Why is anxiety causing you to lose your appetite?

Have you ever felt nervous or anxious when trying to deal with something you don't like and it actually makes you not appetite? No need to worry. One of the causes of someone losing their appetite is excessive anxiety. However, why did this condition occur?

The relationship between anxiety and not appetite

Feelings of anxiety about something often make people eat more than the portion they are used to. However, not a few of them do not have an appetite when they feel worried or anxious.

This condition can occur due to the release of stress hormones when experiencing feelings of anxiety. As a result, these hormones can activate the sympathetic nervous system and cause the body's response to fight these hormones.

Resistance from the body is a perfectly normal situation as it tries to protect you from threats. The release of these stress hormones certainly affects your body.

Research from journals Cureus shows one of the hormones, that is corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), affects digestion. One of the quite visible effects of this hormone release is the reduction to the loss of one's appetite.

The CRF hormone turns out not only to eliminate appetite for people who experience anxiety, but also other digestive problems, such as:

• constipation
• diarrhea
• disorders of the digestive system
• nausea

This digestive problem also causes various symptoms which in fact also affect the appetite. Starting from the increase in the heart, blood pressure, until the muscles feel tense.

Meanwhile, reported by the Cleveland Clinic, people who do not have an appetite are usually too focused on the stress they are experiencing. As a result, they don't pay much attention to the signs that the body is starting to need food intake, aka they don't care about hunger.

How to restore your appetite when anxious

Anxious thoughts that keep you from appetizing are a fairly common condition. The most important thing you need to remember is how this stress has no effect on your health.

Therefore, in order for the body to keep getting its nutritional needs, there are a number of things you can do to help restore your appetite.

1. Find out what causes anxiety

One way to restore your appetite during stress is to find out what causes the condition. That way, you can try to control the stressors that cause you to lose your appetite.

If this method works but you don't know what to do, it's best to go to a therapist or consult a professional to help manage anxiety and stress.

2. Start trying to control anxiety

Once you've figured out what is making you anxious and causing you to lose your appetite, it's time to get your negative feelings in check. In fact, there are a few tricks you can do when you feel excessively anxious, such as:

• take a deep breath
• meditation
• enough sleep
• relax muscles
• exercise routine

Anxiety and stress may not go away completely. However, it doesn't hurt to keep managing these feelings so they don't interfere with your health.

3. Choose foods that are nutritious and easy to digest

In addition to managing stress and anxiety, the consumption of nutritious and easy to digest food is also necessary so that the body does not lose its appetite, namely:

• soup foods with high protein and vegetables
• yogurt shakes meal replacement
• smoothies with the content of fruit, vegetables, and protein
• consume lean protein and steamed vegetables

This method is intended so as not to aggravate an already disturbed digestive system. Meanwhile, people with anxiety disorders should avoid foods with high fat, salt and sugar content.

Don't forget to eat regularly so that your body and brain are well connected when you feel hungry. Also, it doesn't matter if you are only able to chew a few bites when you eat instead of not eating at all.

Over time, you can increase your portions at each meal. That way, you can meet the calorie and nutritional needs of the body.

4. Consult a doctor

Try to consult a doctor if the eating disorder caused by anxiety is very disturbing.

The doctor will provide several options to overcome this problem, such as therapy, consultation with a nutritionist, or taking medicines and supplements.

If you feel that you have control over your problems with not having an appetite due to anxiety, try to keep eating nutritionally and regularly. However, when not treated properly, this anxiety can turn into an anxiety disorder and have long-lasting effects on the body.