5 Ways to Deal with Health Anxiety
From choosing gut-friendly foods, to ensuring you get enough steps per day, it’s completely normal to make health-conscious decisions every day.
However, health anxiety is when these concerns start to overwhelm people’s lives, as they constantly think about developing a serious medical illness. This type of anxiety is more common than we think, affecting approximately one in 20 people.
In this article, we’ll explain what health anxiety is and how to recognise its symptoms, as well as how you can cope with health anxiety.
Medically reviewed by Claire Harley in February 2026.
How to help with health anxiety at home?
While a GP may recommend talking therapies or offer anxiety medication to help stop health anxiety symptoms, there are many self-help methods that can minimise its impact too. Here are our tips on how to cope with health anxiety:
1. Keep a diary of your health anxiety
One way to help health anxiety is to recognise when and why those unhelpful thoughts occur. As such, keeping a diary can be an invaluable tool for better understanding your anxieties.
By recording when and where your health anxiety spikes, you can start to identify any patterns or common triggers. For example, you may realise that your anxiety regularly appears after watching certain TV programmes or reading medical articles. These would be your triggers, so then you could cope with health anxiety by turning away from these forms of entertainment.
Keeping a diary can also help you see that health anxiety is more linked to mental health than any physical condition, with symptoms flaring up when you feel particularly stressed or anxious.
2. Challenge your health anxiety
Another benefit of keeping a record of your health anxiety is that it can help you challenge that negative line of thinking.
Essentially, you want to write down your anxious thought and then pull together two lists: one that ‘justifies’ your health anxiety, and one that ‘disagrees’ with it. For example, in the first list you may write, ‘I’m really worried about my headaches’, and then in the second list you might put, ‘headaches can just be a symptom of stress’.
It’s a simple exercise, but one that lets you look at your anxious thoughts in a more objective light. This can help reframe your thinking and better cope with health anxiety symptoms.
3. Distract yourself from your health anxiety
While it’s much easier said than done, it’s important to find effective ways to distract yourself to help your health anxiety have less control over you.
If you feel the urge to start checking your blood pressure, for example, this may just be a symptom of boredom. In which case, try going for a walk to keep your mind occupied. Or, should you catch yourself Googling symptoms and feeling worse for it, step away from the screen and give a loved one a call. It doesn’t particularly matter how you do so, as long as you find that distraction to stop health anxiety.
For those already keeping a health anxiety diary, this step should be easier to manage. You’ll already have a better idea of your patterns and triggers, so you can start distracting yourself before those feelings flare up.
4. Try relaxation techniques
You can also help to stop health anxiety symptoms from impacting your day-to-day life by practising certain relaxation techniques, or taking steps to reduce your stress levels. These exercises work to calm your body and mind, with studies showing them to be very effective for treating psychological tension and anxiety.
Don’t worry, you don’t need to commit to yoga classes or master meditation (although both of these techniques can help). In fact, the NHS recommends a simple breathing exercise to deal with health anxiety that can be done anywhere:
- First, get comfortable sitting down or standing up – make sure both your feet are flat on the floor, roughly hip-width apart.
- Breathe in slowly through your nose, letting your breath flow as deep into your belly as you can comfortably manage.
- Breathe out gently through your mouth.
- Continue to repeat this exercise for at least five minutes. If you’re struggling with the rhythm, try to count steadily from one to five when both breathing in and out.
5. Try to avoid checking symptoms on the internet
When health anxiety arises, it can be tempting to search symptoms online for reassurance. In these moments, however, internet searches often increase worry rather than reduce it, as many results focus on serious or unlikely explanations.
If you notice the urge to Google symptoms, try pausing and giving yourself a few minutes before acting on it. During that time, you could put your phone out of reach, switch it to airplane mode, or set a short timer to allow the anxious feeling to pass.
It can also help to replace symptom-searching with a planned alternative. For example, you might go for a short walk, practise slow breathing, listen to music, or focus on a simple task that keeps your hands and attention busy. These small actions can help break the habit of checking and reduce health anxiety over time.
If you are keeping a health anxiety diary, you may start to notice that online searches are a common trigger. Recognising this can help you prepare in advance and choose more supportive coping strategies.
How can I get immediate help with health anxiety?
If health anxiety is impacting your day-to-day life, we recommend booking a GP appointment or speaking to a medical professional to help you get the right treatment and put your worries to rest. In some cases, health anxiety may be linked to specific physical symptoms, while in others it can be a symptom of anxiety itself - which is why personalised medical advice is so important.
Benenden Health members get immediate access to a 24/7 GP Helpline, as well as a 24/7 Mental Health Helpline. Members can access to support and practical advice, whether that’s help managing the physical sensations of anxiety, someone to listen to your symptoms, or signposting and guidance on next steps if further support is needed.
What is health anxiety?
If you recognise yourself in any of the situations we mentioned above – checking symptoms, feeling caught in cycles of worry, or struggling to switch off health-related thoughts – you’re not alone. To better understand why these patterns happen, it helps to look more closely at what health anxiety actually is.
Sometimes referred to as hypochondria, health anxiety is a mental health condition where people fixate and excessively worry about having or developing a serious medical illness. This condition can become very disruptive, with thoughts and feelings of health anxiety taking over day-to-day life.
Often, people with health anxiety will misinterpret harmless or minor physical symptoms, believing they are the result of a severe underlying condition. At the same time, health anxiety may cause physical symptoms of anxiety, such as dizziness or an irregular heartbeat. These physical sensations may then be mistaken for a different serious medical condition, leading to a cycle of worry and physical anxiety symptoms.
What does health anxiety feel like?
Health anxiety can have a minor, moderate, or severe effect on people’s daily lives. For instance, some people might be more vigilant about daily germs and viruses, which could include excessive handwashing, frequently disinfecting surfaces, and washing clothes after only one use. However, more severe cases can leave a person in significant distress over more serious conditions such as cancer.
For example, someone with health anxiety may convince themselves that a recurring headache is a sign of a brain tumour. They’ll be consumed by this belief, spending countless hours researching the condition, disrupting their sleep routine, and constantly seeking assurances from loved ones. Even if a doctor rules out a brain tumour, a person with health anxiety may still be unconvinced, continuing to fixate on the medical condition.
In this particular example, while there’s no medical evidence to support the belief that they have a brain tumour, the fixation still causes significant stress and anxiety, impacting their overall wellbeing. In these situations, it’s important to recognise and get help to overcome health anxiety when it becomes a problem.
What causes health anxiety?
Often linked to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the exact cause of health anxiety is not always clear. However, there are risk factors that can contribute to health anxiety, which we explore below:
A family history of health anxiety
A study on illness anxiety disorder found that if parents were disproportionately worried about health issues, and frequently voiced those concerns, it increased the risk of children developing health anxiety.
Previous experience of a serious illness
The same study also found that a person was at a higher risk of developing health anxiety if they experienced a serious illness in their childhood. This experience can make them more aware of potential harmful symptoms and increase the anxiety about such a condition resurfacing.
Excessive use of the internet to self-diagnose
A 2022 UK-based study suggested that ‘cyberchondria’ could be to blame. Cyberchondria occurs when an individual becomes obsessed with researching health information online, to the point where it causes excessive anxiety and worry. This can lead people with health anxiety to fully believe that minor or harmless symptoms are an indicator of a serious medical condition.
What’s more, thanks to the rise of AI tools, people are increasingly turning to websites like ChatGPT for medical advice, one survey suggesting 40 million people turn to ChatGPT daily for health-related queries. Although this improves accessibility to information, exposure to broad, non-personalised medical explanations can heighten uncertainty, potentially contributing to health anxiety.
Anxious personality traits
People with generalised anxiety disorder, or those who tend to catastrophise, often worry more about their health. They may pay close attention to bodily sensations and quickly assume that minor or harmless symptoms are signs of something serious. This ongoing worry can increase fear about health and, over time, lead to health anxiety.
What are the symptoms of health anxiety?
It’s completely normal to worry about potential medical conditions from time to time. In many cases, being vigilant and homing in on what you know about your body can be a real lifesaver. For example, checking your moles regularly can help you catch more serious conditions, like skin cancer, early on. However, this can become health anxiety when your concern and vigilance manifests itself in anxious ways.
For example, one of the main symptoms of health anxiety is feeling as though you need constant reassurance that you are okay. Severe health anxiety can leave you needing further validation, even going as far as to challenge professionals and seek second or even third opinions.
To help you better understand whether you might need help with health anxiety, take a look at the most common hypochondria symptoms:
Constantly worrying about your physical health.
Obsessively researching diseases or medical conditions and their symptoms.
Repeatedly checking for signs of illness e.g. taking blood pressure or checking for lumps).
Avoiding people or situations for fear of catching an illness.
Persistently asking for reassurance on physical health from loved ones.
Believing doctors or medical tests missed something.
There are also physical symptoms of health anxiety, such as:
A racing heart.
A tight feeling in your chest.
Shortness of breath.
Dizziness.
Stomach issues (churning, butterflies).
Sweating.
Trembling.
Headaches.
Muscle tension.
If you or a loved one are showing symptoms of health anxiety – and it’s stopping you from leading a normal life, the NHS recommends that you speak to a GP. They’ll discuss how you can deal with health anxiety, as well as talk through potential therapy treatments.
How to help someone with health anxiety
Supporting someone with health anxiety can feel challenging, especially when you want to reassure them but don’t know the best way to do so. While you can’t remove their anxiety entirely, your understanding and response can make a meaningful difference. To help, we’ve put together a list of ways to help someone with health anxiety.
Try to listen without judgement. Acknowledge how real their fear feels to them, even if you don’t share the same concerns. Dismissing their worries or repeatedly telling them ‘There’s nothing wrong’ can sometimes increase distress rather than reduce it.
Be mindful of reassurance-seeking. While offering comfort is natural, repeatedly checking symptoms, searching for answers together, or providing constant reassurance can unintentionally reinforce health anxiety. Instead, gently encourage coping strategies they already use, such as distraction, relaxation techniques, or delaying the urge to seek reassurance.
Encouraging professional support is one of the best ways to help someone with health anxiety. You might suggest speaking to a GP or mental health professional, particularly if health anxiety is interfering with daily life. Offer to help them book an appointment or attend with them if that feels supportive.
Remember to look after yourself too. Supporting someone with health anxiety can be emotionally draining, and it’s okay to set boundaries around what you can and can’t offer. Being calm, consistent, and compassionate is often the most helpful approach.
How can Benenden Health help with health anxiety?
If you’re struggling to overcome health anxiety, and self-help techniques are not working, you should book a GP appointment or speak to a medical professional as soon as possible.
Benenden Health offers immediate access to 24/7 Mental Health Helpline, where you can speak to a counsellor at any time of day or night.
As a member, you would also get access to 24/7 GP Helpline, so you can call to book an appointment with a UK based GP and talk about your symptoms or health concerns at a time that suits you. Plus, you’ll also have access to a wide range of trusted health and wellbeing articles, videos, and practical advice to help you manage health anxiety and feel more in control of your health.
After six months of membership, you can request diagnostic consultations and tests, helping to address any genuine health concerns or symptoms. For healthcare information sent straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter or browse Benenden Health healthcare services.
