大多数人认为焦虑仅仅是一种心理健康障碍 - 他们想要摆脱以便过上更舒适的生活。虽然焦虑最肯定会影响你的日常生活，但焦虑的症状实际上是由您的身体所需的东西引起的。

焦虑只是您的同情神经系统的激活，更为被称为您的战斗或飞行反应 - 一个应该让您免受伤害的系统。战斗或飞行系统依赖于内分泌系统 - 您的身体中的腺体系统释放引发焦虑所有效果的激素。

Your Fight or Flight Response

Anxiety is essentially a fight or flight response that is malfunctioning. It's when you experience this reaction to danger chronically, even when no danger is present, that it becomes a problem. The system itself is incredibly important, but the malfunction is what causes people so much distress.

没有t every symptom of anxiety is caused by the endocrine system, but many of them are. Stress and anxiety affect nearly every gland in your body. Your endocrine system plays a crucial role in this, releasing many of the hormones that create your anxiety symptoms.

It Starts With Your Adrenal Gland

When you have anxiety, your brain sends messengers to your adrenal gland to release epinephrine (adrenaline) into your body. That adrenaline starts preparing your body so that it can react to danger by:

• Increasing heart rate.
• Constricting blood vessels.
• Turning fat into energy.
• Dilating the pupils for better vision.
• Slowing less important bodily functions and moving resources to other areas of the body.

这改善了心脏，脑和肌肉的氧气，并确保您的整个身体准备采取行动，以保持危险。然而，对于那些焦虑的人，这只是导致不适，担心和痛苦。

Your adrenal gland also releases norepinephrine, also known as noradrenaline which produces much of the same reactions in your body.

Secondary Effects of Anxiety on the Endocrine System

While adrenaline and noradrenaline are considered the main culprits for anxiety, nearly every organ releases hormones as a result of stress. After the initial epinephrine release, the body goes into what's known as the "Resistance Phase."

阻力阶段是其他激素发挥的地方。电阻阶段是当体内开始释放皮质醇，或“应力激素”，这对压力的许多损伤作用负责。皮质醇的一些效果包括：

• Suppressing the immune system.
• Reducing inflammation in the body.
• 在组织中分解脂肪。
• 预防蛋白质合成。

Though cortisol has all of these negative features, it should be noted that they do play a purpose in the fight or flight response. If you were faced with danger, all of these actions would help ensure you stay safe. But because there is no danger and because cortisol release is chronic, that is why it can be so damaging to your health and the body.

在抗性期期间也释放甲状腺激素。甲状腺激素用于提高新陈代谢，分解脂肪和蛋白质并将它们转化为能量。众所周知，当你随着时间的推移与他们挣扎时，应对重量增益负责，但是当你焦虑时，你实际上燃烧了脂肪，而且没有获得它。问题是长期焦虑导致脂肪沉积物生长。这是因为你的身体相信它已经烧了一堆卡路里来应对你的压力，即使你没有。

Interestingly, it is during the resistance phase that the body is also trying to help itself return back to its normal levels (homeostasis). But for those with chronic stress, homeostasis tends to not occur.

Finally: The Exhaustion Phase

那些响应短期压力的人往往没有达到疲惫的阶段，而是那些患有慢性焦虑的人。疲惫的阶段是身体开始体验更有害的焦虑影响的程度，因为它已经耗尽了能量以健康的方式应对焦虑和压力。

皮质醇在你的身体中继续猖獗，并且能够阻止皮质醇更有害的长期影响。您的免疫系统将保持抑制（可能导致疾病风险），脂肪店将开始在您的中脑中生长，您的器官可能开始体验结构损坏，因为它们不会对压力激素进行适当的防御，而且更多。

在耗尽阶段，这可能是慢性的，处理压力变得更具挑战性。耗尽不一定意味着疲倦，这个阶段也可能导致疲劳，肌肉崩溃，还有更多。许多人谈论感觉从焦虑中排出的感觉，这是真实的，焦虑不仅是在精神上排出的情况，而且还在物理上排出。

The Endocrine System and Control

This entire system is not something you can or want to specifically control. Of course, you want relief from your anxiety - and you can get that since anxiety is incredibly treatable - but what you do not want to do is stop this system from occurring in general, because it's an extremely important system for keeping you safe from harm.

What you want to do is make it easier for you to cope with stress and anxiety so that you don't activate this system as often, or as easily. You can do that by simply learning proper coping tools and committing to treatments that improve your ability to deal with anxious thoughts and feelings.