Why do I feel dizzy when I am anxious?
Anxiety makes you feel dizzy mainly by changing your breathing. Subtle overbreathing blows off carbon dioxide, narrowing brain blood vessels and producing lightheadedness, tingling and unreality. Tense neck muscles and a vigilance-hijacked balance system add their share.
It feels dangerous and is not, which is exactly the loop anxiety exploits.
Slowing the breath, especially long exhales, reverses it within minutes. Dizziness that spins the room, comes with hearing changes, or drops you deserves its own medical look; the swimmy lightheaded kind that tracks stressful moments is usually this mechanism.
Source: MedlinePlus, hyperventilation
See a doctor promptly if
- Chest pain or tightness brought on by exertion and relieved by rest, or pain spreading to the jaw, neck, back or arm
- Chest pain with sweating, nausea, vomiting or a feeling of impending doom: call emergency services, do not drive yourself
- Fainting or near-fainting with palpitations, especially during exercise
- Palpitations with a family history of sudden cardiac death or heart muscle disease under the age of 50
- Sudden breathlessness with sharp chest pain worse on breathing in, or a swollen, painful calf
- Thoughts of harming yourself, or feeling you cannot keep yourself safe. Contact emergency services or a crisis line now
Try the mood check2 min, free, nothing to installThe PHQ-9 and GAD-7, the two questionnaires doctors screen low mood and anxiety with, scored privately on your device.
Mind and sleepA private mood check, and guides on anxiety, low mood, ADHD and sleep
Answered by the AskDoc Medical Team · Medically reviewed under our Medical Director, MBBS · How we review
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