[Closed] Anxiety and riding / exercise

I struggle with anxiety through life in general and find that exercise is something I love doing but can be a real challenge. I find running is a real game in my head. There are days when something about getting my breathing faster and heart rate higher sets of some really negative cycles and it affects my feeling of fitness. I feel like I’m pushing really hard and getting nowhere - I guess it must be tension restricted my abilities - because the days when I don’t get stressed by it I can go far harder and longer. Sometimes I can even trip from one mode into another. It makes me really impressed by top flight athletes who can still perform at the top of their ability even under immense pressure.

I sort of liken it to when I did a bit of climbing. I’d be doing great to a certain height at which point the fear would kick in and moves I could do at ground level would feel completely impossible. This sort of feels ok because the fear can be justified. When I’m running I have no idea what the fear is about but it has the same effect.

I find the only thing that helps is acceptance. I’m going out for a run so I’m going out for a run.  It might go wrong and feel horribly stressful, it may take me 30 minutes just to get out the door, I may then get out the door and be back in 10 minutes having only jogged around the block. I might just manage to get out the door and be out for an hour feeling totally relaxed. So long as I’ve had a go that’s alright. Generally the more I do it the easier it gets. But the toughest part can be starting again when my fitness has dropped and I expect to be able to do more than I can.

See if it helps to take it easy and ease back into it with no expectations on yourself.

Hi mate hope you are ok.

I went through similar and mine flairs up every year or so .    I normally take a course of tablets that sorts me out.   But riding and exercise in general is an antidepressant and it always makes me feel better and takes my mind off it.

I don’t worry bout my heart rate now as I know it can go up to 180bpm when pushing hard and that is normal.

Its a hard illness that I don’t think I will ever be rid off as had it for a good few years now but as long as I go to the quacks early enough I am fine.

I have friends who say you just have to snap out of it I can only assume they have never experienced it ! The best way I can describe it is getting ducked under the water and not being able to get back up only there is no water.

Mine also used to be worst when driving in the dark for some reason 😀.

Just get out on the bike mate and don’t worry bout ya heart rate as it will get high and I would revisit the quack as there are tablets that help.

Iam assuming you don’t mind taking them.

Good luck mate

Very much struggling with anxiety at present. I have suffered from depression and anxiety for almost 20 years now. Panic attacks are relatively new thing for me. I got injured last year, slipped disc. Relapse in April this year. Not sure my anxiety is linked, but I've overly worried about my body. So much of what brings on my anxiety is totally irrational. It's really really tough.

Any advice would be much appreciated

Listen, running is for when the bus is about to leave without you (assuming your Audi RS or Transporter is in for an upgrade), or when a non-friend has a big knife. Also, sliding around on planks, why?

Seriously though, you're on the mend and all this will be sorted soon. Anxiety has thrown the full range at me the last eighteen months, I've been overwhelmed coping with other family illnesses. Blood pressure has been through the roof, nausea, fear, pains everywhere including chest ones mocking a heart attack and sending me to A&E.

It also makes you fixate on the wrong thing when trying to rationalise what's going on, hence me thinking nasty cardiac things about the pains and tingles down my arms the other day, and not relating them to the big kettlebell session I'd done the day before. I found CBT helped me too, and I had a spell on SSRIs too, but really didn't feel like myself on them and came off again. Propranolol too, but that moderates adrenaline and can mess up exercise a bit in it's own way. You talk of health anxiety, have you ever had reason to have cardiac and circulation issues investigated, if you're in the clear then intellectually you know it's good to get your heartrate up a few times a week.

How about a Turbo or similar at home to begin with, so you can just step off if it feels too much? Your anxious brain may have you fretting about being taken ill out on the road or up a hill,this would bring that back under your control. Also remember, reading between the lines, it looks like you have previously been doing lots more exercise than the average adult Brit, you will be fine. Take off your HRM, get a sweat on, relax. Repeat three time a week. Good Luck.

I have put up a few posts with ref to anxiety etc.  I have been suffering with anxiety for the last few years and its taken control of me.

I have recently started CBT and session two today was all about the 'Physical Symptoms'. It grabbed my attention as accelerated heart rate is a big issue for me.

Sometimes I get very little warning and it kicks in at a flip of an internal switch, extremely uncomfortable.  This year I had my first experience of a panic attack, it scared the crap out of me.

Riding is an extremely useful tool for me, riding helps a lot to calm things down and I get out as often as I can, even if its just for an hour.  We all know that exercise and the great outdoors can be a great positive for our behaviour and moods. I would just get out and ride, dont worry about fitness, distance, time etc, just ride.

I never regret going out, but I always regret not going out. Anxiety is a horrible thing to deal and I wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy.

I have stayed clear of meds (for now) as I am trying all sorts of things to try and help with it all. But sometimes its just so overwhelming, its truly awful...

Good luck with it, I will keep reading the posts.....

just get out and ride, dont worry about fitness, distance, time etc, just ride

This is what I can rarely do. I often analyse how I rode and beat myself up over it. It stopped me from going out many times.

Yep, well similar.

I'm trying to work it out, but when I used to associate a rush of adrenalin with 'fun' - roller coasters, riding my bike, scary films etc, I often now associate it with a panic attack.

Almost ironically, the thing I feel most anxiety about these days is suffering anxiety again.

I can't offer my advice at the moment, only understanding. Throughout CBT I learned to face things, ideally in nice, easy to deal with situations, I'd be tempted to get one of those HRM things, do a bit of light exorsize, watch your HR rise, try to accept the simple and honest truth that it's because you're exorcizing, stop and rest and watch it return to normal and remind yourself that's how hearts work, but be wary of it becoming obsessive.

At my worst I panicked about money constantly, I had to record my actions for the Nurse once, I checked my bank balance online constantly, every time I did I jotted down usual expenses due before I was paid again and relaxed because I always had enough, more than enough in fact, usually less than an hour later I'd have a massive panic I'd forgotten something, and do it again. I always made a list when I did it, but I wrote all the various things in code "just in case" and could never read them again. Anyway, when I recorded it, I had done this 14 times between breakfast and dinner.

Anyway, if a HRM helps, try it, if you end up checking your HR 14 times in a day panicking that it's not right, I'd probably stop, it would be exhausting 😉

Thanks for all the inputs and help, it's much appreciated! At present I still struggle to do a lot of things by myself, and even thinking of walking certain distances that I'm used to can make me feel anxious and worry something is going to happen. That's something I need to build up by myself but slowly getting there.

With regards to the turbo trainer idea, I have tried that in the house and was helping for a bit until I had a massive panic attack after a small session, the attack lasted about 40minutes and was horrible. I've had problems with low blood pressure in the past and it felt like that, rather than just a panic attack but was okay afterwards.

The idea of an HR monitor may be something I will look into, will help show what's normal I suppose. I work in a bike shop and on my feet all day so feel like I'm exercising that way which in turn helps as I feel like I'm getting a little fitter from that. I have started doing some small things in the house just including yoga and steps exercises alongside a.few weight related exercises to slowly get me back in to it.

Do / did any of you struggle with going places by yourself and walking long distances say? That's what my main struggle at the moment is to be honest.

Anxiety really shut me down a few years back. So much so that I struggled to walk to the shops let alone a longer distance.

Glad you got some help via CBT.

I still have the odd Anxiety flare up and panic attack, but they are generally (and likely happen)  when tired.

As already mentioned just get out and ride, don't fret over the distance, time etc, just ride.

I did exactly this last night and it really does help clear the mind. The biggest battle I have is convincing myself to go out and ride or go for a run in the first place, but 99 percent of the time its totally worth it.

Do / did any of you struggle with going places by yourself and walking long distances say? That’s what my main struggle at the moment is to be honest.

I use to struggle with going to places on my own, but now I struggle to go to places with too many people.

Walking and cycling long hours/distance is fine, but I'm no good in groups etc, so almost all of it is on my own, I guess its just easier that way for me, its hard to put into words.....

I've lived here just over 4 years. I sometimes find it very overwhelming that I'm here, having moved country leaving everything behind. That sometimes triggers a panic attack for me. It could anything, being on a busy motorway that isn't like home, or being in a shop that I've never been into before, or even just hearing a lot of different accents.

I struggled going to the loo in the night without my phone in case I needed to summon an ambulance, FFS. It's a bitch and I'm not out of the woods yet, but like your Turbo panic attack, it wasn't a real cardiac event, it passed, and we're here happy to share a bit of gallows humour over it. Walking the dogs has kept me getting out regardless, and like Mounty says about the bike, never regret it, it always gives me a lift, as does the bike and gym when I can manage it.

I get over-anxious about traffic levels when I want to go for a ride or return to suburbia from the relatively peaceful hills, even though it's only the ~10mins riding near home where rush hour or school run traffic is a factor.

I used to get anxious about how much time I had to avoid these suburban busy periods and feel the need to plan my whole ride route, as well as know where I was going, but thankfully this has eased off now I'm far more familiar with a lot of the lanes between Owslebury and Hawkley.

As much as I wanted to try and get fit again, jumping on a bike besides for commutes or a purpose like doing some food shopping, I've spent a lot of my years with on/off depression "hiding away from the world" indoors... Which is not ideal for someone with Seasonal Affective Disorder!

Once I've left the busy roads behind, typically around Upham or Curdridge, riding does me a great deal of mental and physical good... It's getting out there due to the reasons above and other stuff like the weather (might/ is raining) that is the problem.

I've suffered with anxiety for a good few years now - not health related, more social - but that still lead to the not leaving the house type of symptoms. The things I'd say are get out little and often. Doesn't have to be 10/20/30 miles, just round the block or whatever can be enough to start getting you used to it again.

Also get a mate (who knows and understands the situation) to come round and drag you out. Don't do this with anybody competitive, but somebody who'll be happy to sit back if you feel like giving it 5 to just settle everything down again. You can then move from going out as a pair to meeting at a point on the trails so you can build in more riding by yourself.

Practice fixing your bike if things broke so you can get home with using a cable lie or whatever as well, that feeling of knowing I can get back always helped me even if it does mean I carry a small handful of bolts in the pack.

Odds are once you're 5-10 minutes into a ride then you'll start feeling better too, at least I always do whenever the anxiety is ramping up. It's getting over that hump that's the absolute bugger though - bit like going riding when it's already chucking it down, you always find an excuse not to go but once you're out it's fine.

I have just started writing down how I feel, what thoughts do I have etc. I have never really looked at the process, but when I say it all out loud or write it down, it sounds absolutely ridiculous (but it’s not) and more recently I have become ashamed of it all. Never talking about it, never telling anyone etc

However, people keep telling me its ok not to feel ok, but the panic attack was the limit for me. It happened so fast that I actually thought I was having some sort of heart problems, thankfully it wasn’t.

But the crazy thing is that after that I started feeling anxious about being anxious. I know the panic attack won’t hurt me, but it’s still a horrible process to go through.

Although it’s very very hard sometimes, I keep on saying to myself.... 'Exposure, NOT Avoidance', this for me, applies to riding too.

Good luck with it Harry and keep posting, things are turning slowly but we all need to talk more about stuff like this…….

The anxiety about anxiety is a very common thing, as is going "I know this thought process sounds bonkers". Knowing things logically doesn't make a jot of difference with anxiety it seems and, at least in my case, realising what I was thinking didn't make sense but being unable to change it made it a lot worse for me - the biggest breakthrough I personally had was when I realised it was there and it'd come and go so just identifying a period of anxiety was happening and not worrying about slightly disjointed thoughts has meant I get through those periods quicker than I did before.
It's just a bit of a shitter really, but different things work for different people in working through it and lessening the symptoms. But honestly, most people I know who have anxiety have had the anxiety about anxiety thing.

When I first got back into riding for more than just going to the shops, I was going through some weird mental stuff at the time, all sort of symptom related. Got into a vicious cycle. Some symptom I didn't understand from unknown cause which made me freak out (Dr Google is really bad here), and that in turn was causing more symptoms, and repeat.

I was getting out on the bike a bit though and starting to enjoy it, explore and exercise a lot more. This knocked it on the head for the duration of the ride. However as I wasn't too fit at the time, I'd get home and my heart was still racing and wouldn't settle for hours. Half a day even. Queue the freak out again.

But I've learned to recognise what's going on and with fitness the heart rate stuff has settled right down. Now rocking a 40 to 50 resting rate when sat at home (with no booze or coffee, otherwise goes up a bit). Now I just worry my heart isn't beating at all 😀

p.s. Doctor prescribed me beta blockers for the heart rate panic stuff (actually we think it all started from an excess of coffee). I used to take a few of those at times and it would chill me out fast. Long since stopped taking it.

The anxiety stuff remains, but is controlled. I kind of laugh it off when I can recognise it kicking in. Though I'm dependent on exercise now. Without the chance of a ride I get frustrated.

Will say though that I didn't really have worries about riding causing issues. I guess because I hadn't associated riding with the symptoms, and quite the reverse. I can understand if you do something and feel bad as a result it may cause further anxiety though.

Thanks for posting this, anxiety is really hard to talk about because when you expose it to others it can seem so irrational but this is can also be the key to dealing with it - when you realise that it can’t necessarily be reasoned with, that trying to do so can reinforce it and choosing to try a different tack.

I’ve had some episodes of anxiety and depression (the terrible twins) over the years and tried a few different things including CBT type strategies and it’s definitely useful to help you become aware of the link between what you think, do and feel but personally I’m nearly always able to find another ‘yes, but what if…?’ when trying the classic CBT approach to rationalise with the things that bothered me.

In the hope that it might be a benefit to anyone else, the stuff that has helped the most is understanding the physical symptoms of A&D as natural reactions in the brain to threat (fight, flight, freeze) but disproportionate to the actual level of threat, which more often than not is imagined. Most crucially though is the realisation that you cannot control your thoughts but you can choose how you react to them - even though it can be really hard.

If you’re interested this sort of stuff - and honestly I think it’s really useful for everyone even if you don’t identify with having anxiety, depression or panic then the approaches used in ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy) - which is like nu-skool CBT apparently 🙂 - are much more about being self-aware while getting on with your life and the things that are important to you. That’s a very shallow summary but relating it back to cycling - it’s one of things that keeps me level and something that I’ve allowed low mood to suppress so I have to remind myself when motivation is low that a crap bike ride is usually better for me than none at all.

Happy to chat with anyone in PM about this stuff BTW.

I can sympathise to a degree, I get a bit anxious about exerting myself when racing, which is daft when I'm much more likely to hospitalise/kill myself in a crash! 🙂

I also found after breaking my wrist and getting a bit of an injury from running that I was very sensitive to niggles, and found it hard to enjoy exercising including cycling/MTB - for the record, other stuff was going on in my life too (I'm just getting divorced now, and that seems to be helping!).

I've probably not sought as much help as I might have, but I have found it within myself to accept that I might break myself (very likely) or kill myself (not really that likely) and I'm going to do stuff anyway, cos at the end of the day I want to enjoy being a tiny insignificant bundle of chemicals on a tiny ball of rock in orbit around a fairly normal star as much as I can while I can, and worry about the consequences after.

I would have a read of the book below I found it a great help.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thrive-Programme-Rob-Kelly-ebook/dp/B009GI40VW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1538747128&sr=8-3&keywords=thrive+programme+rob+kelly

Thanks again for all the inputs and advice, most certainly very much appreciated and plenty to look back through. Some of the topics about starting off round the block or just small rides for 10 minutes or so to start off with are definitely a good way to build upon what I've veee learning already with the CBT. I had set myself a goal of riding a bit more by spring / march time so have plenty of time to build up. The main goal at the moment is being more independent and getting out more by myself and that was do be done by December time as I need to get back to walking to uni by myself. Speaking to someone else they mentioned they would go out with headphones in as a distraction which would help and take away some of the worry, that'll be my next approach

Ahh mate I feel your pain..

ive put lots of comments, started posts about health anxiety, mines the heart..my engine. I still have it now but am in control of it all. The mind/imagination is so powerful and all issues are bought on by my overactive imagination. I used to suffer severe panic attacks, even looking at those words used to bring one on. I’ve had an amazing journey of self discovery over the last 20 years or so, all starting in the rave days, caning it etc..I still have anxiety, it’s rife in my family but I have a complete understanding of what it’s all about..That’s the key, not to find out why it’s happening but accepting it..which is bloody tough, then it goes away....until the next trigger, then the process of acceptance starts again..

i help lots of others now which in turn helps me. Feel free to contact me if you wish

I think these days I'm more anxious about anxiety, than I am anxious, it's irritating. My doctor actually suggested I take L-tryptophan as an immediate response to anxiety spikes (to complement citalopram as a constant difficulty modifier) which isn't available on the NHS and has a horrible amount of woo associated with it, but as far as I'm concerned it either works, or I'm good enough at fooling myself that it works, that it makes no difference. So I've always got some of those about me.

Exercise is one of the things that keeps me going so that's a proper bit of **** you, brain, I really feel for you.

Today is a bad day.

Speaking to someone else they mentioned they would go out with headphones in as a distraction which would help and take away some of the worry, that’ll be my next approach

It's an odd one that. I know plenty who ride with headphones on their own. I feel it does take you away from things but I'm too out of touch with the riding, especially if there's singletrack involved. I much prefer the sounds of nature for relaxing and just letting my mind wander. It doesn't tend to wander on anxieties but I'm thinking about that tree, plant, dog, is there a potential fun trail down there, and general exploring. Though I'm a bit of a curious type when out riding. What's down there, what if I go that way instead of that? Does keep my mind off other things.

Anyway, headphones when working though is a great stress reliever. I have decent noise isolating ones that are good for ignoring people in the office too. If the work that day involves a lot of discussion with people then that acts as a distraction which is sort of good but I also find I get home really tense and tired.