How anxiety affects the brain?

Anxiety is a normal emotional response to many situations in life. Everyone at some time or another encounters an event or circumstance that causes anxiety. Like any other emotional response, anxiety occurs along a spectrum, as do our reactions to it. For most people, a period of anxiety can be downregulated by the brain once the source of the anxiety dissipates or once a clear plan for handling a situation comes to light.

For others, anxiety can become problematic. When anxiety interferes with daily function in work, relationships, or school, it can be considered disordered, depending on other presenting factors. Some symptoms of anxiety include:

• Feeling nervous or tense
• Digestive upset
• Headache
• Heart palpitations or rapid heartbeat
• Shaking or trembling
• Inability to focus on anything but the worry at hand
• Avoidance of potentially triggering situations
• Difficulty sleeping or falling asleep
• Chest pain
• Rapid breathing or hyperventilation

Anxiety can take on many forms, so it’s important to talk with your doctor or licensed mental health professional to determine what type of anxiety you may be experiencing and embark on a course of action to address it when it becomes problematic.

All emotions have a physiological response in the body. Both are emotions that occur normally, and when anxiety occurs in a chronic or disordered way, anxiety comes with a physical response. The amygdala is the brain that becomes activated and causes the release of stress hormones from the brain. The brain activates the adrenal glands, which secrete adrenaline. The breathing increases to get more oxygen into the body in preparation to fight, flee, faint, or freeze to address a threat. Blood pressure increases, and the heart rate increases so that more blood is available in larger muscle groups to help prepare you to tackle a threat of some kind.

For most people, once the threat is eliminated or the anxiety-provoking situation passes, the body returns to normal, and the anxiety dissipates. If you find that anxiety causes very distressing or prolonged physical symptoms, it’s important to talk with your trusted medical provider or a licensed mental health counselor to create a plan for managing and healing anxiety.