What are stress and anxiety?
Stress is any demand placed on your brain or physical body. Any event or scenario that makes you feel frustrated or nervous can trigger it.
Anxiety is a feeling of fear, worry, or unease. While it can occur as a reaction to stress, it can also happen without any obvious trigger.
Both stress and anxiety involve mostly identical symptoms, including:
- trouble sleeping
- digestive issues
- difficulty concentrating
- muscle tension
- irritability or anger
Most people experience some feelings of stress and anxiety at some point, and that isn’t necessarily a “bad” thing. After all, stress and anxiety can sometimes be a helpful motivator to accomplish daunting tasks or do things you’d rather not (but really should).
But unmanaged stress and anxiety can start to interfere with your daily life and take a toll on your mental and physical health.
Here’s a closer look at stress and anxiety, how they differ, and how to find support for managing both.
Differences between stress and anxiety
The big difference between stress and anxiety is the presence of a specific trigger.
Stress is typically tied to a specific situation. Once that situation resolves, so does your stress.
Maybe you have an upcoming exam that you’re worried about taking. Or you’re trying to juggle working from home with three small children who are competing for your attention. In both cases, there’s a specific root of your stress. Once the exam is over or your children return to daycare, your stress starts to go away.
That doesn’t mean stress is always short-lived, though. Chronic stress refers to long lasting stress that occurs in response to ongoing pressure, like a demanding job or family conflict.
Anxiety, by contrast, doesn’t always have a specific stressor.
Can one turn into the other?
While stress and anxiety are different things, they’re closely connected.
In some cases, stress might trigger anxiety. If you’re stressed about a big upcoming move, for example, you might find that you start to feel generally nervous about nothing in particular.
How to tell whether you’re experiencing stress or anxiety
Not sure whether stress or anxiety is behind your symptoms?
Take a step back and think of what’s going on in your life right now. What kinds of things do you tend to worry about? Are they specific threats or events?
Consider car troubles. Maybe you know you really need new tires, especially now that it’s starting to snow. But you can’t afford to replace them just yet.
For the next few weeks, you feel uneasy about driving. What if you slide on a patch of ice? What if you get a flat on your way home from a late-night shift on that stretch of road with lousy reception?
A few weeks later, you have a fresh set of tires and stop worrying about driving to and from work safely. In this case, your nervousness was due to stress, triggered by having old tires.
But maybe you get new tires and don’t really notice a change in your symptoms. You’re still nervous about driving and feel a vague sense of unease that you can’t quite put your finger on. Or, your tires were never an issue in the first place, but you can shake an overall feeling of nervousness about getting on the road. That would be anxiety.
If you can tie your feelings back to a specific trigger, they’re likely the result of stress. But if the exact cause isn’t clear, or your symptoms stick around after the initial trigger goes away, it may be anxiety.
What causes stress and anxiety?
Stress typically happens in response to physical or mental pressure. This pressure might involve a big life change, like:
- moving
- starting a new school or job
- having an illness or injury
- having a friend or family member who is ill or injured
- experiencing the death of a family member or friend
- getting married
- having a baby
But stress triggers don’t need to be life-altering. You might feel stress due to:
- having a long to-do list to tackle over the weekend
- attending a big work meeting
- having a looming deadline for a project
Stress and anxiety-related disorders
Stress and anxiety that occur frequently or seem out of proportion to the stressor could be signs of an underlying condition, including:
- Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). This is a common anxiety disorder characterized by uncontrollable worrying. Sometimes people worry about bad things happening to them or their loved ones, and at other times, they may not be able to identify any source of worry.
- Panic disorder. This condition causes panic attacks, which are moments of extreme fear accompanied by a pounding heart, shortness of breath, and a fear of impending doom.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This is a condition that causes flashbacks or anxiety as the result of a traumatic experience.
- Social anxiety disorder. This condition causes intense feelings of anxiety in situations that involve interacting with others.
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This is a condition that causes repetitive thoughts and the compulsion to complete certain ritual actions.
When to seek help
It’s best to talk with a mental health professional any time stress or anxiety starts to affect your day-to-day life.
Keep in mind: You don’t need to have a specific mental health condition to benefit from therapy. A qualified therapist can help you identify potential triggers and create effective coping mechanisms to minimize their impact, even if you don’t meet the diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder.
It’s also worth reaching out if stress or anxiety leaves you feeling hopeless, or if you start having thoughts of harming yourself or others.
If you’re not sure where to start, consider asking your primary healthcare professional for a referral.
Or check out our guide to finding a therapist.
Get support for suicidal thoughts
If you’re having thoughts of harming yourself or ending your life, know that you’re not alone.
You can access free, confidential support 24/7 by reaching out to a crisis helpline.
Trained crisis counselors can offer guidance on coping with overwhelming thoughts in the moment and help you explore options for additional support.
Connect now:
- Reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.
- Reach the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741-741.
Find more suicide prevention resources here.
Treatment for stress and anxiety
Many types of therapy can help with stress and anxiety. A mental health professional can help you find the right approach for your specific symptoms.
Some examples of approaches they might recommend are:
- Cognitive behavioral therapy, which teaches you to recognize anxious thoughts and behaviors and change them into more positive ones.
- Exposure therapy, which involves gradually exposing you to certain things that trigger anxiety.
- Acceptance and commitment therapy, which teaches you how to accept and sit with negative emotions.
Depending on your symptoms, they may also recommend medication to help with anxiety symptoms. These may include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as sertraline (Zoloft) or paroxetine (Paxil).
In some cases, a clinician might recommend benzodiazepines, such as diazepam (Valium) or lorazepam (Ativan), but these approaches are generally used on a short-term basis due to the risk of dependence.
The bottom line
While some amount of stress and anxiety in life is expected and shouldn’t be a cause for concern, it’s important to recognize when these feelings are causing negative consequences.
If you feel like your stress and anxiety are becoming unmanageable, a mental health professional can help you develop new coping skills.
Read this article in Spanish.
I’m So Stressed Out! Fact Sheet
Feeling overwhelmed? Read this fact sheet to learn whether it’s stress or anxiety, and what you can do to cope.
Is it stress or anxiety?
Life can be stressful—you may feel stressed about performance at school, traumatic events (such as a pandemic, a natural disaster, or an act of violence), or a life change. Everyone feels stress from time to time.
What is stress? Stress is the physical or mental response to an external cause, such as having a lot of homework or having an illness. A stressor may be a one-time or short-term occurrence, or it can happen repeatedly over a long time.
What is anxiety? Anxiety is your body’s reaction to stress and can occur even if there is no current threat.
If that anxiety doesn’t go away and begins to interfere with your life, it could affect your health. You could experience problems with sleeping, or with your immune, digestive, cardiovascular, and reproductive systems. You also may be at higher risk for developing a mental illness such as an anxiety disorder or depression. Read more about anxiety disorders.
So, how do you know when to seek help?
Stress vs. Anxiety
Stress Both Stress and Anxiety Anxiety
- Generally is a response to an external cause, such as taking a big test or arguing with a friend.
- Goes away once the situation is resolved.
- Can be positive or negative. For example, it may inspire you to meet a deadline, or it may cause you to lose sleep.
Both stress and anxiety can affect your mind and body. You may experience symptoms such as:
- Excessive worry
- Uneasiness
- Tension
- Headaches or body pain
- High blood pressure
- Loss of sleep
- Generally is internal, meaning it’s your reaction to stress.
- Usually involves a persistent feeling of apprehension or dread that doesn’t go away, and that interferes with how you live your life.
- Is constant, even if there is no immediate threat.
It’s important to manage your stress.
Everyone experiences stress, and sometimes that stress can feel overwhelming. You may be at risk for an anxiety disorder if it feels like you can’t manage the stress and if the symptoms of your stress:
- Interfere with your everyday life.
- Cause you to avoid doing things.
- Seem to be always present.
Coping With Stress and Anxiety
Learning what causes or triggers your stress and what coping techniques work for you can help reduce your anxiety and improve your daily life. It may take trial and error to discover what works best for you. Here are some activities you can try when you start to feel overwhelmed:
- Keep a journal.
- Download an app that provides relaxation exercises (such as deep breathing or visualization) or tips for practicing mindfulness, which is a psychological process of actively paying attention to the present moment.
- Exercise, and make sure you are eating healthy, regular meals.
- Stick to a sleep routine, and make sure you are getting enough sleep.
- Avoid drinking excess caffeine such as soft drinks or coffee.
- Identify and challenge your negative and unhelpful thoughts.
- Reach out to your friends or family members who help you cope in a positive way.
Recognize When You Need More Help
If you are struggling to cope, or the symptoms of your stress or anxiety won’t go away, it may be time to talk to a professional. Psychotherapy (also called talk therapy) and medication are the two main treatments for anxiety, and many people benefit from a combination of the two.
If you are in immediate distress or are thinking about hurting yourself, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.
If you or someone you know has a mental illness, is struggling emotionally, or has concerns about their mental health, there are ways to get help. Read more about getting help.
More Resources
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
National Institutes of Health
NIH Publication No. 20-MH-8125
