The crazy way social anxiety disorder makes you tired

Anxiety is an ambiguous term that many of us throw around rather carelessly. How many of us know what it really means or the fact that there are different types of anxiety?
Did you know that women are twice as likely as men to get diagnosed with an anxiety disorder?

Different types of anxiety

There are five major types of anxiety disorders: generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, post-traumatic disorder and the type we’re looking into today, social anxiety disorder.

How anxiety affects your daily life

One of the hardest parts of living with anxiety is how tired you get. Anxiety can cause extreme fatigue. In fact, lack of energy is often the first tip that something’s not ‘OK’.

Anxiety affects your brain, your neurotransmitters, your hormones, your muscles, and even your nutrition. It’s not unlikely that after severe anxiety, your mind wants to rest to recoup some of those changes.

Social anxiety sends your brain chemistry into a spin which means your brain can’t do as much work on the rest of your body which makes you tired.

Fatigue is a symptom of anxiety that can keep you from fulfilling the expectations that you have of yourself, and from fulfilling the expectations that the modern world has of you. Problems in your personal life, social life, and career are a common result of anxiety fatigue.

What exactly is SAD?

This disorder is a type of social phobia which is characterized by a fear of being negatively judged by others or experiencing public embarrassment due to impulsive actions. Fear of intimacy or humiliation can make sufferers avoid public situations and human contact, rendering normal life impossible.

Fatigue from anxiety is often difficult to understand. It usually happens after prolonged anxiety, such as an anxiety attack or a situation that causes significant stress. It’s a common symptom of almost every type of anxiety, even though in some cases anxiety keeps you awake.

Brain scans have shown that people with anxiety disorders have a smaller Amygdala, the part of the brain that is primarily associated with emotional processes, than people who don’t suffer from anxiety. They don’t know the exact cause of anxiety disorders, but the theory is that the Amygdala has trouble communicating with the Frontal lobes.

We have all this information; however, it is unfortunate that most people who do not understand it will still tell you to ‘get over it’.

Tips to ease Social Anxiety Disorder Fatigue

By making these small changes to desensitize yourself in the social spectrum, you or a loved one suffering from Social Anxiety Disorder can help ease the fatigue that it causes.

When you are careful with yourself and with those around you, you can decrease the amount of additional anxiety your anxiety fatigue may be causing you. In turn, this can help you decrease your fatigue and make you feel more like yourself again. Keeping yourself in a positive frame of mind, maintaining your relationships with friends and family, and doing well at work are all crucial steps towards decreasing your overall anxiety levels and leading the calm and balanced life you want to live.