Symptoms of Health Anxiety and Tips to Overcome It

Health anxiety has become a common condition nowadays. If you frequently worry about your health even when there are no obvious symptoms of illness, or if you are constantly on the lookout for any signs of illness, you may be suffering from health anxiety.

Although it is natural to be concerned about one's health, for some people, this anxiety can be crippling. Managing health anxiety can be challenging and demanding, but it is possible.

A proactive mindset can help you overcome your fears and take control of your life. So, in order to live a happier and healthier life, let's examine the signs of health anxiety and the best ways to overcome it.

Everybody suffers from minor health issues now and then, but these shouldn't worry you too much (Image via Pexels @Andrea Piacquadio)

---

What is Health Anxiety?

Obsessive, unfounded fear of one having a serious health problem is known as health anxiety. It was formerly known as hypochondria but now goes by other names. A symptom of this disorder is the creation (imagination) of false physical symptoms in one's mind.

Alternatively, it can be the case that a person misinterprets minor or normal bodily sensations as serious disease symptoms despite being assured by medical professionals that they do not have any serious condition.

Health anxiety has many potential causes, but the following factors may play a role.

• Your knowledge of bodily experiences or illnesses is limited, or perhaps both. In this case, the symptoms you're experiencing might lead you to suspect a life-threatening illness is to blame. This prompts you to seek out verification that you do, in fact, have a life-threatening illness.
• Someone in your family is overly concerned about their health or yours.
• You know what it's like to deal with a life-threatening illness because you faced it as a child. So now that you're an adult, the sensations you're feeling are actually quite terrifying to you.

Anxiety about one's health typically begins in a person's early or mid-20s and can worsen with age.

If you need to be worried about an illness, your body will tell you. You dont need to be on the lookout for symptoms all the time (Image via Pexels @Andrea Piacquadio)

---

Symptoms of Health Anxiety

Check out the following symptoms of anxiety about your health that indicate you may be worrying about your health too much.

1) You keep thinking you have a serious illness, even though you don’t. If you have been cleared by tests and doctors of any illness, you must accept the fact that you do not have any condition.

2) Those who suffer from health anxiety have a tendency to constantly monitor their health for any indication of disease or illness, to the point where they may begin to mistake health fluctuations in bodily sensations for something more sinister.

3) Frequently visiting online forums and support groups dedicated to discussing your symptoms, or conducting internet searches for information about your symptoms may be a symptom of you being overly anxious about your health.

4) Worrying excessively about a particular illness may be a symptom of chronic anxiety about your health.

Constantly worrying about your health will only lead to more worry (Image via Pexels@Oleksandr Pidvalnyi)

---

How to Deal with Anxiety about Health?

The following steps may be useful in dealing with this condition.

1) Constantly getting evaluated and seeing more doctors may make your anxiety worse. While it's natural to want to feel safe, it's important to remember that relying on reassurance too often can make things worse.

2) People who suffer from health anxiety constantly check their bodies for signs of illness, even misinterpreting normal sensations. To break this cycle, be aware of how often you do this and gradually reduce it. If you check your body 10 times a day, aim to reduce it by one at a time. You can keep decreasing the behavior until you feel more in control and less driven to check your body.

3) If you frequently search for symptom information online or participate in online forums and groups, it may temporarily relieve your anxiety but ultimately increase it. Reduce your online or research frequency to fix this.

If your health fear is interfering with your daily life and making it hard to concentrate at work, you may benefit from gradually reducing the frequency of doctor visits and symptom research. Cognitive defusion techniques like observing thoughts, fears, and self-soothing can also help. Therapists can help manage these anxieties. You can also try anxiety exercises to tame your worries.