Anxiety and Exercise

I've had my heart checked out. My doctor has told me to keep exercising as it will ultimately have a positive effect on anxiety, but it still makes me nervous sometimes.

Trust your doctor! Find fun exercise activities that you enjoy: dancing, Zumba, hula hooping, walks with friends... Start slowly, have fun, and stop if you find it too stressful. Every little bit helps, so don't overdo it.

For piece of mind get second opinion and get tested for other things (thyroid, hormones, allergies, asthma etc..) The effect of exercise and anxiety are nearly identical WRT breathing heart rate etc..lots of articles about why exercise kicks in an anxiety attack for some people. When you get anxious and nervous your breathing harder, heart rate increases, you get more in tune with your body (especially heart rate), the lightheaded feeling etc.. When you exercise your body starts dong the exact same thing but is a nornal response to exercise. However, those with anxiety/panic attacks dwell on the fact that you are experiencing a panic attack, you worry, you get anxious and dwell on heart rate etc.. and then the feeling of impeding doom kicks in. Any little pain or discomfort in chest/breathing freaks you out. double whammy and you stress out making everything worse. Sometime the rapid breathing from exercise + anxiety will lead to lightheadedness or feeling faint. Its a viscious cycle. I've battled this for nearly 4 years now and it isnt fun. active runner and lift 4 days a week. 3 ER visits, 2 MRIs, lots of blood work, ultra sounds of thyroid and heart, glucose test, stress test, heart monitor, 2 echocardiograms, hormone test, PT...i could go on and on. all normal and the only thing that works is xanax (not recommending it j/s) and today i still think somethings wrong. I look forward to exercising and in my mind i am ready but if any little thing happens while working out BAM, i am scewed for the remainder of w/out and until i get home in bed or something. I feel for ya. get a second opinion and other test just in case. Funny thin is i usually feel better a day or two after getting my results then it slowly returns...hope you resolve the issue.

If your doc oked it, your heart should be fine. I think exercise helps anxiety. I do elliptical and weights with the tv going at 5 in the morning.

To me, anxiety is partly about my mind being in overdrive and thinking about so many negative possibilities. Combining exercise and tv keeps my mind distracted from bad thoughts. Having that one hour each day of good focus makes the rest of the day better. It may take a different activity to work for you, maybe walking with music. I say, find a form of exercise that takes you out of yourself, or out of the moment, or however you think about it.

I have a "condition" called SVT which causes an extremely rapid heart rate (260 bpm for me) when triggered. Exercise used to be my main trigger but as my cardiovascular health improved so did my frequency of episodes. I am now off of my beta blocker and only experience an episode every few months instead of multiple times per week.

I know this is not the same condition you were diagnosed with, but I feel my story is relevant enough to share with you.

I agree with your doctor and everyone above who said it - exercise will help.

I know, I've had my heart checked out. My doctor has told me to keep exercising as it will ultimately have a positive effect on anxiety, but it still makes me nervous sometimes.

If the panic attack is over, I think exercise is fine, and you should listen to your doctor.

If you are truly just too afraid to exercise vigorously, then walk. It is much more mild cardio, but it still has a lot of benefits for your body.

It sounds to me though, that maybe you should look into some continued counseling, and/or perhaps some anti anxiety medications. I mean, you have panic attacks, but even when the attack is over you are still anxious, on edge, still worried that a little exercise will trigger heart trouble inspite of the fact that your doctor tells you otherwise. To me, that just shows an ongoing, continual struggle with anxiety.

Now a question: If hearing your doctor encourage you to exercise doesn't set you mind at ease, why would a bunch of strangers on the internet telling you the same thing set your mind at ease?

I suffer from anxiety, and have issues properly attributing anxiety-similar feelings. For example, in a steamy shower where you might feel short of breath, I begin to feel panicky and a sick sense of dread. Similarly, cardio exercise can make me feel agitated and anxious as my body attributes the physical feelings (elevated heart rate, etc) to what has conventionally been the cause for many years of my life -- anxiety. This has lessened substantially with time, but I enjoy strength training much more than cardio, as I feel more empowered, positive, and in-control. I also have taken an approach to cardio where I go for longer times while monitoring my heart rate with my HRM. I have grown accustomed to what I am physically comfortable with, heart-rate wise, and have also pushed this over time so now I rarely tie anxiety and exercise unless I am having a bad day or am physically not up for my workout (i.e. when I had a headcold and my heart-rate shot up whenever I attempted cardio).

My fitness regime has also helped immensely with my anxiety, and I feel much more "together" and stable on my gym days. Everyone in my life has noticed.

I hope some of that was remotely helpful, since really I have no ADVICE...just relating.

I've battled anxiety for years! Learning my triggers has helped immensely with keep them at bay and I can manage them without medication. Exercise does help because it helps you burn off the adrenalin that is coursing through you from the panic attack (your flight or fight response is triggered.) If your doctor has given you the green light you should do exercise. The previous poster (feltlikesound) has some good tips on tweaking it to suit you. I won't post all my triggers but if you want to know you can PM me.