Jim KwikFounder, Kwik Brain · Brain Coach

Stress vs. Anxiety: What's the difference?

20 Sept 2024 · 1 min

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In this brief explanatory segment, the speaker defines anxiety as future‑oriented worry accompanied by stress, describing how the brain’s threat detection system—centered on the amygdala—activates the HPA axis and triggers adrenaline release. The speaker notes that this system can become overactive, perceiving threats where none exist. The core distinction presented is that stress originates from an external stressor and subsides when that stressor is removed, allowing the body to return to a parasympathetic state, whereas anxiety persists without an obvious external trigger, reflecting an internal, ongoing sense of threat.

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Anxiety is the worrying of the future with the stress attached to it. So generally what that means is that the brain will perceive threatening stimuli in the environment. The amygdala, which is part of that threat detection center, alerts the brain, alerts the HPA axis, which tells the adrenal glands to release adrenaline. And that can sometimes be overactive, meaning that it will perceive threats in the environment where they're not necessarily there. Now, the difference between stress and anxiety is that stress is caused by an external force. If you were to remove the external stressor, so perhaps the deadline or the financial worries, etc., then generally speaking that stress system will come down back to a parasympathetic state. If however you are still feeling anxious, worried, stressed about the future but there's no obvious external stimuli, then that's generally an anxiety rather than a stressful situation.