Do you often find yourself focusing on what could be wrong with your body? If so, you might be suffering from health anxiety.
After two long years of Covid, it’s not surprising that many people are more mindful of staying well. However, when the desire to be healthy becomes a source of anxiety or distress, it’s worth taking a step back and rethinking how you talk to yourself.
If you suffer from back pain, neck pain, headaches or other spinal problems it can be easy to jump to the worst case scenario. However, all these things are very common and rarely a sign of anything serious. If you find that you’re stuck in a pattern of negative thinking, this can make the pain worse. In some cases, the pain persists when the original injury has healed and the cause has gone. The pain gets locked in even normal movements can trigger it. This is called allodynia.
Here are some ways you can break the cycle.
- Don’t Google your symptoms. This goes for pretty much anything! A search engine is organised to capture your attention and encourage you to follow various links – the easiest way to do this is to offer the most alarming possibilities for your symptoms, which are almost never an accurate picture of what’s actually happening. If you find yourself very worried about a certain symptom or pain, it’s always best to seek the advice of a doctor, chiropractor, therapist or another healthcare professional.
- Talk to someone close to you. If you’d rather not seek the opinion of a professional, chat to a person you trust about your concerns. This often helps anxiety-sufferers to put their concerns into perspective and be reassured that pain, tension or discomfort is very common and often goes away by itself.
- Move your body. Even if you find yourself in pain, it’s always a good idea to go for a short walk. Not only does this relieve muscle tension and raise the pain threshold, it also helps feelings of anxiety and distress.
- Write your concerns down. Make a note of the symptom or pain that’s bothering you, and then follow it with the worst case scenario. Chances are it will either be very unlikely or even impossible, or perhaps not very worrying at all. Follow this with a note of what is more likely to be the case, or a rational way you can deal with the health concern you’re worrying about. This can help you feel more confident when you find yourself feeling anxious about your symptoms.
- Keep busy. While it’s important to eat healthily, exercise regularly and keep alcohol to a minimum, don’t let your life be ruled by health concerns. Make sure to do the things you enjoy and stay busy. Your mental health is just as important as your physical health, so make sure you do the things that make you happy.
If you’re worried about aches and pains, or want to take the next step towards feeling better, don’t hesitate to book an appointment at Sundial. We’re always happy to help you.