The blurry vision Can often arise in people who suffer from anxiety. Usually this symptom is interpreted with anguish and fear by not knowing if it is a manifestation of the anxiety that is being suffered or if it is a different disease.
Likewise, it often causes some stress not to know if the worsening of vision is a momentary situation and will disappear at the same time as the Anxiety or if this will last and will never recover the quality of anterior vision.
In this article I will explain to you the relation between blurred vision and anxiety, and we will dispel doubts as to whether this symptom is part of the Manifestations of anxiety.
How can blurry vision cause anxiety?
The anxiety Has such a direct effect on the functioning of our body and mind that it can originate a large number of Physical symptoms, including blurred vision.
There is now no conclusive data on how many people with anxiety suffer from blurred vision.
However, it seems to be a frequent symptom among those who suffer from high levels of anxiety.
Blurred vision is a sign of loss of visual acuity that can be caused by various diseases such as eye injuries, diabetes, glaucoma, Cataracts, myopia, etc.
However, anxiety, through hormonal alterations, changes in blood sugar levels, increases in blood circulation and Causing eye strain, can also cause the typical symptoms of blurred vision.
Thus, people with elevated levels of anxiety may find it more difficult to focus on their vision, view objects at a long distance, or see The things with the clarity that they saw it before.
Likewise, anxiety can cause photophobia, a feeling of irritability to intense light stimuli, as well as eye pain due to Direct effect of increased pressure of that area of the body.
Thus, although blurred vision is often not included as one of the typical symptoms of anxiety, elevated levels of stress may Cause such alterations.
Now, if I have blurred vision due to my anxiety state, will it disappear when my nervousness lessens or will it persist forever?
How should blurry vision be treated by anxiety?
First of all it should be noted that blurred vision caused by anxiety will only remain as long as you experience High levels of stress .
So, when you stop anxiety, your vision will be restored and you will no longer see in a blur.
However, secondly, if you suffer from blurred vision due to anxiety, it will not disappear until you manage to control and reduce your Be anxious, and if it increases, your vision will also get worse.
So, in these cases, blurred vision and anxiety go hand in hand, and one will not disappear without the other.
This shows that the first therapeutic intervention to remedy this situation is to perform those treatments that allow you Remove the anxiety.
Depending on the type of anxiety you suffer the treatments are very diverse, however, anxiety disorders are usually effectively resolved to Through the combination of medications and psychotherapy.
However, it is evident that as long as you are not able to fight your anxiety completely, blurred vision will be a more annoying symptom that will prevent you Live with normality.
In this way, you can also perform a series of actions that, to a certain extent, can help you improve your vision. These are:
Do not spend a lot of time watching TV, computer, mobile, etc.
Perform good hydration to avoid eye pain.
Keep your eyes closed for 5 minutes while applying a gentle massage with your finger in circular motions.
Apply cold water to your eyes recurrently.
Use moisturizing eye drops when your eyes are dry.
What exactly is anxiety?
Anxiety is part of the human condition and serves to confront situations of danger or risk.
In this way, we can understand anxiety as a mechanism of activation of our mind that, in certain situations, begins to perform actions To activate the response of our body.
For example, if at night we walk alone in the forest and suddenly we hear a threatening noise, our mind will be activated immediately to be able Respond quickly and effectively.
This activation is vital because, if perceived fear poses a real threat, anxiety will enable us to make a response Behavior that could save our life.
However, as we have been saying, this activation is not only realized by our mind, since it is in charge of preparing our whole body for the action.
So, at this moment, our mind cancels the digestive processes or the sexual libido so as not to waste energy in aspects that are not relevant to the Situation.
Our mind also takes care of tensing our muscles so that they can respond properly if they require fast movements, increases The sweating of our body and increases our body temperature to stimulate our body.
This allows us to clarify two fundamental aspects:
Anxiety, biologically speaking, has a normal functionality and necessary for the survival of the species, since it is the way we have Humans respond to threats.
Anxiety originates in our minds but does not spread rapidly through our body, involving the whole organism.
Thus, we see that anxiety is a normal response that performs an activation and a global modification of the functioning of our body, which Is also considered adequate.
However, anxiety is not always an adaptive way of responding to certain circumstances because many people suffer tension problems, Nervousness or anguish.
So how can we identify when anxiety is an adequate response and when it is an inadequate response and / or psychological alteration?
Well, anxiety can be categorized as pathological when the following conditions are met:
The anxiety experienced is of an excessive intensity.
The anxiety appears without there being any stimulus or motive that prompts its manifestation.
There is a high Latency Of recovery, ie the individual suffering from anxiety is unable or has
Its previous state (its calm state) and remains with anxious symptoms.Anxiety occurs in a habitual way and affects the daily functioning of the person who suffers it.
In this way, we see how"normal"anxiety has a duration and different qualities to pathological anxiety.
Usually, normal anxiety will be shorter in response to a particular stimulus and will disappear when the threat is no longer present, without However, pathological anxiety will be the opposite.
Thus, the activation of both the brain and the body performing the one and the other will also be different, so the symptoms experienced They will not be the same either.
What happens in our body when we are anxious?
As we have explained, anxiety always appears with a very clear objective: to activate both our body and our mind to be alert and Capable of responding quickly and effectively to threats.
This anxiety function holds for both adaptive anxiety, when it appears before a real threatening stimulus, and for pathological anxiety, When it appears without there being any stimulus that motivates its presentation.
In this way, before any state of anxiety, our body undergoes a series of changes in its functioning.
More specifically, our mind is in charge of releasing a greater number of hormones to the body like adrenaline and Noradrenaline .
These hormones are excitatory substances that increase the heart rate, dilate the breathing systems and activate the response processes Of our brain.
This explains why when we release these substances in abundance, our body is overexcited, in order to respond properly and be Sufficiently activated.
If what we are experiencing is a"normal"anxiety, this overexcitation of the body will last a few seconds or minutes, and as soon as the threat The levels of adrenalin And noradrenaline will return to normal and anxiety will disappear.
However, when in our body and our mind there are very high levels of these substances for a long time, we tire faster, Our attention diminishes, we are unable to sleep and, of course, our state of anxiety increases.
This is because our mind is overexciting the whole body too much for too long, so it begins to fail Respond well to such high levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline.
So, we see that whatever the type of anxiety we experience, our body undergoes a series of hormonal alterations that modify the Normal functioning of the organism.
However, the main difference eradicates the duration, intensity and resilience of experienced anxiety-
That is, if we are suffering from a normal anxiety response or if we are suffering from prolonged and pathological episodes of distress.
If it is a normal response, our body will be activated properly through the mechanisms we have discussed, our body is It will excite for a certain period of time and after a few minutes everything will return to normal.
However, if we undergo pathological anxiety (or any anxiety disorder) the mental and bodily excitation that derives from our state, it will not be Present only for a short period of time.
On the contrary, our activation and our sense of anxiety will endure and we will not be able to eliminate it and return to the normal state, with a Much less activation of both our body and our mind.
This prolonged overactivity over time that causes anxiety, causes our body to start not functioning properly, since Is more activated than it should be.
At the same time, this malfunction (or over-functioning) of our body, automatically translates into a series of symptoms, both Psychological as well as physical.
What causes anxiety?
Due to the high destabilization that causes in the organism, the anxiety can originate a great number of very diverse symptoms.
In fact, there are an infinity of manifestations that can be associated with anxiety states. However, they never appear all at once and one person Can suffer one and others not.
We will then discuss the most characteristic symptoms of anxiety and group them according to whether they are psychological symptoms, Physical symptoms or behavioral symptoms.
Psychological symptoms
- Excessive concern about facts and aspects of a diverse nature.
- Fear and fear about anything.
- Generalized feeling of insecurity.
- Difficulties in making decisions or taking actions with safety.
- Negative thoughts about oneself.
- Negative thoughts about our actions and our behaviors toward others.
- Excessive fear that others will realize our difficulties or limitations.
- Excessive fear of losing control or not being aware of our actions.
- Generalized difficulties to think and / or study.
- Difficulties to maintain the attention in some aspect and null capacity of concentration.
- Decreased ability to remember and make use of memory.
- Unable to be calm and relaxed.
Physical symptoms
- Generalized sweating in the body.
- Muscle tension.
- Recurrent palpitations.
- Tachycardias and feelings of increased heart rate.
- Tremors
- Discomfort and / or pain in the stomach.
- Gastric discomfort.
- Difficulties to breathe properly.
- Difficulty swallowing or swallowing.
- Difficulty eating and digesting food properly.
- Frequent headaches.
- Dizziness, nausea, or loss of balance.
- Problems focusing or viewing objects at a long distance.
Behavioral symptoms
- Avoidance of dreaded situations that cause an increase in anxiety.
- Smoking, eating or drinking in excess and impulsively.
- Permanent motor restlessness and repetitive compulsive movements.
- Inability to be still and realizing constant movements without a concrete purpose.
- Stuttering
- In some cases frequent crying.
References
- Bhave, S. and Nagpal, J. (2005). Anxiety and depression disorders in university students. Pediatric clinics in North America, 52, 97-134.
- Kaplan H. I, Sadock B. J. Synopsis of psychiatry. 8ª ed. Ed. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins-Panamericana. 1998. P.324 and 683.
- Kandel E. R., Schwartz JH & Jessell T. M. Principles of Neuroscience, 4th Edition. McGraw-Hill Interamericana, 2001, 1395 pages.
- World Health Organization. International Classification of Mental and Behavioral Disorders. Diagnostic criteria for research. C.I.E. Chapter V (F). Meditor, Madrid, 1993.
- Image source 1.