The Difference Between Stress and Anxiety

You’re feeling on edge, your sleep is off, and your thoughts are racing. Is it just a stressful week, or something deeper?

Stress and anxiety share many symptoms, but they’re not the same thing—and coping with anxiety requires a slightly different approach than dealing with stress. Here’s what to know. 

The differences

“Many people use the words ‘stress’ and ‘anxiety’ interchangeably,” says Judith S. Beck, president of Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy. “While their symptoms overlap, there are some distinctions between them.”

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Stress arises when a person faces demands greater than what they believe they can cope with. It often triggers negative emotions like irritation, anger, or sadness, along with physical symptoms like a fast heart rate, an upset stomach, and tense muscles.

Stress often has a clear external cause and is situation-dependent. Once the event passes, “the intensity of a stress response usually decreases,” Beck says.

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Anxiety, on the other hand, can show up even when there’s no clear trigger, and it tends to linger. It’s also typically disproportionate to any stressful situation in a person’s life.

Stress can escalate into anxiety. “Stress and anxiety may be on a continuum,” Beck says. “If stress continues, and efforts to overcome it do not work, individuals may develop an anxiety disorder.”

What happens in your body when you’re stressed vs. anxious

When you’re stressed, your body kicks into fight-or-flight mode. You pump out cortisol and adrenaline, your heart rate increases, you may get short of breath, and your body becomes more activated. It’s your body saying, “Let’s handle this.”

This response is helpful when there is a short-term challenge, but can be deleterious if chronically activated. Stress responses resolve when the threat or demand subsides.

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Anxiety disorders, however, involve a more sustained state of heightened arousal and vigilance. “With anxiety, that same system might stay activated, even when there’s no real danger. Your brain is stuck in a loop of anticipating problems, so your body keeps reacting as if there’s something to fix, even when there isn’t,” says Nina Westbrook, a marriage and family therapist and founder of the digital wellness community Bene. “It’s exhausting, because your nervous system isn’t getting a break.”

How to cope

Accurately labeling your emotional experiences like stress or anxiety can be a first step in selecting the best coping strategy or treatment.

“Naming what you’re feeling is more powerful than you might think,” says Westbrook. “It gives you a starting point. If you can say, ‘This is stress,’ you can start to connect the feeling to the source.”

Stress might be addressed in many different ways, depending on the trigger. If you’re sweating an upcoming presentation, for instance, better time-management might calm your nerves. In other situations, you might need to set more boundaries or ask for support, Westbrook suggests. Other stress-reduction strategies include dividing overwhelming tasks into smaller, doable steps; taking a short walk; sharing your experiences with a trusted friend; and giving yourself permission to say “not right now,” says Beck.

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Handling anxiety doesn’t rely as much on addressing any single trigger, since the emotion tends to persist throughout different situations.  “You might shift focus to calming your nervous system and working on grounding practices or techniques that you know work for you,” Westbrook says. Anxiety might also require more intensive cognitive-behavioral interventions aimed at changing negative thought patterns. 

Deep breathing, mindfulness practices, and regular physical activity can all help reduce anxiety symptoms in the moment and over time. Westbrook recommends routinely limiting stimulation, cutting back on caffeine and social media, setting up and sticking to a routine, and practicing positive self-talk to deal with anxiety

“Therapy can be a game-changer too,” says Westbrook. “It gives you tools, but more importantly, a safe space to process.”