What Causes Anxiety After Eating?

Anxiety doesn't always make a great deal of sense. It can hit at any moment, and in some cases it can hit fairly regularly without any explanation as to why. One example that affects millions of people - especially those with panic attacks - is the development of anxiety after eating. There are a lot of people that seem to experience a great deal of anxiety, and sometimes even a full blown attack, after eating a full meal.

Eating Doesn't Affect Everyone

There are interesting issues surrounding the idea that anxiety hits after eating. For example, some people may be reacting to what they eat, and others react to being full. Not everyone suffers from it, and it tends to affect those with anxiety attacks (or those that have had them) more than anyone.

Anxiety after eating also isn't a widely understood issue. In fact, as of this writing it does not appear that there is much research into it at all, and it is not listed as an anxiety issue. But yet the sheer number of people that seem to experience anxiety during and after eating seems to indicate that it does exist and it affects a lot of people. So what might the causes be?

Possible Reasons for Anxiety After Eating

由于没有研究明确地联系起来造成焦虑的行为，我们只留下了猜测。但以下可能是吃触发焦虑的原因。

Physical Sensations From Food

The most likely culprit - and the reason it tends to affect those with panic attacks more - is because of some of the physical sensations that occur within the body after eating. For example:

• 胸痛 - 虽然焦虑和过度通气会导致胸痛，所以也可以进食。食物在胸前留在胸前，并充分的感觉导致小胸痛的发展。胸痛是一个已知的恐慌触发器，所以这可能导致焦虑。yabo国际娱乐
• Heart Palpitations - Eating certain foods seems to trigger heart palpitations, which is an awareness of your heart and a feeling of skipped beat or rapid heartbeat. While doctors have linked it to carbohydrates, sugars, and sodium, it's not entirely clear what food may trigger the palpitation or why it only affects some people some days and not others. Most likely it is a combination of naturally present anxiety and food. While the reason they occur isn't entirely clear, they're generally safe, but if the rapid heartbeat occurs, it is very likely to trigger anxiety.
• 灯头和感觉完全 - 吃完大餐后，身体有倾向于放缓。有时这被称为食物昏迷。当你有恐慌和焦虑时，你感觉如yabo国际娱乐何像灯头 - 可能是焦虑触发器。你甚至可能无法意识到你变得疲惫不堪，但你的身体知道并导致更多的焦虑。
• Indigestion - While not technically its own physical symptom, indigestion can start to occur the moment you start eating. That may lead to issues like bloating, chest pains, stomach pains, stomach discomfort, and more - all of which may trigger anxiety. There are also some theories that anxiety causes the body to digest food poorly, which in turn causes more indigestion. That may be why those that have stopped their anxiety do not experience anxiety after eating anymore.

There are more physical sensations than this as well. For example, those that have sensitivities to certain foods may have other symptoms that trigger anxiety. Those that have some form of diabetes may also have physical sensations as well. Those who ingest caffeine may also increase heart palpitations and various physical symptoms. All of these could be contributing factors.

Anxiety and the Gut

A more broader reason proposed by some anxiety researchers is that it may have something to do with the gut. Many people have termed the gut the "second brain" because it tends to have a variety of nerve functions, hormones, and neurotransmitters that affect how our entire body feels. Serotonin is even involved in both the gut and anxiety.

It's possible that somehow, after eating, something within the gut is activated and that causes the mind to start experiencing anxiety. This is the reason that it's always a good idea to eat healthy when you have anxiety: even though there isn't really any evidence that diet affects anxiety, there are reasons to believe that the healthier you are and the better you feel, the less anxiety you'll have.

Reducing Anxiety From the Gut

No matter what causes your anxiety, you still need to re-learn ways to control it.

Acid Reflux

Even though this may be related to physical sensations, it deserves its own section. Many people with anxiety also have gastroesophageal reflux disorder, also known as GERD, heartburn, or simply "acid reflux." It's the creation of too much acid that also moves up the esophagus and causes a host of problems, some of which include:

• 胸痛。
• Heartburn.
• 气/膨胀。
• Stomach discomfort.
• 呼吸困难。

There are even some that believe it leads to heart palpitations as well. As mentioned earlier, all of these symptoms can cause anxiety, so if you have GERD, you may be at risk for anxiety after eating simply because you have anxiety and your GERD has not been kept under control.

Anxiety From Events/Anxiety Associations

并不是所有的焦虑可能会引发你的感觉。Some may also be triggered by past experiences. For example, let's say you had a fight with someone during or after eating. You may start to experience anxiety when you finish eating despite nothing technically causing it.

Similarly, those that have experienced panic attacks either after eating or in a specific eating location often get anxiety whenever they're in the same situation. So, for example, if you had anxiety in an Indian restaurant, then the next time you're in that restaurant you may be more prone to anxiety. Also, if you had a panic attack just one time for any of the reasons listed above after a big meal, even if future meals do not cause any of those same symptoms you may get anxiety simply because it's been associated with that big meal.

This is one of the reasons that eating healthier alone isn't enough. Because you're still going to need to control your anxiety if you want to break that cycle.

Anxiety Over Eating and Weight

Finally, your own feelings about things like your weight, your diet, and more can often hit you after eating is completed. Often those that have anxiety about their weight, for example, binge eat and then experience anxiety after eating as a result.

Causes of Anxiety After Eating and Treatments

These are all still just guesses. It's still not entirely clear what causes anxiety after eating. It may be due to changes in your neurotransmitter or hormone levels once you get food in your stomach, or it may be due to the energy you get from sugars or the way your body releases hormones to control metabolism.