Understanding Anxiety
December 7, 2020
understanding anxiety
Understanding anxiety is the first step in learning to control it. In a normal year in the United States, an estimated 40 million adults experience issues with anxiety. That’s roughly 18% of the total population. In other words, it’s more common than most people realize. Unfortunately, it’s so common that many people don’t take it seriously or seek help for it. In this post I will address what anxiety really is, its effects on the body and mind, and what you can do to manage it more effectively.
What is anxiety? The simple truth is that anxiety is a physiological response to a perceived or imagined threat. To simplify it even more, anxiety is a state of fear. It’s a built-in safety program designed to avoid bodily harm or death. This is not something we have to learn, it’s hard-wired into our mind and body. We’re born with it. This automatic, sub-conscious program is there to protect us, and under normal circumstances it does a fine job.
It’s only been in the last few centuries that we humans have lived in relatively safe houses. Generally speaking, we are safe from predators that could do us physical harm… or worse. Prior to that we lived much closer to the land and nature. Unlike today, we were not at the top of the food chain, and death by predator was a distinct possibility. We’re still not entirely safe from predators and never will be, but we’re much safer than our ancestors were.
our stressful world
However, we have other threats in our world today that our ancestors couldn’t even imagine. We are constantly bombarded with information and stressful situations. From television and radio to the internet, we are overloaded with a never-ending flood of information, far more than we can process. Add to that the stresses that come from family, relationships, high-pressure careers, and the fast pace of society. Our world today is the perfect storm environment for developing anxiety. Understanding anxiety is essential for good health.
To find the origins of our anxiety program we have to go back much further, probably many thousands of years or even more. Back then our focus was exclusively upon basic survival; it was a full-time job. With very little in the way of survival tools or weapons, our instincts told us we had only 2 choices: Fight or Run. Actually, there is also a third option which few people talk about, and that is to Freeze. In other words, hold still and hope the predator doesn’t see you.
Either of these options has the potential to save our life, but they have a down-side. That down-side is that they exert a powerful influence on our bodies. Anxiety was only meant to be a short-term response to a life-threatening situation. Once the threat had passed, our bodies would calm down and go back to normal. However, anxiety is what we feel when our bodies remain in that heightened state of alarm for hours, days, weeks or even longer.
physical effects of anxiety
The physiological effects of long-term anxiety can be quite serious and lead to other serious health problems. Anxiety prepares us to fight or run. It does this by releasing powerful hormones – adrenalin and cortisol to be exact. Adrenalin increases our heartrate, raises our blood pressure and boosts our energy supplies. Cortisol is our main stress hormone. First, it increases the blood sugars (glucose) in our bloodstream to give us more energy. Secondly, cortisol channels our blood to the parts of the body needed to fight or run, primarily to the arms and legs. This activity pulls the blood from our inner organs such as the digestive track, kidneys liver because they are non-essential when you need to fight or run.
Cortisol also suppresses our digestive system, reproductive system and immune system. This is why long-term anxiety makes us more susceptible to infections and auto-immune diseases. With a compromised immune system our bodies can’t fight off infection. And when you add in the high blood pressure and increased heartrate, anxiety can be a recipe for serious illness. Understanding anxiety and its effects on the body can save your life.
I think by now you get the picture that anxiety should be taken seriously. So, let’s take a look at some ways to reduce the anxiety in your world. The number one thing that causes anxiety the most is our own thoughts. Nine times out of ten, anxiety is caused by our thoughts and worries about the future… not an external predator. That future thought or worry can be focused upon something that is anywhere from minutes to hours to days to weeks or even months away. But get this: the future does not exist! It is 100% imagined.
reality vs imagination
Now here’s where things get interesting. Our bodies respond to imagined threats as if they are real! The subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between what we imagine, and what is real. It reacts exactly the same way to both! For example, if you imagine you’re going to freeze up when you have to speak in front of a crowd of people next week, your subconscious mind will send the signal to your body to go into fight or flight mode. It can’t NOT do it!
Here’s an interesting fact: The physiological (bodily) effect of fear, and excitement, are identical! They’re exactly the same. So instead of interpreting the feelings you’re having as anxiety (or fear), replace it with excitement! Sure, you might be a little nervous, but it’s an excited kind of nervous. When you do this, your subconscious mind will say “Ok, I’m not anxious, I’m excited!”, and it will NOT trigger the fight or flight response.
This same technique works just as well with relieving stress. When we perceive stress as being our body’s way of preparing us to do a good job at something, the negative effects of stress will be nullified. It can even work to our advantage. At this point I’m going to recommend that you watch a great video on this subject by Kelly McGonigal in a Ted Talk a few years ago. It’s only about 14 minutes long and well worth watching. You’ll get a lot from it.
controlling anxiety
Now, I hope you watched the video. There’s a lot of meat and potatoes in it that can change your body’s response to anxiety and stress – by changing the way you think about it. Anxiety is actually caused by thinking we can control the universe! One of the most important things to learn to reduce anxiety is to determine what you can control, and what you can’t. None of us can control the future, we can only influence it with careful planning, but we cannot control it… so stop trying!
We can no more control the future than we can change the past. The past is what it is, and we can’t change it. The future will be what it will be. We may be able to have some influence on it, but we can’t control it. So, the best option is to remain flexible, and make the best of whatever comes down the road. It’s just as easy to imagine a positive outcome to future events as it is to project a future of doom and gloom. The choice is yours.
stay in the “here and now”
Last but not least, stay in the present as much as possible. Anxiety is caused by imagining and worrying about the future. Anxiety’s dark cousin is depression. People who suffer from depression typically dwell on the past. The only time and place that is real, is now. Now is beyond space and time. It’s always now. The trick is to keep reminding yourself of that. Now is the only “time” you can do anything about anything.
Likewise, the only place you ever really are, is here. Wherever you are on the planet, you’re always “here”. So “here and now” are inseparable, and real. Our thoughts can easily pull us out of here and now, and that’s when the problems begin. So the next time you catch yourself dwelling on the past, or getting worked up by worrying about the future, say to yourself “be here… now”. Repeat it as many times as you have to in order to snap yourself back to the present. It also helps to take 8-10 slow, deep breaths while you’re doing this. These simple techniques will help you with understanding anxiety. Give it a shot.
Remember, here and now are the only place and time that you can do anything about anything. Understanding Anxiety is the first step. Anxiety is not hard to deal with once you know how. Staying present (in the now) is the key. Learning to do this can be a bit challenging at first, but it will be well worth the effort. You can do this! And speaking of now… it’s now time to close this post. I hope you found it helpful.