Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat Causes Lightheadedness?Effects of Long-Term StressTips to Manage Your Stress

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

What Causes Lightheadedness?

Effects of Long-Term Stress

Tips to Manage Your Stress

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When stressed, you may feel anxious, sweaty, or get frequent headaches. But can stress cause lightheadedness? Yes!

This article will explain why stress can cause lightheadedness, other issues that can contribute to these symptoms, the long-term effects of stress, and what you can do to start feeling better.

Yes, Stress Can Cause Lightheadedness

Stress can absolutely cause lightheadedness. Lightheadedness can feel like a general fuzzy lightness in your head, possibly even throwing off your balance. Many may refer to this as dizziness, and it isn’t uncommon to feel disoriented, as if your surroundings are unstable.Others may associate lightheadedness withbrain fogas well.

What Causes a Sensation of Lightheadedness?

Our vestibular system is disrupted when our body releases stress hormones like cortisol. Stress hormones are released when faced with a sense of real or perceived danger, like an obstruction on the road or losing our wallet.

Our body naturally releases these hormones intending to ensure werespondto stressors efficiently, ultimately working towards keeping us safe. However, when these hormones are stressed, they can interfere with the typical functions of our sensory system. Particularly, it can affect our inner ear, which can throw off our sense of balance and body movements. As a result, you can end up feeling dizzy and disoriented.

What Is Sensory Overload?

What Are the Long-Term Effects of Stress?

Stress is a serious issue. Beyond causing lightheadedness, it can cause other issues that warrant attention.

How Prolonged Stress Impacts Your Health

Tips for Managing Your Stress

Here are some steps you can take to manage your stress:

Identify the root cause of your stress. Consider what is stressing you out. Is it a relationship? Job? Looming deadline? Take an honest look at what keeps you up at night and see what action you can take. Perhaps there areboundariesyou can set in a relationship. It may be time for you to reach out to your network to explore new job opportunities. And if procrastination is driving your concern about your upcoming deadline,there are ways you can improve your focus.

Try Meditating: Meditation is a mind-body practice with origins in Eastern traditions. It utilizes techniques to soothe the nervous system, like deep breathing, visualizations, and repeating encouraging mantras. It is clinically proven to decrease the side effects of stress, includinganxietyanddepressionsymptoms.

How to Practice Progressive Muscle Relaxation

A Word From Verywell

Even though the majority of us are struggling with stress, things can change. Empowering yourself with knowledge about stress is a great starting point for improving your overall well-being. While there arestress management tacticsyou can employ, you canenlist the help of a therapist.

6 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Institute of Health.Dizziness Can Be a Drag.Kverno K.Brain fog: a bit of clarity regarding etiology, prognosis, and treatment.J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv. 2021;59(11):9-13. doi: 10.3928/02793695-20211013-01Yoo H, Mihaila DM. Neuroanatomy, vestibular pathways. Treasure Island, FL: StatPearls Publishing; 2022.Saman Y, Bamiou DE, Gleeson M, Dutia MB.Interactions between stress and vestibular compensation – a review.Front Neurol.2012;3:116. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2012.00116Yaribeygi H, Panahi Y, Sahraei H, Johnston TP, Sahebkar A.The impact of stress on body function: A review.EXCLI J. 2017;16:1057-1072. doi: 10.17179/excli2017-480National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.Meditation and Mindfulness: What You Need to Know.

6 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Institute of Health.Dizziness Can Be a Drag.Kverno K.Brain fog: a bit of clarity regarding etiology, prognosis, and treatment.J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv. 2021;59(11):9-13. doi: 10.3928/02793695-20211013-01Yoo H, Mihaila DM. Neuroanatomy, vestibular pathways. Treasure Island, FL: StatPearls Publishing; 2022.Saman Y, Bamiou DE, Gleeson M, Dutia MB.Interactions between stress and vestibular compensation – a review.Front Neurol.2012;3:116. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2012.00116Yaribeygi H, Panahi Y, Sahraei H, Johnston TP, Sahebkar A.The impact of stress on body function: A review.EXCLI J. 2017;16:1057-1072. doi: 10.17179/excli2017-480National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.Meditation and Mindfulness: What You Need to Know.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

National Institute of Health.Dizziness Can Be a Drag.Kverno K.Brain fog: a bit of clarity regarding etiology, prognosis, and treatment.J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv. 2021;59(11):9-13. doi: 10.3928/02793695-20211013-01Yoo H, Mihaila DM. Neuroanatomy, vestibular pathways. Treasure Island, FL: StatPearls Publishing; 2022.Saman Y, Bamiou DE, Gleeson M, Dutia MB.Interactions between stress and vestibular compensation – a review.Front Neurol.2012;3:116. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2012.00116Yaribeygi H, Panahi Y, Sahraei H, Johnston TP, Sahebkar A.The impact of stress on body function: A review.EXCLI J. 2017;16:1057-1072. doi: 10.17179/excli2017-480National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.Meditation and Mindfulness: What You Need to Know.

National Institute of Health.Dizziness Can Be a Drag.

Kverno K.Brain fog: a bit of clarity regarding etiology, prognosis, and treatment.J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv. 2021;59(11):9-13. doi: 10.3928/02793695-20211013-01

Yoo H, Mihaila DM. Neuroanatomy, vestibular pathways. Treasure Island, FL: StatPearls Publishing; 2022.

Saman Y, Bamiou DE, Gleeson M, Dutia MB.Interactions between stress and vestibular compensation – a review.Front Neurol.2012;3:116. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2012.00116

Yaribeygi H, Panahi Y, Sahraei H, Johnston TP, Sahebkar A.The impact of stress on body function: A review.EXCLI J. 2017;16:1057-1072. doi: 10.17179/excli2017-480

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.Meditation and Mindfulness: What You Need to Know.

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