Heart Attack or Anxiety? Understanding How Stress Lives in the Body
Stress can feel invisible—until the body makes it impossible to ignore.
Many people experience symptoms like chest pain, shortness of breath, or dizziness and assume something must be medically wrong, only to learn later that anxiety or panic was behind it.
Today we explore how stress lives in the body as much as the mind, why panic can mimic medical emergencies, and what happens in the nervous system after those moments pass. We’ll look at the story of one woman’s panic experience, what lingering symptoms often mean, and how healing involves helping both the body and mind feel safe again.
Table of Contents
When Stress Feels Physical
Step One: Seek Medical Attention
Step Two: Recognizing the Signs of Residual Distress or Trauma
How Stress Lives in the Body
Where Healing Begins: Calming the Body and Mind
Taking the Next Step Toward Relief
When Stress Feels Physical
For many people, stress doesn’t just live in the mind—it settles in the body. A racing heart, tight chest, dizziness, or shortness of breath can feel like medical emergencies, especially when they seem to appear out of nowhere. In moments like these, it’s easy to assume something is seriously wrong.
But what’s often happening is that the body’s alarm system—the same one designed to protect us from danger—has been triggered by stress or anxiety. When the nervous system goes into overdrive, it can send powerful physical signals that mimic health crises, even when tests later show that everything is normal.
These sensations are real, and they’re the body’s way of saying, “I don’t feel safe.” Understanding that stress and anxiety can take up space in the body is an important first step toward healing. When we see these symptoms not as random or “all in your head,” but as messages from the body, we can begin to respond with care instead of fear.
A Common Panic Story
On a Tuesday afternoon, Maya felt a spark of tightness in her chest that quickly swelled into panic—her breathing sped up, her hands tingled, and her throat felt like it was closing. Convinced she was having a heart attack, she called a coworker, who drove her to the emergency room.
Monitors beeped, vitals were checked, and every test came back normal. The nurse reassured her softly, “This can be panic. It happens a lot.”
Maya left relieved but also confused. How could something that felt so real—the chest pain, the shortness of breath, the sheer terror—be caused by anxiety? Like many people, she had no idea that stress and trauma can live in the body, creating sensations that feel medical but are actually rooted in the nervous system.
Her story isn’t rare. Panic attacks often mimic heart attacks, and many people only discover this connection after an ER visit. These experiences highlight how closely the mind and body are linked—and how the body can carry emotional distress long after the moment of safety has passed.
Step One: Seek Medical Attention
If an experience feels sudden or severe—like chest pain, dizziness, shortness of breath, or a racing heart—it’s always important to get checked by a medical professional first. Seeking medical attention is the right first step, even if symptoms later turn out to be related to anxiety or panic.
For many people, that ER visit brings both relief and confusion. Test results may come back “normal,” yet the sensations felt anything but. It’s common to walk away wondering, If nothing’s wrong, why did my body react that way?
The answer lies in the body’s built-in alarm system. When the nervous system senses threat—real or perceived—it triggers a stress response meant to protect you. Adrenaline floods the body, the heart races, breathing changes, and muscles tighten. It’s a powerful biological reflex, but in moments of prolonged stress or emotional strain, this alarm can sound even when you’re safe.
Getting cleared medically allows the next step: understanding how stress and anxiety can show up through the body. Once life-threatening causes are ruled out, it becomes possible to explore how your nervous system may still be on high alert—and how therapy can help it find calm again.
Step Two: Recognizing the Signs of Residual Distress or Trauma
Even after the most intense panic has passed, the body and mind may continue reacting as if danger is still present. The episode itself might be over, but its imprint lingers. For many people, this lingering tension slowly spreads into daily life in ways that feel confusing and exhausting.
At first, it might look like a simple fear of recurrence — a racing heart during exercise or a flutter in the chest can trigger the worry “What if it’s happening again?” But over time, these fears can expand into broader patterns of anxiety and avoidance. The nervous system, still on alert, begins to misinterpret everyday sensations as potential threats.
These patterns often connect to where or how the first panic episode occurred. If it happened at work, returning to the office—or even opening emails—may stir waves of panic or dread. If it happened while driving, familiar routes, freeways, or even sitting behind the wheel can suddenly feel unsafe. And if it happened in public, like in a store or parking garage, crowded or enclosed spaces may now trigger racing thoughts, physical tension, or a sense of being trapped. Over time, these associations can lead to subtle avoidance patterns that grow stronger each time the body feels unsafe in similar settings.
Residual distress or trauma can show up as:
Increased panic episodes that seem to happen “out of nowhere”
Generalized anxiety, with ongoing unease or fear that something bad will happen
Intrusive rumination or “Pure O”–style thought loops focused on health, sensations, or control
Sleep disturbances, like difficulty falling asleep or waking suddenly with adrenaline surges
Changes in appetite or digestion, as chronic stress affects hunger and gut regulation
Avoidance or isolation, especially in places associated with panic
Growing fears around driving, work, or social settings, sometimes evolving into agoraphobic patterns
These reactions aren’t overreactions—they’re signs of a nervous system that’s still protecting you from another scare. The body doesn’t distinguish between remembered danger and current safety until it’s taught how to settle again.
When these patterns linger, it’s often the body’s way of asking for help—a sign that healing needs to include both mind and body. This leads to the next step: understanding how stress lives in the body, and how therapy can help it release what it’s been holding.
How Stress Lives in the Body
Stress isn’t just a mental experience — it’s a full-body event. When something overwhelming happens, the brain doesn’t simply store the memory as a thought; it encodes it through sensations, muscle tension, breathing patterns, and hormonal responses. That’s why anxiety can resurface even when life seems calm — the body remembers what the mind has tried to move past.
During high-stress moments, the sympathetic nervous system activates to keep you safe. The heart rate increases, breathing quickens, and muscles tighten to prepare for action. But when stress or trauma becomes ongoing, this system can get stuck “on,” leaving the body in a near-constant state of readiness. Over time, this can look like:
Shallow breathing or frequent sighing
Muscle tightness in the jaw, shoulders, or chest
Fatigue or heaviness that doesn’t resolve with rest
Digestive changes or stomach pain
Racing heart or sudden adrenaline surges
Difficulty concentrating or feeling detached from your body
The longer the body stays in this heightened state, the more it starts to treat neutral situations as potential threats. The nervous system loses flexibility — it becomes harder to shift from alert to relaxed, from survival to safety.
That’s why talking about stress isn’t always enough to resolve it. Understanding is important, but the body also needs to learn what calm feels like again. Through somatic awareness, breathwork, or therapies that integrate body and mind — like EMDR — the nervous system can begin to reset. These approaches don’t just quiet the mind; they help the entire system remember that it’s safe to exhale.
Where Healing Begins: Calming the Body and Mind
Once the body understands that the danger has passed, true healing can begin. But getting there requires working with both the nervous system and the mind, not one or the other. Many people try to “think” their way out of anxiety, yet the body remains tense, alert, and ready to react. Others focus on relaxation techniques but still find their thoughts racing. Healing happens when both systems learn to communicate again.
Therapy that integrates body and mind—like somatic approaches, EMDR, and mindfulness-based practices—helps teach the nervous system what calm feels like. Somatic tools focus on physical cues of safety: steady breathing, grounding, gentle movement, or touch. Over time, these signals tell the body it’s safe to soften, and the mind begins to follow.
At the same time, cognitive strategies can support this regulation by reshaping the beliefs that keep stress cycles active. Reframing thoughts like “I’m not safe” or “I can’t handle this” into “My body is learning to feel safe again” or “I can meet this moment” helps reinforce stability from the inside out.
Healing doesn’t mean never feeling anxious again—it means recognizing the body’s signals and responding with care instead of panic. Over time, the nervous system learns a new pattern: safety, not survival.
Taking the Next Step Toward Relief
If these experiences sound familiar, know that you’re not alone — and nothing about your reactions means you’re broken or beyond help. The body simply learned to protect you too well, and now it needs guidance remembering what safety feels like.
Therapy offers a space to begin that process. Working with a trauma-informed therapist can help the body and mind relearn how to communicate, easing both the physical tension and emotional exhaustion that come with ongoing anxiety. Approaches like EMDR therapy, somatic work, and mindfulness-based care can help the nervous system reset and gently release what it’s been holding.
Healing doesn’t mean erasing what happened — it means helping the body trust that the present is safe. With steady support, it becomes possible to move through daily life without the constant undercurrent of fear.
For those seeking anxiety therapy or trauma support in Redondo Beach or across California, sessions are available both in person and online. Whenever you’re ready, help is here.
Until next time, don’t forget to take care of yourself.
About the Author
Catherine Alvarado, LMFT 134744, is an EMDR Certified therapist and Consultant-in-Training (CIT) based in Redondo Beach, California. She specializes in trauma therapy, EMDR therapy, anxiety treatment, and somatic approaches that support healing for both mind and body. Catherine works with teens, adults, and families navigating panic, complex trauma, PTSD, and other challenges that touch daily life.
As the founder of Catherine Alvarado, LMFT & Associates and co-founder of Eunoia Wellness Studio, Catherine is dedicated to providing holistic therapy in the South Bay, blending evidence-based care with compassionate support. She offers individual therapy, intensive EMDR therapy, adjunct EMDR, couples therapy, and family therapy in Redondo Beach and online across California.
Her mission is to create safe, welcoming spaces where clients can feel understood, find relief from overwhelming symptoms, and move toward steadier, more balanced days. If you are experiencing distress, reach out today to schedule a free phone consultation.
