Why Anxiety Causes Dizziness And How To Prevent It

Anxiety is a powerful feeling that causes many different kinds of mental, emotional and physical symptoms. One major way people can feel affected by anxiety is experiencing dizzy spells. Dizzy spells are a commonly experienced symptom of anxiety that is uncomfortable and sometimes alarming. Dizzy spells can feel like a lightheaded feeling, a loss of balance, or a slight pressure in the face and head. Dizzy spells are sometimes scary, but are mainly harmless and do not leave a long lasting impact on the affected person.

What Causes A Person To Feel Dizzy When Anxious?

There are two main reasons why a person may feel dizzy when he or she is anxious. In more mild and consistent forms of anxiety, a dizzy spell may occur from being overwhelmed. However, in more unexpected and severe situations that cause anxiety, the dizzy spell can be the result of an anxiety attack or panic attack.

Dizziness From Being Overwhelmed

Everyone gets overwhelmed sometimes. Whether it is stress at work, issues with relationships, or just difficulty meeting the demands of everyday life, it can be easy to let stressors overwhelm you. Being overwhelmed causes many symptoms, like:

  • Having racing thoughts
  • Feeling symptoms of anxiety
  • Feeling irritable
  • Muscle tension
  • Shallow breathing

Each of these symptoms contributes to a person feeling dizzy when anxious. Anxiety produces racing stressful thoughts in a person. The stress causes the muscles to tense and the breathing to shallow. The tension and low levels of oxygen received in the brain, along with the racing thoughts causing your attention Ping-Pong to several different things at once, can become disorienting, resulting in dizziness.

Dizziness From Anxiety Attacks And Panic Attacks

Experiencing an anxiety or panic attack will result in dizziness. This is because the symptoms of the attack are the reaction to the body and mind’s excited state. A person will experience the following symptoms when he or she experiences a panic attack or anxiety attack:

  • Racing thoughts
  • Disorientation
  • Racing heartbeat
  • Hyperventilation

Each of these symptoms happening at the same time will result in dizziness. Racing thoughts will upset the mind and body, causing the heart to beat faster and the breath to become more rapid and deeper. The racing heartbeat and excess of oxygen to the brain will cause a person to feel lightheaded. The racing thoughts and distress associated with experiencing the bodily symptoms will result in disorientation. Each of these components will cause a person to feel dizzy.

How To Prevent Dizziness When Feeling Anxious

The main contributing factor that causes dizziness is the change in the breathing pattern. As stated earlier, when feeling anxious your breathing will either become deeper and more rapid, or shallower and staggered. Both of these changes in breathing will cause dizziness, so the best way to prevent dizziness when feeling anxious is to be sure to stay mindful of your breathing. Remember to maintain normal breathing patterns even if you are anxious. The best way to manage your breathing when anxious is to take a ‘time out’, where you can remove yourself from what is making you feel anxious, regain composure, and re-address the situation with a calmer state of mind and level pace of breathing.