Will worry make you sick?

All of our bodies have different ways of expressing worry.  Worry and hormones associated with mental health are actually created and begin in our gut.  The difficult part here is that our bodies want to produce more happy hormones when we are experiencing worry to help balance things out, but that production can sometimes be felt like an upset stomach, cramping, diarrhea, etc.  That can be a vicious cycle because our bodies are trying to help our worried feelings, but in doing so, it can sometimes make people more worried due to not feeling well.  It is important to be mindful of this to hopefully validate when your body is actually trying to help you versus making you feel worse.

As you start to feel worried about your body, it is really important and helpful to try and release those anxious hormones.  Think of it like a factory producing more and more worry hormones, and the factory needs to ship some out, or else it will overflow.  Activities such as exercising, meditation, listening to music, creating art, among other things, are all great activities that have been shown to help release some anxious hormones.  If you are not releasing the worry hormones, you will likely feel sicker and sicker. Make sure to get in a routine with the self-care actions that help you release anxious hormones and be consistent with those.  If you are not consistent with them, they will likely feel forced and less likely to be effective. 

Another important aspect of worry to keep in mind is that sometimes worry has a purpose.  If you do not live out that purpose, it will likely make the worry worse and cause you to feel sick.  For example, if I am worried about an exam, that worry is meant to help me to make sure to prepare and to study. If I do not live out that purpose, I will likely not prepare enough and feel even more worried and sick.  So, try to keep in mind the purpose of your worry and live out that purpose to feel less sick, hopefully.