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Health anxiety is a common condition thought to affect 5 – 10% of the population. People with health anxiety will experience frequent intrusive thoughts about health which impact their ability to engage meaningfully with life. Over time, individuals living with health anxiety will develop behaviour patterns that are designed to manage the intrusive thoughts; these might include checking parts of their body, seeking reassurance from healthcare professionals or researching health conditions on the internet. The relief, if any, is short lived with these behaviours. The intrusive thoughts rapidly return and the behavioural rituals become repetitive, as people attempt to find relief from the anxiety. Avoidance is also a common feature as people avoid situations that can trigger intrusive, anxiety-related thoughts. Over time, health anxiety and its associated rumination and behaviour rituals can become very time consuming. It can feel hard to engage meaningfully with work, family, friends or activities when preoccupied with intrusive thoughts. It can be very hard for loved ones to understand health anxiety because the intrusive thoughts might seem illogical. However to the person living with health anxiety, the thoughts feel very real and the anxiety overwhelming. If you are experiencing health anxiety, here are our 5 top tips for overcoming it: