Am I Anxious or Stressed?

Am I just stressed? Am I anxious? How do I know how serious this is?

When exploring your own mental health, it can be easy to chalk up your symptoms to “stress.” It might be hard to sleep or focus, or you might feel your chest tightening. Understanding the differences and similarities between stress and anxiety can help us navigate and manage our symptoms.

Stress is often your body and brain’s reaction to an external demand, threat, challenge, or other stressor. Stress can be helpful in the short-term, such as by helping you focus on an assignment to meet a deadline or to be extremely careful about an important decision. When the stressor is gone, your stress should disappear as well. You should feel some “stress relief.” 

Anxiety may not always have a specific stressor that you can point to as the cause of your body and brain’s symptoms. You might feel stressed but not be able to point to a stressor to resolve, which means that your anxiety may stick around for an unknown period of time. Because of this, anxiety can feel a lot more like uneasiness, restlessness, and a sense that something bad might happen. 

Your physical symptoms might feel similar with both stress and anxiety. You might feel tense, irritable, tired, or sweaty, and might be unable to fall asleep or focus with both of these experiences.

When concerned about if you’re stressed or anxious, ask yourself if you can point to a stressor. If the stressor feels like it’s “life” or “everything” or “so many different things” or “something that hasn’t even happened,” you might be feeling more anxious than stressed. 

Whether you’re feeling stressed, anxious, or both, it’s important to recognize how stress and anxiety manifest for you. Reflect on your physiological symptoms and how stress and anxiety can make it difficult to function in different parts of your life. Incorporate self-care and stress relief activities, and if you would benefit from them, consider exploring different anxiety management techniques and seeking additional support.