Anxiety hits differently for everyone. Sometimes it’s racing thoughts. Sometimes it’s a tight chest. And for many people, it’s a strange, cold wave that runs through the body, followed by full-body shaking or muscle tremors. These are called anxiety shivers, and they can leave you feeling confused, scared, and out of control.
It’s completely normal to wonder why you shiver when you’re anxious or to search for how to stop anxiety chills, it’s something a lot of people go through. One study from the Journal of Psychiatric Research found that over 44% of people with generalized anxiety disorder report physical symptoms like chills, trembling, or muscle spasms during episodes of stress. These symptoms can feel just as overwhelming as the emotional part of anxiety.
The good news? There are real, simple ways to manage these anxiety chills. You don’t need to fear the shaking, you need to understand what your body is doing and how to help it settle down.
Why Does Anxiety Make You Shiver?
When your brain senses a threat, even if it’s not physical, it triggers your nervous system’s fight-or-flight response. Stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol surge, preparing you to respond by increasing your heart rate and tensing your muscles.
If this energy isn’t released, it builds up. That buildup can cause your muscles to tremble and your body to misread the situation as cold, resulting in anxiety chills. Even if the room isn’t chilly, your nervous system behaves as though it is.
So yes, anxiety can make you shiver. It doesn’t mean something is wrong, it just means your body is on high alert. The key is helping your body relax and feel safe again.
Ways to Stop Anxiety Shivers When They Start
If you’re tired of feeling those sudden waves of cold and muscle tremors, here are 12 effective ways to stop or manage anxiety chills. These tips work best when used early, but even if the shivering has already started, they can help bring things under control.
1. Move Your Body, Even If You Don’t Feel Like It
When anxiety hits, your body goes into overdrive. All that adrenaline rushing through your system makes your muscles tense, your heart pound, and yes, causes anxiety shivers. One of the quickest ways to break the cycle is to move.
You don’t need to do a full-on workout. Walk around the block, stretch your arms and legs, do some light yoga, or even dance around your room for a few minutes. Movement helps burn off excess energy and signals to your brain that you’re not in danger. The more you move, the quicker your nervous system starts to cool down. So if you’ve ever wondered why you shiver when you’re anxious, it’s often because your body needs a physical way to release all that built-up stress.
2. Get Warm and Create a Cozy Environment
It’s weird how anxiety can make you feel freezing, even when it’s hot out. Anxiety chills happen when your brain misfires and thinks you’re in danger, sending blood to your core and leaving your skin cold. Wrap up in a soft hoodie or grab a heated blanket. Put on thick socks or sip a warm drink.
Simple comforts send safety signals to your brain. Even lighting a candle or turning on a salt lamp can help shift your environment into a calming zone. If you frequently get anxiety chills, keeping a “comfort kit” nearby with cozy things you love can make all the difference.
3. Practice Intentional Breathing to Reboot Your System
Breathing is the fastest way to talk to your nervous system. When anxiety takes over, your breath gets short and shallow, which adds to the shakiness and makes anxiety shivers feel worse. Controlled breathing helps calm your heart rate, relax your muscles, and stop the spiral.
Try this:
- Breathe in for 4 seconds
- Hold for 4
- Breathe out for 6
- Repeat for at least 5 rounds
Longer exhales tell your brain it’s safe to slow down. You might not stop shivering instantly, but after a minute or two, your body starts to get the message.
4. Do Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)
This one’s powerful if your body feels like it’s vibrating with tension. Progressive Muscle Relaxation is a method where you tense and release muscle groups, one at a time. You might start with your feet, then move up through your legs, stomach, arms, and face.
You’ll notice the parts of your body that are clenched up without realizing it. And once you release them, your nervous system starts letting go too. Yes, anxiety can make you shiver, and using progressive muscle relaxation is one way to help your body reset and calm down.
5. Stay Hydrated and Sip Something Warm
When you’re anxious, dehydration sneaks in fast. You might be breathing harder or sweating more without noticing. This imbalance makes anxiety chills more intense. Keep a water bottle with you and sip throughout the day.
Warm drinks help even more. Herbal teas like chamomile, peppermint, or ginger relax your stomach and give your body something soothing. If cold water makes you feel worse when you’re already shivering, a mug of warm tea is the way to go.
6. Try a Weighted Blanket or Gentle Pressure
If your anxiety shivers hit at night or when you’re trying to rest, a weighted blanket can help regulate your body’s stress response. The gentle pressure tells your brain you’re safe, almost like a hug.
You can also try pressure during the day: crossing your arms and squeezing lightly, using a warm compress on your shoulders, or holding a pillow close to your chest. These small touches help ground you when the shaking starts.
7. Use Grounding Techniques to Reconnect with the Present
When anxiety takes over, your mind jumps into future fears and your body follows. Grounding brings you back. The classic 5-4-3-2-1 method works well:
- 5 things you can see
- 4 things you can touch
- 3 things you hear
- 2 things you smell
- 1 thing you taste
It sounds simple, but it’s incredibly effective when you’re stuck in a loop. Focusing on your senses helps your body realize there’s no real threat, and the anxiety shivers start to ease up.
8. Talk to Yourself Like You Would a Friend
You’re not crazy. You’re not weak. You’re having a nervous system response to stress. Say it out loud if you have to: “This is just anxiety. I’m not in danger. This feeling will pass.”
Your brain is wired to react fast to fear. But when you remind yourself that it’s not life-threatening, you take some power back. Shivering when you’re anxious is a real physical response, not a permanent condition, reminding yourself of that can help you feel more in control.
9. Watch Your Intake of Caffeine and Sugar
We all love our coffee or sweet treats, but when anxiety is high, these can crank your nervous system up even more. Caffeine stimulates your body and speeds up your heart rate, making it harder to settle down and easier for anxiety chills to kick in.
Try replacing coffee with herbal tea, or cutting your sugar intake when you’re already feeling edgy. Your body will thank you later.
10. Listen to Slow, Soothing Music
Music has a powerful impact on your brain. A calming playlist can lower your heart rate, slow your breathing, and give your mind something peaceful to focus on.
If the shakes hit, pop in your earbuds and press play on music that helps you feel grounded. Classical, ambient, or acoustic sounds work well. You might even find that you stop noticing the anxiety shivers after a few songs.
11. Visualize a Safe Place in Detail
Close your eyes. Picture a place where you feel completely safe and warm. It could be a beach, a forest, your childhood bedroom, or even just your bed. Imagine how it smells, what it sounds like, how it feels under your feet.
Visualization helps take your mind off the fear and gives your body something positive to react to. It’s a surprisingly effective way to stop anxiety shivers, especially when paired with breathing or grounding.
12. Reach Out for Connection
Anxiety isolates you. And when you’re shaking or scared, you might feel embarrassed or like no one would understand. But connection is healing. Text a friend, call a sibling, or check in with a therapist.
Even a short message like “Hey, I’m feeling off, can I talk for a sec?” can make a huge difference. You’re not alone, and you don’t need to power through these symptoms by yourself.
13. Use CBT Techniques to Break the Thought Spiral
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps you understand how your thoughts fuel your physical reactions. If you’re someone who experiences anxiety shivers, it’s often not just the anxiety, it’s the thoughts about the anxiety that keep your body stuck in panic mode.
CBT tools like identifying automatic negative thoughts, challenging irrational beliefs, and replacing them with grounded ones can calm your nervous system. For example, instead of thinking “I’m shaking, something must be wrong,” you’d learn to reframe it to “I’m feeling anxious, but this will pass.”
Practicing that consistently helps your brain stop interpreting shivering as danger. And once your brain stops panicking, your body usually follows.
14. Try Exposure Therapy if Avoidance Is Making It Worse
If you’ve started avoiding certain places or situations because they trigger anxiety chills or shivers, exposure therapy can help. It’s not about throwing yourself into fear. It’s about slowly and safely retraining your brain to stop reacting with panic.
You start small, like just imagining the situation, then gradually work your way up. Over time, your brain learns that the trigger isn’t a threat, and your body doesn’t go into fight-or-flight mode as easily. That means fewer physical symptoms like anxiety chills.
If you’ve been wondering how to stop anxiety chills that pop up just by thinking about certain situations, exposure therapy might be the missing piece.
15. Consider Antidepressants If Anxiety Is Taking Over
Sometimes, lifestyle changes and coping tools aren’t enough. If your anxiety is intense, long-lasting, or constantly triggering physical symptoms like shivers and chills, medication might help.
Antidepressants, especially SSRIs, can help regulate the brain chemicals involved in anxiety. They don’t numb you or make the anxiety disappear overnight, but they can reduce the intensity so your body isn’t reacting so strongly all the time.
If you’re regularly dealing with things like anxiety shivers, talk to a healthcare provider about whether medication could be part of your toolkit. It doesn’t mean you’re weak—it means you’re serious about feeling better.
Finding Calm When Anxiety Shivers Strike
Anxiety shivers can feel unsettling because they remind you how closely your body and mind are connected. They’re not just random symptoms, they’re signals from your nervous system trying to make sense of stress. Learning to accept that your body reacts this way without judging yourself can really shift how you handle anxiety.
It’s less about stopping the shivers instantly and more about understanding what’s happening inside you. Over time, this kind of awareness can help you feel less trapped by anxiety and more in tune with how your body responds to stress. That shift in perspective makes all the difference.