Why Do We Experience Anxiety?
If you have experienced anxiety and depression, you know what it’s like to feel like your brain and body is working against you or even fighting to destroy you. Although it might feel like we are at war with ourselves, adopting this attitude towards our mental health leaves us feeling confused, frustrated and a little (or a lot) crazy.
Why would our brain be trying to tear us down? Well, it actually isn’t; it’s trying to protect us! Our body and brain are very concerned about our overall well being and are constantly working to protect us from any type of harm that might come our way.
Anxiety is our bodies' misplaced flight or fight response (our automatic survival responses). Let’s take a closer look at some examples of the symptoms of anxiety:
increased heart rate
shallow or difficulty breathing
uncontrollable body movements
desire to get up and move around
difficulty processing information
loss of appetite
diarrhea or other GI issues
tunnel vision or difficulty processing information
worse case scenario thinking
excessive worrying
Whether you’ve experienced all or some of the listed symptoms, you understand how frustratingly inconvenient anxiety can be. These symptoms can greatly impact our ability to function in our day to day tasks. Although anxiety is not very helpful if we’re sitting down to dinner on a first date, if we put it in a different context it starts to make sense.
Imagine the classic scenario of walking through the woods and coming across a bear. First, your amygdala fires up; kicking in those necessary survival instincts while simultaneously sending the frontal cortex and rational thought out the door. Your heart starts to beat faster, requiring you to breathe harder in order to send vital oxygen to your major muscle groups to prepare to fight or run away from the bear. Your body redirects energy to the major muscle groups like your arms and legs and away from systems deemed less helpful such as your digestive system meaning digestion is halted and sometimes bowel and urinary control too. Tunnel vision allows your brain to focus on the bear in front of you and block out any other disturbances that might distract you such as the squirrel climbing up the tree behind you. These automatic responses are ways our body works for us to protect us from harm. It’s healthy and completely normal!
So why is this incredible response system being triggered in non life-threatening situations? Anytime we experience harm – emotional, physical, or imaginary - our brain stores all the information necessary to ensure we never experience that pain again. From there, our brain is constantly scanning our environment for cues (or “triggers”) that harm could be imminent. When these triggers show up, so does our anxiety, ready to protect us. Although these responses feel largely out of our control, we can help our brain update our protective responses and limit everyday triggers.
Here are three things you can do to immediately feel less anxious.
Take deep breaths. Sounds cliche, right? But it’s actually science. By taking deep breaths you can lower your heart rate, release endorphins in the brain, and stimulate your vagus nerve which controls your “rest and digest” response (the opposite of “fight or flight”).
Tell yourself you are safe and okay. Your brain's number one concern is that you are not okay. By telling yourself that you are “okay” your brain will start to believe you and stop sounding the alarm telling your body otherwise.
Ask yourself “What are the facts?”. Did you know that our brain responds to the scenarios we picture as if they are happening in real life? So, if you’re imagining a scenario where you make a big mistake at work, your body is going to react as if it actually happened! We can combat this by listing off what is happening in the moment. This grounds us in the present and helps keep our brain from chasing the many “what ifs” that cause our anxiety to spiral.
These tools are a good place to start, but remember that our thoughts, feelings and behaviors are complicated and based on our lifetime of experiences. Exchanging destructive protective mechanisms for helpful ones takes time and intentionality. Working with a therapist can help you better understand why you react, think and feel the way that you do and make changes so that you can live the life that you want to live without anxiety getting in the way.
You’ve already begun so let’s keep going! Schedule an appointment.
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