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Anxiety Buzzing
Sensations
Written by Jim Folk
Medically reviewed by Marilyn
Folk, BScN.

Last updated April 25, 2022

    

Buzzing Sensations, like a sudden

vibrating, electric zap, or tremor feeling
anywhere on or in the body is a common
anxiety disorder symptom,
including anxiety and panic attacks,
generalized anxiety disorder, social
anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive
disorder, phobias, and others.

This article explains the relationship

between anxiety and having buzzing
sensations anywhere on or in the body.

Article Menu
 Symptom Descriptions
 Causes
 Treatment
 Therapy
 Prevalence
 References

Common Buzzing
Sensation Symptom
Descriptions
 You have a buzzing sensation
anywhere on or in the body, and
there isn’t any physical or medical
reason for it.
 It feels like parts of your body, or
your entire body, is buzzing or
vibrating like an electrical current is
shocking it.
 It feels like parts of your body, or
your entire body, is buzzing as is a
vibrator is touching it.
 This buzzing sensation can feel like
your cellular phone is ringing on
“vibrate.”
 This buzzing sensation can seem
rhythmic, cyclic, or random with no
particular pattern. It can also seem
rhythmic for a while, random for a
while, or alternate back and forth
between rhythmic and random.

This symptom can affect only one part of

the body, shift and affect another part or
parts, and migrate all over and affect
many or all parts of the body.

This symptom can:

 Occur occasionally, frequently, or

persistently.
 Precede, accompany, or follow an
escalation of other anxiety
symptoms or occur by itself.
 Precede, accompany, or follow a
period of nervousness, anxiety, fear,
and stress, or occur "out of the blue"
and for no reason.
 Range in intensity from slight, to
moderate, to severe.
 Come in waves where it’s strong one
moment and eases off the next.
 Change from day to day and moment
to moment.

While some people might be able to

control their buzzing sensations by
calming themselves down or by
tightening and loosening their muscles,
others might not. This symptom often
occurs involuntarily, meaning it occurs
by itself, and there isn’t anything you can
do to stop it.

Some people experience a buzzing

sensation when moving body parts that
are affected, while others experience
this sensation regardless of movement.

It’s also common for this symptom to

occur intermittently for no apparent
reason. For example, you could be
resting when suddenly and for no
apparent reason, a part of your body
begins to feel like it’s
buzzing/vibrating/trembling. Then,
moments later, it subsides only to return
at another time even though you haven’t
changed position or done anything to
alleviate the feeling.

All the above combinations and

variations are common.

To see if anxiety might be

playing a role in your
symptoms, rate your level
of anxiety using our free
one-minute instant results
Anxiety Test, Anxiety
Disorder Test, or
Hyperstimulation Test.

The higher the rating, the

more likely anxiety could
be contributing to or
causing your anxiety
symptoms, including
feeling like impending
doom symptoms.

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Causes

Medical Advisory
Talk to your doctor about all new,
changing, persistent, and returning
symptoms as some medical
conditions and medications can
cause anxiety-like symptoms.

Additional Medical Advisory

Information.

When this symptom is caused by stress,

including anxiety-caused stress:

1. Effects of the stress

response
Anxious behavior, such as worry,
activates the stress response. The stress
response secretes stress hormones into
the bloodstream. They travel to targeted
spots in the body to bring about specific
physiological, psychological, and
emotional changes that prepare the
body for emergency action — to fight or
flee.

This survival reaction is often referred

to as the fight or flight response, the
emergency response, the fight, flight, or
freeze response (some people freeze
when they are afraid, like a “deer caught
in headlights”), or the fight, flight, freeze,
or faint response (since some people faint
when they are afraid).[1][2]

Some of these stress response changes

include:

 Quickly converts the body’s energy

reserves into “fuel” (blood sugar) to
have an instant boost of energy.
 Stimulates the body, especially the
nervous system (which includes the
brain), to detect and react to danger
more quickly.
 Heightens most of the body’s senses
to be more keenly aware of and
reactive to danger.
 Tightens muscles so that the body is
more resilient to damage.
 Shunts blood to parts of the body
more vital to survival, such as the
brain, arms, legs, and vital organs,
and away from parts less vital for
survival, such as the stomach,
digestive system, and skin.

To name a few.

Visit our “Stress Response” article for

more information about its many
changes.

The higher the degree of stress

response, the more dramatic the
changes.

Any one or combination of these

changes can cause a buzzing sensation
anywhere on or in the body.

For instance, heightened nervous

system activity can cause erratic
“buzzing” sensations throughout the
body since the nervous system extends
throughout the body.

A sudden increase in energy and

stimulation, muscles tightening,
increased sensory perception, and blood
shunted around the body can also cause
erratic “buzzing” sensations as the body
prepares for action.

Since these survival changes push the

body beyond its balance point
(equilibrium), stress responses stress
the body. As such, anxiety stresses the
body.

Stress is a common cause of “buzzing”

anywhere on or in the body.

Many people report having a buzzing,”

“trembling,” or “zapping” feeling when
they are nervous, anxious, or stressed.
[3][4]

Some people say they have a “case of the

nerves” when they buzz, tremble, shake,
or vibrate when nervous, anxious, or
stressed.

Buzzing anywhere on or in the body is a

common indication of anxiety and
stress.

2. Hyperstimulation
(chronic stress)
When stress responses occur
infrequently, the body quickly recovers
from the many stress response changes.

However, when stress responses occur

too often, such as from overly anxious
behavior, the body can remain in a state
of semi-stress response readiness, we
call “stress-response hyperstimulation”
since stress hormones are powerful
stimulants.

Hyperstimulation is also often referred

to as “hyperarousal,” “HPA axis
dysfunction,” or “nervous system
dysregulation.”[4][5]

Hyperstimulation (chronic stress) can

keep stress response changes even
though a stress response hasn’t been
activated.

Visit our “Hyperstimulation” article for

more information about the many ways
hyperstimulation can affect the body
and how we feel.

As the severity of hyperstimulation

increases, symptoms of
hyperstimulation, such as buzzing
sensations, can also increase. There are
many reasons for this.

Nervous System Excitation And

Dysregulation

For instance, the body’s nervous system

is responsible for sending and receiving
sensory information to and from the
brain. Specialized cells called “neurons”
(nerve cells) are a main component of
the nervous system that communicate
with each other using an
electrochemical process (the
combination of electricity and
chemistry).

When nerve impulse information is

received from one of the body’s senses,
neurons relay this nerve impulse
information through the nervous system
network to the brain for interpretation.

For example, if we want to move a

particular muscle or group of muscles,
nerve impulse information is sent from
the brain through the nervous system
network to the particular muscle or
groups of muscles to bring about
movement (muscles move through a
combination of nerve impulse-triggered
muscle contractions and releases).

This nervous system communication and

reaction system performs normally
when the body and nervous system are
healthy. However, problems can occur
when the body and nervous system
become hyperstimulated.[5][6]

For instance, because of their

electrochemical properties, neurons are
particularly sensitive to stress hormone
stimulation. When the nervous system
becomes hyperstimulated, it can act
erratically, causing a multitude of
sensory and nervous system
irregularities.[6][7]

Moreover, because hyperstimulation

can increase the electrical activity in
parts of the brain, the nervous system
can act even more erratically when the
body and nervous system become
hyperstimulated.[8]

The combination of the above factors

can cause many odd and bizarre
symptoms, including a “buzzing” feeling
anywhere on or in the body.

Like all hyperstimulation symptoms, the

frequency, intensity, and duration of
buzzing sensations can increase as the
severity of hyperstimulation increases.

Sleep deprivation
Buzzing sensations can also be
aggravated by a lack of sleep. A lack of
sleep causes an increase in the level of
circulating cortisol, a powerful stress
hormone stimulant,[9][10] which also
stresses and stimulates the body,
especially the nervous system.

Many sleep-deprived people get buzzing

sensations until their sleep debt is
caught up and the body’s level of
stimulation is reduced.

3. Side effects of
medication
Many medications, including common
psychotropic medications (anti-anxiety,
antidepressants, mood stabilizers, etc.)
can cause buzzing in the extremities as a
side effect.

If you think your buzzing symptoms

might be related to your medication, talk
with your doctor and pharmacist about
options.

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Other Factors
Other factors can stress the body,
causing and contributing to this
symptom, such as:

 Recreational drugs
 Stimulants
 Fatigue
 Hyper and hypoventilation
 Low blood sugar
 Nutritional deficiencies
 Dehydration
 Hormone changes
 Pain

Select the relevant link for more

information.

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Treatment
When this symptom is caused or
aggravated by other factors, addressing
those factors can reduce and eliminate
it.

When this symptom is caused by

anxious behavior and active stress
response, ending the stress response
will end its changes. This symptom
should subside as your body recovers
from the active stress response.

Keep in mind it can take up to 20

minutes or more for the body to recover
from a major stress response. But this is
normal and shouldn’t be a cause for
concern.

When this symptom is caused by

hyperstimulation (chronic stress),
eliminating hyperstimulation will end
this anxiety symptom.

You can eliminate hyperstimulation by:

 Reducing stress.
 Containing anxious behavior (since
anxiety creates stress).
 Regular deep relaxation.
 Avoiding stimulants.
 Regular light to moderate exercise.
 Getting regular good sleep.
 Eating a healthy diet of whole and
natural foods.
 Passively-accepting your symptoms
until they subside.
 Being patient as your body recovers.

Visit our “60 Natural Ways To Reduce

Stress” article for more ways to reduce
stress.

As the body recovers from

hyperstimulation, it stops sending
symptoms of hyperstimulation,
including buzzing sensations.

Hyperstimulation symptoms subside as

the body regains its normal, non-
hyperstimulated health.

However, eliminating hyperstimulation

can take much longer than most people
think, causing symptoms to linger longer
than expected.

As long as the body is even slightly

hyperstimulated, it can present
symptoms of any type, number,
intensity, duration, frequency, and at any
time, including this one.

Anxiety symptoms often linger because:

 The body is still being stressed (from

stressful circumstances or anxious
behavior).
 Your stress hasn't diminished
enough or for long enough.
 Your body hasn't completed its
recovery work.

Addressing the reason for lingering

symptoms will allow the body to recover.