When Anxiety Causes a Tightened Throat Feeling: How to Fix It

Feeling anxious? You might experience a feeling of tightness or a “lump” in your throat. Medical experts call this throat tightness anxiety feeling globus pharyngeus, or globus sensation. While it’s harmless, it can sometimes make you feel more anxious. 

The good news? There are ways to ease this discomfort.

Below, we explain how anxiety causes throat tightness, share quick relief tips, and guide you through proven, evidence-based treatments to get your anxiety under control.

Anxiety can hit anyone, anytime. When it strikes suddenly or intensely, it might cause physical symptoms like a feeling of a lump in your throat. This is part of your body’s "fight-or-flight" response — an internal survival mechanism that helps you to react quickly in stressful situations.

Your muscles — including the muscles in your throat — may tense as part of your fight-or-flight response, triggering that tight throat feeling.

And it’s very common. Up to 96 percent of people with globus pharyngeous say their symptoms get worse when they’re stressed. 

Other physical symptoms of anxiety include:

• An elevated heart rate or heart palpitations 

• Sweating, trembling, or shaking

• Feeling short of breath or like you’re choking (hello, throat tightness anxiety)

• Tense muscles

All this happens because parts of your brain, like amygdala and hypothalamus, stimulate the release of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. 

When you’re in a situation that makes you feel anxious, these reactions can happen very quickly, especially if you encounter a trigger, like a specific object or situation that sets off your fear. 

With throat tightness from anxiety, even speaking can become a challenge. 

While you can’t always stop this symptom entirely, there are exercises to help calm your mind, relax your throat, and regain control over your voice and breathing. 

Give these techniques a try when anxiety creeps in and your throat begins to tense. 

1. Use Deep Breathing Techniques to Calm Yourself

One way to self-soothe stress and anxiety is diaphragmatic breathing, or “belly breathing.” This simple technique involves breathing in and out slowly while engaging your stomach, diaphragm, and abdominal muscles. 

Research suggests this type of breathing can help your body relax, loosening any tight-feeling muscles, including those in your throat. 

Here’s how to do it when your throat feels tight:

• Find a position that feels comfortable.

• Place one hand on your chest, and the other slightly below your ribs.

• Breathe in deeply through your nose, allowing your belly to push out your lower hand. Try to keep your chest steady and breathe in using your abdominal muscles.

• Breathe out through your mouth, with your lips pressed together. 

• Gently use the hand on your abdomen to push out all of the air you just inhaled.

• Repeat this process up to 10 times, taking it slow and being deliberate with each deep breath.

After you breathe in and out several times, you may notice you feel more relaxed. You can practice this breathing exercise at home whenever you find yourself feeling anxious.

2. When You Feel Anxious, Drink Water

Anxiety can sometimes lead to a cricopharyngeal spasm, where the small muscle at the top of your esophagus tightens too much. This muscle usually relaxes when you swallow, so sipping on a glass of water or a warm drink can help ease tension in your throat. 

If you often experience physical symptoms of anxiety or know you’ll be in an anxiety-inducing situation, like giving a speech, keep a drink nearby. It can help soothe your cricopharyngeal muscle and loosen your throat. 

3. Try Stretching Your Neck and Shoulders

Feeling anxious can make your neck muscles feel tight and stiff, which might make moving your head uncomfortable or even painful. 

Here are two easy exercises to relax those tense muscles. 

• For neck tightness: Tilt your head to one side while sitting, and hold for 15 seconds. Switch sides and repeat. Do this three times for a gentle neck stretch. 

• For shoulder tightness: Shrug your shoulders up to your ears, then roll them back down. Repeat this up to 10 times to relieve tension. 

Although it’s normal to feel anxious from time to time, ongoing or severe anxiety could be a sign of an anxiety disorder. 

If you think a clinical anxiety disorder might be behind your throat tightness anxiety symptoms, consider reaching out to a mental health professional. 

Here’s how to get started:

• Let your primary care provider know about your symptoms and ask for a mental health referral.

• Schedule an appointment with a licensed psychiatrist in your city or region to talk about your symptoms.

• Connect with a licensed psychiatry provider from your home through our online anxiety treatment service.

Remember, anxiety disorders are treatable, even when symptoms are severe. Here’s what a mental health professional might recommend for you.  

Medication for Anxiety

While there’s no cure for anxiety, several types of medication can reduce the severity of anxiety symptoms — including throat tightness — and give you more control over how you think and feel. 

Depending on the type of anxiety disorder you have, your mental health provider may prescribe daily medication or medication you can use whenever symptoms crop up.

Common anxiety medications include:

• Antidepressants. Some types of antidepressants, like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), can relieve anxiety by increasing the activity of natural mood-regulating neurotransmitters in your brain. 

• Benzodiazepines. Known for their quick relief, these medications ease anxiety and promote relaxation. However, they can be habit-forming and healthcare professionals don’t typically prescribe them for long-term treatment. 

• Beta-blockers. Beta-blockers help manage the physical symptoms of anxiety, like rapid heartbeat and trembling. Healthcare professionals often prescribe them for situational anxiety, such as performance anxiety (AKA stage fright).

Check out our guide to anxiety medications for more information on how common anti-anxiety drugs work and their potential side effects. 

Psychotherapy

Many anxiety disorders improve with psychotherapy, or talk therapy, which involves talking with a mental health provider about your thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

Several types of therapy can help with anxiety, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure therapy. 

CBT involves learning new ways of thinking and behaving when you’re exposed to situations that cause you to feel anxious. Exposure therapy lets you safely face your fears in a controlled setting. 

Your mental health provider may recommend psychotherapy on its own or in combination with anti-anxiety medication. 

Habits and Lifestyle Changes

Sometimes, feelings of anxiety — including your throat symptoms — can improve with small but meaningful changes to your lifestyle and habits. 

Alongside medication and therapy, consider these strategies to better manage your anxiety:

• Mindfulness meditation. Embrace the present and accept feelings and sensations without judgment. Research suggests that it may help to improve symptoms of anxiety and depression. Try meditating at home for 10 to 15 minutes a day or taking part in a local meditation group.

• Regular exercise and physical activity. Regular exercise is a great distraction from stress and releases feel-good chemicals. Try to get at least 150 minutes of exercise per week. Even a short walk around your neighborhood can offer mental and physical health benefits.

• Limiting caffeine. Too much caffeine can ramp up anxiety and trigger panic attacks in people with panic disorder. No need to quit coffee — just stick to no more than two to three 12-fluid-ounce cups a day.

• Healthy sleep habits. Sleep deprivation can worsen anxiety and depression. Aim for at least seven hours a night. Want to sleep better? Keeping a regular bedtime and cutting caffeine after lunch might help.  

• Journaling. Some scientific research suggests that journaling about positive experiences may help reduce mental distress and make anxiety and depression symptoms less severe. 

Our guide to calming anxiety includes more evidence-based techniques you can use to promote relaxation and improve throat tightness anxiety symptoms. 

It’s common to feel muscle tightness in your throat during times of stress, like when you’re meeting someone new or giving a presentation in front of others. 

Let’s recap what we know about throat tightness and anxiety:

• Throat tightness can happen whether or not you have a mental health condition. Anxious feelings (and symptoms like throat tightness) can strike at any time and happen to anyone. 

• Techniques like stretching and meditation might help. Relaxing techniques can help loosen tight muscles, including those in your neck and throat. 

• For chronic feelings of anxiety, consider seeking professional help. A mental health professional can help you talk things through, determine if you have an anxiety disorder, and recommend effective treatment options. 

If your anxiety is severe, persistent, or it has a negative impact on your quality of life, reach out to your primary care provider for advice. 

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