Health Anxiety: What it is (Part 1)
Episode 29: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube
View transcript on Buzzsprout
If you’ve ever spiraled after Googling a symptom, or felt convinced something was wrong despite normal test results, this episode is for you. Health anxiety is real, common, and more about your nervous system than your lab results. In this post, you’ll learn what’s actually happening in your body and brain during health anxiety—and why it makes so much sense, even if it’s ruining your peace.
What We Cover in This Episode
- What health anxiety is (and isn’t)
- The physiological stress response behind health anxiety
- How the brain misinterprets sensations as danger
- Why interoception plays a major role
- The first step in untangling the health anxiety spiral
What Is Health Anxiety?
Health anxiety is a persistent, intrusive worry about having or developing a serious illness—despite little or no medical evidence to support it. These fears often start with a minor symptom or sensation but quickly escalate: a headache becomes a brain tumor, chest tightness becomes a heart attack.
What makes health anxiety so overwhelming isn’t just the thoughts—it’s the full-body response that follows. And that’s where your nervous system comes in.
How the Nervous System Reacts to Perceived Threats
When your brain perceives a threat—real or imagined—it sends your body into a sympathetic (fight-or-flight) response. Your heart rate speeds up, your breath shortens, your muscles tense. This reaction is designed to protect you from danger. But your system doesn’t differentiate between a tiger in the room and a scary Google search result.
If you’ve experienced trauma, medical uncertainty, or simply lived through the last few years of collective health stress, your nervous system may be extra quick to respond. Over time, this leads to hypervigilance: a state where you’re constantly scanning for danger—and finding it in every symptom.
This chronic activation wires your body to stay on high alert, making it even harder to return to a sense of safety.
The Brain’s Alarm System: Why It Overreacts
Your amygdala (the brain’s alarm system) is built to keep you alive. It sends alerts any time it thinks something might be wrong. But it’s not particularly accurate—it would rather overreact than underreact. Like a smoke detector that goes off for burnt toast, it rings the alarm even when the threat is minimal or nonexistent.
That means your body gets flooded with cortisol and adrenaline at the first sign of a twinge, ache, or new sensation. Unless your logical brain (the prefrontal cortex) is online and able to assess the situation clearly, your body stays stuck in the alarm loop.
Interoception and Misreading Symptoms
Interoception is your ability to sense internal cues in the body—like hunger, fullness, or pain. When your nervous system is dysregulated, interoception can get distorted. This is called faulty interoception, and it’s a major player in health anxiety.
You’re not making up your symptoms—but you may be misinterpreting what they mean. For example, a tight chest from anxiety can feel identical to a cardiac event. If your system interprets that sensation as dangerous, the alarm rings—and the cycle continues.
Why It Feels So Real (And Why That Matters)
Health anxiety isn’t just “in your head.” It’s in your body, your history, your wiring. If you’ve grown up around illness, received inconsistent medical care, or learned that symptoms equal catastrophe, your brain will default to fear. This isn’t about logic—it’s about protection.
The good news? This protection-based wiring can be rewired. Your brain and body are capable of learning new patterns.
Three Tangible Takeaways
- Health anxiety is a full-body experience, not just a mental worry. It stems from your nervous system’s threat response and can be rewired with the right tools and support.
- Your symptoms are real—even if they’re not medically dangerous. Misinterpreted signals are still felt in the body. Learning how to decode them is a key part of healing.
- Mapping your anxiety cycle builds awareness and interruptive power. Try charting a recent spiral: what sensation or trigger started it? What were the thoughts? What did you do in response? Use that to build new, more supportive responses next time.
Looking for more personalized support?
- Book a FREE discovery call for RESTORE, our 1:1 anxiety & depression coaching program (HSA/FSA eligible & includes comprehensive bloodwork)
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- Join my Release Class – Monthly guided nervous system regulation class
- Order my book, Healing Through the Vagus Nerve today!
- Download free resources here
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified mental health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
