Anxiety is a physiological process in the body caused by stress hormones being released from the tiny adrenal glands above the kidneys. This can be in response to outside factors such as approaching danger or an emotional factor or even subconscious triggers.
The adrenal glands react to certain emotional triggers such as stress, a traumatic event in your life or illness. The chemicals released are adrenaline and epinephrine, hormones that speed the body up and give us the ability to escape danger. But sometimes this happens when there is no impending danger. We then feel the effects of those chemicals and our body processes speed up. Anxiety can be a very uncomfortable sensation.
The thing to remember is this is just a sensation. Giving in to an anxiety can cause more anxiety since we perceive the sensation as danger. Then anxiety becomes a cause of anxiety and it can spiral out of control.
