5 Facts Teens Need To Know About Anxiety

Written By Cait Hall
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Lockdowns, loneliness and lack of a familiar routine has seen teenage experiences of anxiety in the UK reach an alarming level with 75% of young people finding this recent lockdown harder to cope with than previous ones. If you know why you feel a certain way it can you help find a solution.  We don’t have room here for all the answers here but we do have five facts to help.

  1. Anxiety looks different for everyone

Creepy, crawly, sweaty, heart racing, dry mouth, going blank, blushing, stuttering and unable to breathe… Anxiety can show itself in many different ways. It is important to remember that you can have any of these anxiety signs and feel completely fine. These anxiety signs are only a problem if they are stopping you from living your best life…or even just a really, really, good one.

 Physical Signs

  • Racing heart

  • Tightening in the chest

  • Butterflies in the tummy

  • Tense muscles

  • Sweating

  • Shaking hands

  • Feeling as though you’re going to vomit

  • Dizzy or light-headed

  • Feeling as though you want to burst into tears

  • Feeling angry

     

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Thoughts Signs

  • Negative thoughts

  • What ifs

  • Fear of being judged

  • Not good enough

  • A failure

  • Being embarrassed

Feelings Signs

  • A feeling that something bad is going to happen

  • A feeling of doom

  • Thinking the worst case scenario

Behavioural Signs

  • Excessive hand washing

  • Nail biting

  • Feeling a compulsion to double and triple check everything

  • Avoiding friends and family or events to avoid the anxiety associated with seeing them

  • Sleep disturbances – you might find it hard to go to sleep or wake up in the middle of the night

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Now for some good news…

2. Anxiety is a normal response

Anxiety in teens happens because a part of your brain (the amygdala) thinks there might be something it needs to protect you from. When this happens, it fills your body with a mix of neurochemicals (including oxygen, hormones and adrenaline), designed to make you stronger, faster, more alert and more powerful. These neurochemicals are like superpowers  allowing you to fight for your life or make a run for it if necessary. This is the fight or flight response. It’s normal and healthy and everyone has it. However if you are having anxious feelings it can activate a lot quicker. Anxiety is very common. On average, about 1 in 5 young people have anxiety. So if you have 30 people in your class at least 6 of them will also struggle with anxiety from time to time. And it won’t be the same 6 people each time. It’s not just you!

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3. Everyone experiences anxiety on some level

Anxiety exists on a spectrum. Think of those colour quizzes that you come across while scrolling on Instagram… you know the ones…how many colours can you see? There are actually 10 million shades of colour but only 1640 are named and they are all based on 11 colours. Crayola makes 120 colours of crayon for your amusement. Well anxiety is a bit like those colour spectrums.  Some people get it a lot and some people get it a lot less, but we all experience anxiety on some level at some time in our lives – exams, new school, job interviews and performances. Sometimes it can happen for no reason at all. Sometimes it is because we are going through a stressful situation. The recent lockdowns are a good example of this. You may have felt more anxious during lockdown periods because you haven’t been able to meet up with friends, or you might be concerned about exam grading or the health of a family member.

4. Anxiety is a feeling, not a personality

Anxiety is not a personality type. How many people do you know who say ‘I am an anxious person’? Anxiety is a feeling and all feelings are fleeting… yes even happiness. Anxiety will come and go. It doesn’t stay forever… promise.

5. You can be the boss of anxiety

Let us explain. Anxiety is not the enemy. In fact, Anxiety is pretty good at protecting you from dangerous things. Crossing the road and a car appears out of nowhere? Anxiety will fuel your legs to move quicker to get out of the way. Sometimes though, anxiety JUST GOES TOO FAR. The part of your brain that wants to protect you (the amygdala) can’t always tell the difference between something that might hurt you (like a truck speeding towards you) and something that won’t (like starting back to school) – and it doesn’t care. All it wants to do is keep you safe. So it sends all the messages, floods the body with neurochemicals and Boom! You have those anxiety signs we talked about earlier. Dang it.

How to lower your anxiety in just 1 minute

Go outside and Look Up. Stare at the sky and watch the clouds or the stars for a minute. Breathe in for a count of 3 and out for a count of 5. Keep watching the sky. This calms the amygdala – a bit like a lullaby for a protective dragon - and all those anxious feelings become less. Practice this breathing technique so you can do it without even thinking – that’s the first step to being the boss of anxiety.  

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Cait Hall