Positive Effects of Anxiety

Anxiety is a feeling that is necessary in order for humans to live life, whether humans like that feeling or not. As with anything, there are both positive and negative effects of anxiety. Positive anxiety effects include helping to alert humans of danger, motivating humans to action, and physically preparing the body to fight or flee.

Of the listed anxiety effects, probably the most beneficial one is one that alerts humans of impending danger. Anxiety can tell a person not to walk down a dark and narrow alley in a dangerous part of the city at night. Without some sort of uncomfortable and bothersome feeling, a person would continue to walk right down that alley despite the fact that person could be mugged or assaulted. Conversely, anxiety that is learned during childhood, such as to avoid the temper of an irritable parent, can later on develop into anxiety that detects danger when danger is in fact not there. For example, a socially anxious person will believe that all people are ready to be angry at them and constantly have their anxiety defense up against all people as they are seen as a source of danger, despite the fact that is not true.

The second of the listed positive anxiety effects, that of motivating humans to action, means that anxiety helps to guide people in relation to daily decisions. Much like the previous example of walking down a dark alley at night, anxiety will tell a person to become ready to either fight or flee. Fighting or fleeing can be done in both an emotional and physical sense. The purpose of this effect is to simply motivate a human to one action, fighting or fleeing, in order to ensure that person’s safety and ultimately, survival.

The final of these positive anxiety effects is physiological arousal, which means that a person’s body and accompanying chemicals are preparing the person to either fight or flee. When a person’s physiology becomes aroused, typically this means that the anxious person is shaking in his or her arms or legs, sweating, breathing heavily, and perhaps experiencing a rapid heartbeat, among many other anxiety effects. The source of these symptoms is a surge of adrenaline, and in anxiety sufferers, the surge is so great that it runs out of control and results in the previous symptoms being formed. This makes the person physically and emotionally much stronger and more intimidating to the perceived threat so that the treat hopefully becomes intimidated and leaves that person to be.

The positive anxiety effects listed seem to be small in comparison to the negative anxiety effects, from which sufferers of anxiety disorders are all trying to recover. However, anxiety is a natural part of life that is used to ensure safety and survival of humans (and other animals as well), and is a requirement in order for life to continue. Hopefully, this article has demonstrated the need for a certain level of anxiety and shown readers just how anxiety is meant to be beneficial.

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