Anxiety is a common mental health struggle affecting millions worldwide, but for some, it manifests in unexpected ways—through anxiety shivers and chills. These surprising symptoms are especially common for those who suffer from phobias and panic attacks.1 But there’s hope: by treating the underlying anxiety and understanding the causes, you can learn to reduce shivers, chills, and other anxiety symptoms.
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What Are Anxiety Shivers?
People can experience anxiety in multiple ways; including cognitively, emotionally, and physically. Physiological symptoms of anxiety can manifest in some unexpected ways, including experiencing anxiety chills and shivers. When people get anxious, they may feel shaky or suddenly feel very cold, which causes shivering. These reactions are due to activity in the endocrine and circulatory systems during stressful situations.
Characteristics of anxiety shivers include:
- Shaking in hands and fingers
- Trembling
- Tension in the body
- A tingling or “pins and needles” feeling in the hands
- Feeling very cold and shivering then feeling hot and sweaty
- Experiencing a tremor or shaking in your voice
- Feeling unable to regulate your temperature
- Being unable to make your hands or fingers stop shaking
Common Symptoms of Anxiety
The symptoms of anxiety may manifest in physical ways that can mimic other conditions, including severe illnesses or heart attacks.2 When nervousness and extreme unease are coupled with physical symptoms, such as shivers and chills, you should visit a physician to determine the cause of the symptoms.
Symptoms associated with anxiety chills and shivers can include:
- Physical: The body’s response to anxiety triggers includes the production of adrenaline and cortisol, the “stress hormones.”3 These hormones prepare the body for action and this can manifest as a rapid heart rate, trembling or twitching, blurry vision, hot flashes, and anxiety cold sweats.
- Emotional: Anxiety packs a significant emotional punch. Examples of the feelings that anxiety generates include panic, intense fear, feelings of dread about situations, nervousness, and a need for constant reassurance. These feelings can be mild and easily manageable or overwhelming and require intensive therapy.
- Behavioral: Anxiety affects behavior, as well. It can motivate a person to avoid certain situations that they recognize as anxiety triggers; it can cause restlessness and irritability, and hypervigilance. Pacing the floor and grinding the teeth are also examples of behavioral symptoms of anxiety.
Causes of Anxiety Shivers & Chills
Can anxiety cause chills? Anxiety and fear are closely related and you may react to both emotions with involuntary shivers or chills. Your body’s fight-or-flight response is designed to protect us from threats and it sends your endocrine, circulatory, and nervous systems into “emergency mode.” Internal temperature regulation becomes more difficult and blood flow is compromised, both responses can cause shivers and chills.
Your body responds to the raised temperature with sweating, and as the sweat meets the cool air, you may get chills. Your blood is routed to your core, which causes arms and legs to feel colder. Your nervous system is prepared for damage control and it even has the ability to temporarily minimize injury-related pain until after the emergency is over.
Why Anxiety Makes You Shiver
When a threat is observed, the part of the brain called the amygdala responds by sending a signal to the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus acts as a control center and prepares the body to respond. This includes sending a signal to the adrenal glands to secrete adrenaline, which makes the heart beat faster, opens up the airways in the lungs to allow more oxygen to be taken in, and sharpens the senses.
Once the body is on high alert, the hypothalamus tells the adrenal glands to release cortisol to keep the body charged up. As blood gets rerouted, temperature regulation falters and your body may be trying to cool off and warm up at the same time. This can lead to shivering and chills. Combined with adrenaline’s priming of the muscles, twitchiness and trembling are also likely.
Differentiating Anxiety Shivers From Other Medical Conditions
While anxiety shivers and chills may occur during anxiety attacks or in response to phobic triggers, it is important that other potential medical causes are ruled out as the cause. If you are experiencing co-occurring anxiety and shivers for the first time, consult a physician to rule out other conditions. Possible alternative causes include fever, sepsis, COVID, hyperthyroidism, essential tremor, and low blood sugar.
Tips for Immediate Relief
When you are experiencing anxiety shivers and chills, there are several techniques you can use to still your mind and your body. When overcome with anxiety, it is easy to feel out of control. However, there are some strategies you can use when feeling chills or shivering with anxiety that help you gain a sense of composure and steady your nerves.
Options For Anxiety Treatment
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The following are coping strategies for anxiety shivers and chills:
- Grounding techniques: Grounding techniques are designed to help you focus on the present moment and gain a sense of control over your thoughts. There are a variety of grounding techniques for anxiety that include focusing on the surroundings, intentional movement, and body scans, among others.
- Deep and slow breathing: A quick and effective method for calming anxiety is through breathwork and breathing exercises. Breathing deeply effectively tells your nervous system to calm down. There are many deep breathing patterns that are effective, including the 4-7-8 breathing pattern and square breathing.
- Distracting the mind: Anxiety can escalate when your mind “runs away with you.” By distracting your mind from thoughts and regrets about past events or fear about the future, you are able to let go of thoughts about the anxiety triggers. Distracting the mind helps reduce rumination and catastrophizing.
- Warming up the body with a blanket or warm drink: When adrenaline is surging, our body focuses our circulation on our core, so our extremities feel cold and that can contribute to chills. Warm drinks, not hot drinks, help calm the body and the nervous system. Some teas help anxiety. Compounds in tea make it especially useful in lowering anxiety.
- Exercise: “Burning off” nervous energy with exercise can help minimize anxiety. Depending on where you are, you might do a few calisthenic exercises, like jumping jacks, to lower your anxiety or take care of some household chores that require effort, like vacuuming or mopping your floors. By burning off the nervous energy, you are helping your body return to a state of calm.
- Guided imagery: A guided imagery meditation for anxiety involves the use of a script or recording that leads you through the creation of an image in your mind. By focusing on the special space you’re creating in your mind, you are able to calm your nervous system by letting go of anxiety-producing thoughts.
- Progressive muscle relaxation: This can be especially useful in controlling physiological symptoms of anxiety. Progressive muscle relaxation intentionally tenses and releases your muscles in a specific order from head to toe or toe to head, you are able to focus your thoughts on something unrelated to the anxiety stimulus.4
- Taking a cold shower or placing your face/hand/foot in ice cold water: Research has found that cold water immersion stimulates the dive response in humans and this can reduce feelings of anxiety and depression.5
- Meditation for anxiety: The purpose of meditation is to help a person control their thoughts and focus their mind. Meditation for anxiety draws a person inwards which helps the body move from a place of reacting to external stimuli to a place of focused intention.
Treatment Options for Anxiety Shivers & Chills
Seeking treatment to manage anxiety symptoms can make a significant difference in quality of life. Anxiety can be debilitating and keep people from enjoying their lives; by seeking treatment to manage symptoms, people are able to be more fully present and to better cope with stressors. Shivers and chills are just two of the many anxiety symptoms that can be reduced through effective treatment.
Therapy
Anxiety is one of the most common disorders experienced in the US.6 Due to its prevalence, there are many therapies for anxiety developed to help people manage its symptoms. Even with the inclusion of medication, therapy is a vital part of treatment.5 Both supportive therapeutic discussions and psychoeducation are helpful in learning new ways to manage symptoms, including shivers and chills.
Common therapies for anxiety include:
- Somatic therapy: This therapy focuses on the somatic, or physical, symptoms related to the anxiety trigger. Techniques for calming the mind and easing the discomfort are learned to help clients manage their sensations. In fact, somatic therapy can treat both anxiety and the physical symptoms of anxiety as it helps people learn how to relax.
- Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT): CBT for anxiety helps manage anxiety, which in turn can reduce the frequency of experiencing anxiety shivers and chills.
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): In addition to minimizing symptoms of anxiety, DBT for anxiety can also reduce anxiety-related shivers, chills, and other symptoms.
- Exposure Therapy: Exposure therapy for anxiety is used with phobias and involves gradually escalating exposure to the phobia inducing object. As you decrease your anxiety symptoms, you’ll naturally decrease the frequency of anxiety-related shivers and chills you experience.
Medication
Sometimes, a combination of therapy and medication is needed to manage anxiety. If your anxiety keeps you from enjoying normal activities even with therapy, anxiety medication may be considered. To access anxiety medication, you must have a doctor’s prescription. Being upfront with your doctor and sharing as much as you can about your symptoms is important in order for the correct medication to be prescribed.
When to Seek Professional Help for Anxiety
There are times in life when anxiety is a natural response and even a helpful response for people.7 Anxiety helps alert us to possible threats and alerts our bodies to prepare to fight, flee, or freeze. However, when anxiety symptoms are interfering with your normal daily routine, it may be time to seek professional help. There are many ways to seek help for your anxiety.
For some people, using a mental health app like Sanvello can be effective. Apps require self-motivation and a commitment to consistent use. Others may prefer the support of a therapist, psychologist, or counselor to help with anxiety symptoms like anxiety shivers and chills. You can seek out therapists who specialize in anxiety through an online therapist directory. Therapy may take place in the therapist’s office or online.
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Additional Resources
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