// BBC HEALTH NEWS — SALUTE
Hidden habits that make your social anxiety worse - and how to break them
Overcoming social anxiety can be tricky but experts have shared some tips to try and make it easier
It was during her teenage years that Mary began to become anxious in social situations. It got so bad she developed depression and had to have time off school.
By the time she started university, she avoided group settings altogether.
"I didn't join clubs and societies like others did," says Mary (not her real name). "I just thought nobody would want to get to know me. I didn't really make a single friend during my whole degree."
Mary's social anxiety was so bad that she was diagnosed as having social anxiety disorder - something that affects up to 12% of people, external at some point in their lives.
But plenty more report struggling more generally. As students return to uni, we asked experts how to overcome these feelings whether in your first, or final year.
A study by the University of Chichester found , externalmore than a fifth of university students face some kind of social anxiety during their studies – and it is linked to lower grades, poorer relationships and isolation.
For many, university marks the first time they have moved out of home – and the expectation is that they will quickly make friends.
Mary, who went to the University of Exeter, says she did try. "When I first got there I went to one society, but everybody was talking to each other and I had a sudden fear come over me. I felt I wouldn't fit in and I went home."
Mary describes her social anxiety as like an out of body experience. When she was talking to new people, heat would rise in her face and her hands would begin to tingle. "I'd almost feel myself separating from my body. I forgot how to form words," says Mary, who is now 25.