Anxiety — what it is and how to navigate
I’m a huge fan of knowing how and why things work. Some might say I have a technical brain. But the truth is, my parents were the kind of people that forced me to read the instruction booklet to any toy or gadget I received so that I would learn how to use it without having to rely on someone else to explain it to me.
It also meant that I wouldn’t come to them with millions of questions. You have to understand — the Nintendo Gameboy instruction booklet was printed on that really thin paper (the same type of paper they print the Bible on) and for a child in the 80s, there was no YouTube tutorial. Reading it took a long time. But learning how to navigate, helped me master it in the long run. And to this day, I’ve kept this habit of always reading the instruction booklet first.
Here’s the thing though. Anxiety doesn’t come with an instruction booklet. How are we meant to navigate without knowing how it works? The very first step to learning how to cope with anxiety is to understand it.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety does not just mean stress. It means that your brain is reacting to stressful, dangerous, or unfamiliar situations. Most people would describe anxiety as an intense, excessive, and persistent feeling of worry and fear. To have a certain level of anxiety is actually totally normal — like feeling uneasy, distressed, or even dreading a major life event. It is when these feelings start to become completely debilitating, this is when we call it an anxiety disorder. It’s different because this can happen with no real trigger. The brain is now in a constant state of worry and fear and if you add the feeling of not knowing what to do, the brain releases an influx of stress hormones.
#1. Anxiety releases stress hormones
The feeling of anxiety is really your body preparing itself for flight or fight mode. It’s getting hyped — ready to fight off whatever is making it anxious. It floods the central nervous system with adrenaline and cortisol (the hormones that tell your body that IT’S ABOUT TO GO DOWN!) and the brain prepares for something scary to happen. Stress hormones are there to help you cope with danger, by actively sharpening your senses and making your reflexes faster. This sounds like it’s a good thing, right? Well, not really.
Non-anxious brain: once the danger is gone, the sympathetic part of your nervous system takes over and helps you calm down.
👉🏾 Anxious brain: you may not be able to reach that sense of calm. Instead, the rush of stress hormones causes your brain to release even more stress hormones until you’re simply overwhelmed.
Sound familiar? Everything feels like too much. The baseline level of anxiety has now increased. You might go from having mild anxiety (most of us experience this on a day-to-day basis) to moderate anxiety, which is when you feel nervous and agitated on a more regular basis. If the brain then continues to be overly sensitive to anxiety, the baseline anxiety level might become so severe that it’s unable to continue thinking rationally. Panic attacks? They are actually a sign of severe anxiety.
#2. Anxiety is an enlarged Amygdala
The amygdala is a tiny almond-shaped structure (highlighted in blue, below) located in the part of your brain that deals with emotions and moods — the limbic system. When you deal with anxiety on a consistent basis, your amygdala actually grows larger.
The amygdala is basically the brain’s security guard. You know, constantly on the lookout for any danger and threats. As soon as it notices potential danger, it sends signals to another part of your brain (the hypothalamus), which is where the fight or flight response is triggered.
👉🏾 Anxious brain: The amygdala is large and hypersensitive and because of this, the amygdala sends a lot of false alarms. You can think of a hypersensitive amygdala as a super-sensitive car alarm that gets set off even by the slightest breeze. An overactive amygdala sends false alarms so often that your brain senses threats even in non-threatening situations. That’s why people with anxiety disorders tend to feel threatened more often than someone without such a disorder.
#3. Anxiety Can Make It Hard for Your Brain to be Rational
Anxiety actually weakens the connections between the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The PFC is basically the brain’s wise counsellor. It makes sure you are capable of processing information analytically, helps you come up with a rational, logical response and ensures that you are making an informed decision as well as helping you solve problems.
Non-anxious brain: the prefrontal cortex responds in a rational way when the amygdala sends out alerts.
👉🏾 Anxious brain: this process doesn’t work the same. Instead, when the amygdala alerts the PFC to danger, the connection is weak and the rational, problem-solving part of your brain isn’t heard, which can lead to irrational thoughts and erratic behaviour.
#4. Anxiety is Training the Brain to Hold Onto Negative Memories
Stress shrinks the part of the brain that processes long-term and contextual memory (hippocampus). When the hippocampus shrinks, it may become more difficult for your brain to hold onto memories. Here’s the tricky part: anxiety tricks the hippocampus into thinking that memories related to anxiety are safe to store. Anxiety trains the brain to remember failure, threat, and danger and to bury the happier memories, such as success, achievement, and safety, somewhere else. We can agree that’s pretty messed up, right?
Techniques on how to navigate:
1. Breathing helps a lot
Find a comfortable place and breathe in for a count of three, then breathe out for a count of three: One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi. You can also try to visualise a box shrinking and enlarging in time. If you have a smartphone/smartwatch, there are apps that you can breathe along with, which can be very helpful. Remind yourself that this will pass, nothing is going to hurt you, and that what you’re feeling is normal.
2. Ask yourself questions
When you’re feeling anxious, question what you’re actually afraid of, and keep asking yourself questions until you realise that nothing will actually hurt you. For example, talking in public:
“Why are you afraid?“
- “I might stutter or say the wrong thing”
“What would happen if you did that?”
- “People might laugh at me”
“If people laugh at you what would happen then?”
- “I might look stupid and people might not like me”
“Would you ever not be friends with someone just because they said the wrong thing?”
- “Probably not, unless they’d said something very mean on purpose”
Practising how to view your worries logically can really make a difference and lead to a, calmer part of the conversation in your head.
3. Interruption!
When feeling overwhelmed with feelings of anxiety, it is key to interrupt that thought process. Stand up, take a walk or do something simple like folding your clothes. If you are actively interrupting the thought process, it will eventually help you regain a sense of control. There are various techniques that can help distract you from what you’re experiencing and refocus on what’s happening in the present moment called “Grounding Techniques”. These can help create space from distressing feelings. Here’s my favourite:
The 5–4–3–2–1 method:
* Start by listing 5 things that you can see.
* Then find 4 things that you can touch — actually go and touch them
* Close your eyes and list 3 things that you can hear
* Find 2 things that you can smell. Like a pillow or your hair.
* Lastly, list 1 thing that you can taste. Sometimes it helps to try and remember the last thing you ate.
References:
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. (2009, September). Amygdala [Illustration]. https://dnalc.cshl.edu/view/2104-Amygdala-.html
Mental Health Foundation. (2017, February 16). Mental health statistics: Anxiety. https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/statistics/mental-health-statistics-anxiety
StoneRidge Centers. (2020, July 30). How Does Anxiety Affect the Brain? 4 Major Effects of Anxiety. StoneRidge: Center for Brains. https://pronghornpsych.com/how-does-anxiety-affect-the-brain/
University of Rochester Medical Center. (2018, April 10). 5–4–3–2–1 Coping Technique for Anxiety. Behavioral Health Partners. https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/behavioral-health-partners/bhp-blog/april-2018/5-4-3-2-1-coping-technique-for-anxiety.aspx
