Stress vs Anxiety: What’s The Difference?

Stress and anxiety are two words that often get used interchangeably (‘I’m so stressed’ and ‘my anxiety is through the roof’), but while they are similar, they’re not exactly the same thing.

Understanding the difference between stress and anxiety can be useful for figuring out what you’re dealing with and how best to handle it. This guide explores those differences.

What is stress?

Let’s start by looking at what stress is. It is a natural body response to threats and challenges that triggers a hormone called ‘cortisol’ to be produced. This stress hormone prepares our body for ‘fight or flight’ – it gives us a rush of energy, sharpens our focus and causes our muscles to become tense in preparation for action.

Stress is actually good for us in certain dangerous situations as it can make us more alert and improve our reactions. However, humans have unfortunately evolved to experience stress in many non-life-threatening situations (like during school exams, busy work shifts or moments of financial hardship), where there is often no way to physically release our stress.

‘Chronic stress’ is a term used to describe long-term stress, which can end up wearing us down physically and mentally. A constant state of alertness can lead to headaches, insomnia and fatigue, while constant muscle tension can lead to aches and exhaustion (burnout). Chronic stress can also lead to skin condition flare-ups (like acne and psoriasis), hair loss, digestive issues and a low immune system (leading to various illnesses and infections).

 All in all, stress is something that should be short-term and not long-term if you want to avoid negative consequences (which is why finding ways to de-stress is important!).

What is anxiety?

Anxiety can often accompany stress – but whereas stress is largely a physical reaction, anxiety is predominantly a mental reaction. It is a sense of lingering fear, worry and dread that causes us to come up with various ‘what if?’ situations. 

Anxiety can be important for recognizing upcoming problems we may have to face, helping us to prepare for these problems and explore solutions. However, if we cannot control this feeling of anxiety or we end up becoming anxious about something irrational, it can end up becoming a mental ‘problem’ itself. 

Everyone experiences some mild anxiety (usually referred to as ‘nerves’) leading up to an important event. However, for some people, anxiety can spiral into something more severe – this is when a person experiences persistent racing thoughts, which can lead to physical chronic stress symptoms (like insomnia, exhaustion and stomach issues), as well as acute symptoms like sweating, dizziness, trembling and a tight chest. 

A particularly serious acute reaction that some people can have to anxiety is a ‘panic attack’. This can lead to nausea, chest pain and often a feeling that a person cannot breathe. Although you cannot directly die from a panic attack, some people may feel they are having a heart attack during an episode. This type of anxiety is known as ‘panic disorder’.

Anxiety attacks caused by irrational triggers are meanwhile known as ‘phobias’ (like arachnophobia or claustrophobia). If socializing makes you anxious, this is known as ‘social anxiety’. Anxiety triggered by past trauma is meanwhile known as ‘PTSD’ (post traumatic stress disorder). Anxiety that leads to obsessive rituals and behaviors is meanwhile known as ‘OCD’ (obsessive compulsive disorder). If you experience severe anxiety due to various general issues, this could be classed as ‘GAD’ (generalized anxiety disorder).

Dealing with stress

Stress is often easier to treat than anxiety, however many people never attempt to manage their stress – which is why it often turns chronic.

There are a few effective ways of dealing with stress:

• • Identify your stress triggers: Start by identifying what stresses you out. Think more specific than ‘work’ or ‘kids’ – consider the situations and tasks where stress becomes more of an issue. 

• Explore ways to prevent future stress: Prevention is always the best cure. Avoid future stress by learning to say no to extra commitments, asking for extended deadlines early or reaching out for help with tasks. 

• Physically release stress through movement: Exercise is a great way to release stress. A brisk 5 minute walk may be all you need sometimes.

• • Practice breathing and meditation: Sometimes being active isn’t an option, however you can still calm yourself down by finding somewhere quiet and private for a few minutes, closing your eyes and slowing down your breathing. This will slow down your heart and stop the release of cortisol.

• Engage in relaxing activities: When it comes to de-stressing at the end of the day, consider relaxing activities like taking a hot bath, reading a book, drinking herbal tea, listening to music or even watching something funny/wholesome. 

• Talk to friends and loved ones: Not sharing your concerns can lead to feelings of stress getting bottled up. Talk to people you trust about what is stressing you out.

Dealing with anxiety

Dealing with anxiety often requires going deeper. It involves reprogramming your brain to develop healthier thought patterns, helping to turn anxiety into a productive means of problem solving and rationalizing. 

Some of the steps you can take to deal with anxiety are included below:

• Recognize your anxiety triggers: As with stress, there are likely to be things that regularly cause you anxiety. Start by identifying what these triggers are.

• Challenge unhelpful thoughts: As soon as you start having negative thoughts, ask yourself whether they are helpful. ‘I’m a failure’ and ‘everyone thinks I’m weird’ are not helpful thoughts – start being kinder to yourself and more realistic.

• Focus on the present: Start focusing on what is happening rather than what might happen. 

• • Consider reaching out for support: Consider whether therapy from experts such as Evolve counseling services could help – therapy can be great for exploring new coping mechanisms.

• Adopt healthy routines: Make sure you’re getting enough sleep and eating/drinking the right stuff so as to not exacerbate feelings of anxiety.

Stress vs anxiety: a summary

Stress and anxiety are both reactions to perceived threats, and they both often overlap,  however there are a few key differences.

Stress is more physical and is a reaction to short-term problems (although it can become chronic). Managing stress is often easier than managing anxiety, but does require you to identify stress triggers and actively practice de-stressing techniques.

Anxiety is more mental and is a reaction to future problems, often leading to more ongoing symptoms. Treating anxiety requires more discipline and severe cases may benefit from seeking professional help – it’s a case of rewiring your brain in order to think more healthy thoughts.