Patient support
Anxiety and stress management
Illness produces genuine uncertainty, and anxiety is the mind's response to uncertainty. The goal is not zero anxiety — it is anxiety that no longer runs the day.
What anxiety feels like in illness
- Scanning your body constantly for the next symptom.
- Dread building for days before a scan, test or clinic visit ('scanxiety').
- Racing thoughts at night; waking at 3am with the worst-case version.
- Physical signs — tight chest, fast heart, shaky hands, churning stomach — that can be mistaken for the illness itself.
- Avoiding appointments, phone calls or results because opening them feels unbearable.
The two questions that sort worry
Ask: is this a problem I can act on today, or a fear I can only tolerate? Both are legitimate, but they need opposite responses.
Actionable problems get a plan: one next step, written down, with a time. Unactionable fears get grounding, breathing and company — not more analysis. Trying to solve an unsolvable fear is what keeps you awake.
Worry time
Rather than fighting worry all day, book it. Fifteen minutes, same time each day, sitting up, notebook open. When worry arrives outside that window, write one line and tell yourself: not now, at 6pm.
Most people find that by 6pm, half the list has dissolved. The half that remains is usually the part worth taking to your care team.
Before a scan or results appointment
- Book the appointment as early in the day as possible so you are not waiting all day.
- Take someone with you — a second pair of ears remembers what you will not.
- Write your three questions down beforehand; anxiety erases them in the room.
- Plan the hour afterwards deliberately: a walk, a call, a meal. Do not go straight back to work or straight home alone.
Try this
5-4-3-2-1 grounding
About 3 minutes
- 1Name five things you can see right now.
- 2Four things you can physically feel — chair, blanket, floor, fabric.
- 3Three things you can hear.
- 4Two things you can smell, or two smells you like.
- 5One slow breath out, longer than the breath in.
Longer out-breath
About 4 minutes
- 1Breathe in through the nose for a count of four.
- 2Breathe out through the mouth for a count of six or seven.
- 3Keep the shoulders still; let the belly do the moving.
- 4Repeat for two to four minutes — the out-breath is what calms the nervous system.
Where to go next
Afya Companion offers education and self-help support. It does not diagnose, treat or replace care from your doctor, nurse, psychologist or dietitian. If something in your health changes, speak to your care team.