If you are someone who suffers from chronic anxiety, you know first hand how distressing the symptoms of anxiety can be: Worried thoughts, restlessness, panic attacks, problems with sleep, a pounding heart, trembling, or shortness of breath. Still, it’s important to remember that anxiety actually has a purpose. Anxiety is a form of fear, and fear is designed to energize and motivate us to deal with danger in the environment and survive.
Physiologically what is happening is that adrenalin and cortisol are secreted, blood is diverted from less vital to more vital organs and the heart rate increases to increase blood supply. An animal in the wild will respond to potential danger by fleeing or fighting, and once the danger is over, their nervous system will return to baseline.
We humans have the advantage and disadvantage of a highly developed front part of the brain, the prefrontal cortex. We can think about the past, and plan for the future. And we can manufacture worry. We can respond to scary thoughts as though they were actual physical danger.
The problem with chronic anxiety is that it is persistently sounding a false alarm of danger. It is a product of the mind, a mental construct, not actual danger in the physical world. Unchecked, chronic anxiety can have a terrible effect on our mental and physical health and well-being. It has been linked to heart disease, obesity, hypertension, arthritis, migraine headaches, and thyroid conditions.
The things that work in response to danger in the world are counterproductive in dealing with the ‘false alarm’ of chronic anxiety. What’s good in response to danger is fight, flight or freeze. What’s good in response to anxiety is to change the way we think about and react to the anxiety itself. In my next blog post I’ll talk about some ways to start to change the way you react to anxious thoughts and feelings that can help to reduce anxiety in the long run.