From giving presentation at a corporate event to getting ridiculed by colleagues, many of us experience anxiety throughout our lifetimes.
However, it is when this anxiety becomes severe that anxiety disorder occurs. According to the National Institute for Mental Health, more than 40 million people suffer from anxiety-related disorders in the United States.
The thing about anxiety is that not only does it manifest itself in your thoughts, it changes your brain chemistry as well.
With a changed brain wiring, your ability to respond to situations also changes.
What’s Happening inside Your Brains When You Are Actually Feeling Anxious
From that funny sensation in the stomach to the heightened state of tension including sweating, we all know that anxiety affects our bodies. At the same time, it is also affecting the neurological processes.
The relationship between anxiety and brain is quite complex. Let’s discuss what’s actually happening inside your brain when you are anxious:
Human brains have certain areas in the brain that are responsible for fear and anxiety. Neuroscientists, with incredible brain imaging techniques, have shown that two areas that are particularly relevant when it comes to anxiety are amygdala and hippocampus.
Amygdala is an almond-shaped structure in the brain that is responsible for the transmitting and interpretation sensory signals. In fact, it is the part of the brain that alerts the rest of the brain about any dangers and triggers the anxiety response. This is where all your emotions also come into play. For instance, your previous memories of bad experiences with flying in an airplane will be taken into account by the amygdala.
This takes us to the second relevant part, the hippocampus. This is the part of the brain that encodes threatening information in the environment and stores them as memories. People who have had traumatic childhood experiences have smaller hippocampuses.
Let’s Talk Hormones Now
The anxiety response of the body is a manifestation of the famous fight or flight response. When you feel anxious, the brain releases two hormones called norepinephrine and cortisol. These two hormones give your body the boost that is required in such a situation. These hormones increase blood flow to muscles, intensify heart rate, help send more air to lungs, etc.
As soon as the threat or anxiety provoking situation passes, both body and brain return to normal.
Rekha Shrivastava, a hypnotist and rehabilitation counselor, thoroughly understands what your brain goes through when faced with anxiety. With her amazing hypnosis procedures, she helps clients in Rochester, New York get rid of anxiety. She also offers Skype sessions for people living outside of New York. Learn more about her services.
Sources
https://lifehacker.com/what-anxiety-actually-does-to-you-and-what-you-can-do-a-1468128356
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/index.shtml#Anxiety
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