Can anxiety cause chest tightness?

Anxiety can cause chest tightness, and that’s a commonly recognized symptom. Anxiety or a panic attack can trigger the body’s fight-or-flight response, which may cause muscle tension, rapid breathing, and a racing heart, all of which can feel like chest tightness or chest pain.

At the same time, chest tightness should not be assumed to be anxiety, because it can also be a sign of a heart attack or another serious condition. If the symptom is new, severe, persistent, or happens with pain spreading to the arm, shoulder, jaw, neck, or back, trouble breathing, sweating, dizziness, nausea, or a crushing/heavy feeling in the chest, seek urgent medical care right away.