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How Does Anxiety Cause Nausea?

How does anxiety cause nausea?

Well anxiety in and of itself does not cause nausea.

I know what you’re thinking, you have anxiety and when it gets really bad you start to have nausea. So your anxiety caused your nausea!

Well yes and no…

Like I mentioned, your anxiety doesn’t directly cause nausea but the same internal physiological mechanism is causing both of these things…that’s a fancy way of saying they are both caused by the same thing going on inside your body.

Anxiety is something that isn’t talked about enough in my opinion. According to the National Institute of Mental Health 31% of adults will experience an anxiety disorder during their lives. That is a huge amount of people! Yet a lot of people still view anxiety as something that is somewhat made up or something that you should just tough out.

That’s an insane viewpoint on something that a lot of people wish they didn’t have! Anyone who struggles with anxiety will have no problem telling you that they wish they didn’t have it, they didn’t choose to have it.

The most challenging part of it all is trying to figure out what to do about it. There are endless options out there when it comes to treating anxiety but so many of those options have to deal with medications. More and more of the people I see in my office come in because they want to get off medications or want to avoid them at all costs.

How Anxiety & Nausea Are Related

We’ve established that anxiety and nausea are related and that they don’t actually cause one another. I understand why people think this because usually when some experiences nausea it’s due to some sort of food or a weird movement like being on a roller coaster or on a wavy boat…not associated with anxiety.

But in actuality the same thing that causes anxiety causes nausea as well.

It all boils down to the nervous system.

Now if you’ve read any of my other blogs you’re probably rolling your eyes at this point because it seems like I’m always talking about this. And it’s true! Because so many of the things people experience are caused by a nervous system imbalance!

Anxiety is often caused by an overstimulated nervous system, in particular the sympathetic nervous system. Everyone that comes into my office, no matter what their symptoms are I always ask them if there was a dimmer switch inside your body, does it often feel like it’s cranked up a little too high? I’d say probably 75% of the time people will admit that they feel like this dimmer switch is cranked up a little too high.

The reason I’m bringing this up is because this dimmer switch is similar to anxiety and the sympathetic nervous system. This portion of the nervous system controls the survival side of our body. Meaning it is in charge of adrenaline rushes and the fight or flight response. When you experience an adrenaline rush you know how intense that is, it’s hard to do anything other than be super amped up.

With anxiety this part of the nervous system is chronically ramped up. Sure it might not feel like a full fledged adrenaline rush but the same things are happening in your body as an adrenaline rush.

Your blood pressure rises, it’s difficult to think clearly, etc…all because our nervous system is messed up.

The nervous system also plays a role in nausea. Yes you can get nausea from foods and things like roller coasters or swaying boats but getting nausea with anxiety is something different. This is tied to the autonomic nervous system, the same system that anxiety is tied to. This impacts anxiety but it also supplies things like the digestive tract, parts of our face and brain, our heart, muscles, and just about everything else.

Research is showing that an increased sympathetic nervous system (dimmer switch turned up) has a direct effect and correlation with nausea. This can be caused by the nerves going to the stomach or the ones going to your brain and face. In either case they are getting too much input and the symptoms that we feel are nausea. Remember this is the same system that causes us to have anxiety as well. So it’s no wonder why people feel like their anxiety also causes nausea, they are caused by the exact same physiologic action within the body.

The Trick To Turn This Off

What’s really cool is there are things we can do at home to help turn this sympathetic nervous system off and bring our body into the calming healing state it’s supposed to be in the majority of the time! Some of these at home things are easier to do than others. Also it should be said that a lot of people roll their eyes at some of these things but if you take the time to seriously do them it can make a huge difference on your anxiety and nausea caused by the nervous system.

The first thing that is by far the easiest is breathwork and meditation. This has been shown to have huge impacts in stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system. Start by searching breathwork and meditation on youtube, there are a ton of really great free resources on there that you’ll be able to follow and find the person that resonated with you best.

Ice baths or cold showers are some of the hardest things to do at home but these have the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to stimulating your parasympathetic nervous system. They are a shock to your system and the only thing your body can do once you’re done with them is go into a calming state. Research suggests that 12 minutes a week of ice baths gives you the benefits of this physiologically.

Exercise is something that is really easy, some high intensity exercise has been shown to be really great for nervous system regulation. What’s great about this type of exercise is you don’t have to do it for a super long period of time. If you’re able to get your heart rate up for 20 minutes or longer you will reap the benefits.

Finally something that isn’t at home is the care that we provide at The Specific Chiropractic Center Naples. Our entire goal is to regulate the nervous system and get things working correctly. If you’re someone who struggles with keeping yourself accountable then the care we provide here is perfect for you as we will hold you accountable. I hope you’ve found this article informative, if you have any questions give us a call or text at 239-610-1442.