Anxiety and exercise

[Alde]

Hi all,

I know exercise is supposed to help chronic anxiety and stress but I just find it exhausting.

Even just going for a short walk or walking round the supermarket leaves me breathless! I’m of average weight and am only 27 years old.

Does anyone else get this?

Cheers,

Al

[fishman65]

Alde, I'm 53 and until about 3 months ago was grossly unfit while being roughly 8st overweight. I started walking, brisk walking while taking the steepest routes I could find. Like you I was exhausted at first, climbing a steep road left me gasping for breath.

Now I can do those gradients easily, ok puffing a bit but then your heart and lungs need to be working to get them functioning well. Combined with a better diet, cutting out junk and eating more fruit and veg, I've lost maybe 4st this year. Whether exercise actually helps anxiety is debatable, after all I was a slim and fit 20 year old when I had my first panic attack. However, in my experience you can only benefit, physically at least.

---------- Post added at 21:25 ---------- Previous post was at 21:21 ----------

PS - you shouldn't really be breathless at your age and weight, just by walking round a supermarket. See a doctor maybe?

[ankietyjoe]

What's your diet like? Have you been extremely sedentary recently, before you started exercising?

[Alde]

Alde, I'm 53 and until about 3 months ago was grossly unfit while being roughly 8st overweight. I started walking, brisk walking while taking the steepest routes I could find. Like you I was exhausted at first, climbing a steep road left me gasping for breath.

Now I can do those gradients easily, ok puffing a bit but then your heart and lungs need to be working to get them functioning well. Combined with a better diet, cutting out junk and eating more fruit and veg, I've lost maybe 4st this year. Whether exercise actually helps anxiety is debatable, after all I was a slim and fit 20 year old when I had my first panic attack. However, in my experience you can only benefit, physically at least.

---------- Post added at 21:25 ---------- Previous post was at 21:21 ----------

PS - you shouldn't really be breathless at your age and weight, just by walking round a supermarket. See a doctor maybe?

I was fine before the past 6 weeks or so. I think my anxiety has made me constantly exhausted and that’s possibly why I’m unable to do much? I have seen my GP and a consultant but after doing bloods and ecgs thatcame back normal, they are unable to tell me the cause.

Congrats with the weight loss by the way!

---------- Post added at 09:08 ---------- Previous post was at 09:06 ----------

What's your diet like? Have you been extremely sedentary recently, before you started exercising?

Diet isn’t great and I haven’t really been moving much for the past month or so. Because doctors haven’t been able to give me an answer on why I feel like this I’ve been worried to put too much strain on myself in case I make something worse.

[ankietyjoe]

Diet isn’t great and I haven’t really been moving much for the past month or so. Because doctors haven’t been able to give me an answer on why I feel like this I’ve been worried to put too much strain on myself in case I make something worse.

The Doctors won't tell you what it is, because it's not really a medical problem, it's more of a holistic one. A medical test needs to find something 'wrong'.

Stress and anxiety are MORE than enough to completely exhaust you, especially when it comes to your adrenals.

The reason I asked about your diet and activity levels is because I've been through almost exactly the same thing myself.

Firstly, your body needs more nutrition when it's under stress. As an anecdote, I have a friend who's a bodybuilder. He takes 2000% the recommended levels of VitC (for example), because he puts his body under such physical duress. If he doesn't, he starts to feel sick and fatigued. Your diet and nutritional intake is important. Fresh fruit and veg are far more important than anybody gives them credit.

Stopping exercise 'just in case' is a bad move. I know this because I did it myself for nearly 3 years, and it caused me many problems starting again. I DID start again over the last 12 months and the first month or two was very hard. I had to start really slowly and build up to what most people would consider 'normal'.

Finally, I would keep doing your daily walks, but starting them with a different mental approach. Don't start them expecting there to be a problem, start them with a mantra of 'I know this is doing me good, no matter how it makes me feel'. A brisk walk isn't enough to tax your body unduly, and cannot possibly do you any harm. The fatigue/anxiety relationship is a feedback loop. If you expect to feel bad then your CNS will react as though the walk itself is a threat, and it's not.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yes, I did/do.

What I found was the level of stress on the body is powerful. Joe has talked about this and how we need more specific nutrition to deal with it yet think we are running the same as when not anxious. The bodybuilder example is a good one. That guy is lifting hence caused more stress on his body (and the CNS) so needs to tailor his nutrition to recovery & growth. If he doesn't not only will he limit his results in terms of increasing strength & size but will risk injury.

Something else I have found is (likely coupled with the above) we don't realise how being sedentary impacts on the body. I have spent months sitting about in the past and then got out walking to find it exhausting. But think of someone who is ill or injured and how after months with a limb in plaster they have not only lost their strength/power but also their endurance.

I would say keep going and see whether it improves.

Another lesson I have learned is how anxiety symptoms often closely mirror other things. For instance, excitement can feel like it may "tip over" into panic. Palps are one of our symptoms and since we ramp up our HB and increase our breathing we get thoughts about how close this feels to panic. Then we avoid exercise due to that possibility.

Another one I found was how the next day affected me. The soreness. Coupled with my morning anxiety issues, as you talked about on another thread, this meant I found myself afraid to exercise because of feeling bad the next day.

I'm still dealing with al this but you will find as you push the boundaries you will become more confident. Shrink your bubble and the opposite applies.

Obviously if you have a chronic condition of some form (I had asthma to factor in) it's more complicated and may need a doctor's input too.

[vicky23]

Hi Al,
excellent advice from the guys already. I just wanted to say I can definitely relate to how you're feeling and it's really frustrating. I hope you see progress in the new year
Best wishes
X

[Alde]

Joe, Terry and Vicky,

Sorry I hadn’t replied to your messages, must’ve missed them! Thank you all for the advice and encouragement.

I’ve improved a bit since this post but my heart still races even when I’m just having a stretch! So it’s a work in progress.

Thanks again all,

Al

[Melsuk]

I find that happens when I’m anxious. I subconsciously hold my breath whilst walking


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[ankietyjoe]

Joe, Terry and Vicky,

Sorry I hadn’t replied to your messages, must’ve missed them! Thank you all for the advice and encouragement.

I’ve improved a bit since this post but my heart still races even when I’m just having a stretch! So it’s a work in progress.

Thanks again all,

Al

I had EXACTLY that for ages. I came to realise (after absolutely no help from the Doctors) that it was stored up muscle tension. You'll probably find that your body is 'off' all over, that most of the major muscle groups feel tight/weird/sore/fatigued.

I don't know the exact science behind it, but I found that progressive relaxation and all over exercise (but not strenuous) really helps over time. Heavy lifting would probably make it worse in the short term, but I found getting out for walks every morning to be the most beneficial exercise to help alleviate this.