result of this, I've now noticed that it's actually the exercise that causes/increases my anxiety.

If I don't do any for a few weeks, I feel great. Totally normal, confident and motivated.

As soon as I start up exercise again, after a few sessions my anxiety starts to slowly build. As I say I'm still pretty fit and can do a reasonably hard cardio session if I want. If I keep exercising over a period of say a week or 2, my anxiety starts to get really bad and is accompanied by a jittery feeling as if my body is burning up. I have waves of panic, sleep poorly and get really grouchy and tired.

If I stop again, I'll return to normal after about a week.

I am totally convinced this is not psychological. I don't fear exercise or the symptoms it produces - these are genuine physical symptoms. I'm actually convinced this has been the cause of my anxiety all along.

I've even tried reducing the intensity of my exercise, almost to the point I'm not really exercising but the anxiety still slowly builds.

I've searched the internet and there's lots of info about lactic acid, adrenal fatigue, blood sugar, vit B, magnesium, but no real sense of what's causing this. I do also see others talking about this kind of thing but no real common theme on cause.

I'd really like to hear from anyone who has experience of these symptoms and can offer any advice on how to manage them.

I've had my blood sugar and thyroid checked out and all are OK so I'm kind of resigned to having to stop exercise. The problem is I like exercise, I like to stay fit, so I don't want to give up. However, I'm starting to feel that if I want to feel OK, I can't exercise.

[Mindful]

You say you dont fear the anxiety you get from exercise so therefore dont really buy into it being a fear of the anxiety related to exercise but if you didnt fear it then it wouldnt bother you and you wouldnt have typed it in here.

I hope you see what i am saying?

I think you are in a cycle, you exercise- you feel anxiety building- you stop- anxiety goes away- you re-start exercise- your anxiety builds- you stop- it stops- and so on... sounds very much like it is anxiety related. IMO x

[ewood79]

Hi I agree with mindful....

It sounds like subconsciously you have noticed that your more anxious when excercising so when you do it it's felt and in recent times more severely...

I would keep excercising for a week and try and ride it out instead of taking a break..... See if you can break the cycle?

Good luck with it all!

I get anxious when I start to exercise , going for a walk, swimming etc..... Afterwards I notice my hearts pumping etc and I freak out cause im like oh my whys it beating so fast but then I reason with myself and calm myself down...