First published 20 August 2021. Updated 27 September 2024.
Recent statistics show one in six Australians between the ages of 18 and 65 have experienced anxiety-related conditions in the past 12 months.
These conditions include obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, social phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder and specific phobias such as fear of heights or spiders.
For many, the terms anxiety and stress describe the same cluster of symptoms and, in many cases, are used interchangeably in everyday language as if they describe the same thing.
But are they the same?
Not really.
The difference between stress and anxiety
Stress is anything someone perceives as threatening. Anything from a cobra waiting in your path ready to attack or an out-of-control fire signalling you to flee from your home. The term ‘perceives’ is essential because perception can vary significantly between people. “Your body reacts to your perception of a threat – not to the reality,” says Christopher Fagundes, associate professor of Psychology at Rice University in Texas. Thus, the intensity and duration of stress-related responses on the body are different for everyone.
However, anxiety is like an ‘internal alarm’ (Heid, 2021, para. 9)1 going off even without a physical threat present. For example, you may have a major exam coming up and, when you think about this exam, your body taps into its immunological stress response. Even if the exam is cancelled or you’re never required to take it – so there will never be a scenario where you are confronted with the source of your anxiety – your body is still worn out by the effects of stress.
Looking at the difference between stress and anxiety, it may seem strange that our bodies would react with the same systems when confronted with a far-away exam as when it protects us from physical, in-the-moment danger. But evolution and history answer this mechanism. In the past, social isolation and conflict were potentially very dangerous as they could lead to starvation if isolated from the group or death by grave insult if conflict erupted. Our brains and bodies developed a way to scan our environment. Early humans who possessed a degree of anxiety to safeguard themselves against potentially threatening situations had a higher survival rate than their counterparts who could not care less. Survival of the fittest meant that the humans with the anxiety genes lived to pass their genes to the next generations.
However, not all anxiety and stress are harmful or unwanted. Sometimes it can be beneficial for our survival. It helps to anticipate and react to trouble. But when stress and anxiety run riot in our bodies, healing and restorative processes are disturbed, and immunological stress responses heighten. Therefore, learning to manage our anxiety and stress responses well is key to maintaining good health. Make time for close friends and family, big, joyous belly laughs, physical exercise and meditation — these activities are all proven to relax the body and mind.
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1. Heid, M. (2021, September). Rising to the challenge. Health Special Edition. Managing Stress. Understand it. Avoid it. Put it to use
