Let’s face it…every time we turn around it seems like there is something else for us to be anxious about. School shootings, Ebola panic, natural disasters, neighborhood crime, abductions and more. It probably comes as no surprise that recent research shows that as a population, we are the most anxious that we have ever been. We constantly talk about feeling stressed and we try to find as many ways as possible to cope with our anxieties—some more healthy than others! Self-help books, walks in the park, expensive massages, a pint of ice-cream, a glass (and sometimes even a bottle) of wine…It can feel exhausting but here’s the thing that we should be allotting energy to understand: In reality despite being the most anxiety ridden, we are also the SAFEST that we have ever been. Statistically speaking we are very unlikely to end up in a position where our actual life is in danger yet many of us feel anxiety and panic on a daily basis. So why the discrepancy? Well, you can blame it on what is sometimes argued to be the most sophisticated part of our body—the brain.
Most people think of their brains as the storage container for knowledge and in many ways that is true. Among other things our brains help us identify new information, process it and store it for safe keeping. We have parts of our brain that serve different functions including those dedicated to language, decision making, operating other parts of our body and more. We even have a specialized part of our brain that is dedicated to keeping us safe called the amygdala. Its sole purpose is to scan the environment for dangerous sensory information (aka. anything we hear, see, taste, touch and smell) to identify potential threats. This also means that if we have experienced something dangerous in the past we store the information associated with that danger so that we can avoid it in the future. This feature of our brain is associated with survival. Many moons ago, when we roamed the earth in search of food and shelter, this part of our brain kept us safe from predators and even illness. We learned things like how to watch out for animal tracks to avoid a dangerous encounter and learned what plants we should avoid consuming if we wanted to remain healthy. We didn’t even have to experience the threat directly to know that something was dangerous…one caveman to the next, word spread that certain things should be avoided at all costs if we wanted to live to see another sunrise. Considering that we’re living longer than ever, many people would say that our amygdalas have done a pretty good job throughout time. But is this feature of our brain contributing to the anxiety we experience today? This is mostly definitely true.
If you kept a running list of how many times your amygdala caught wind of a potential threat in a given day you’d likely be pretty surprised. We live in a time where information can be easily accessed at any moment by simply clicking a mouse, turning a page, pressing the TV remote, turning the radio dial or tapping a phone screen. For good or for bad, we are connected. This ultimately means our amygdalas are accumulating potential threats at a faster rate than ever before, thus increasing the level of anxiety we are susceptible to. Sure, you could attempt to restrict access to some of these anxiety producers in order to try to avoid over-consumption but how realistic is that? You might be able to refrain from watching your favorite crime drama or scary movie (yes, that’s right…you’re amygdala is smart but it’s not that smart. If you feel anxious during your favorite episode of Law and Order SVU because Detective Benson was just abducted from a parking garage, your amygdala stores that information for the next time you visit a parking garage so that you remember to be hyper alert) but even if you change your TV habits are you also going to stop watching the news or browsing the news feed when you log on to your favorite social media website? Are you going to silently ride in the car instead of turning on the radio? Probably not. However, let’s not get anxious about the risk of anxiety. There’s a simple solution—learning to relax.
In fact, relaxing your body is an easy way to not only combat current anxiety but it helps prevent your amygdala from accumulating unnecessary information to deem as dangerous in the future. Some of you might be thinking “Is this woman serious?” And yes, indeed I am. It truly can be that simple. When our muscles are relaxed it is almost impossible to experience stress. Think about it. The last time you felt anxious, did you also feel tense? I’m not talking about insanely obvious symptoms either. You don’t have to be clenching your fists and gritting your teeth to experience tight muscles. One of the easiest ways to detect stress is actually by identifying whether or not you’re tightening your sphincter and/or kegel muscles. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, I’m talking about those parts of your body because in most cases when we’re stressing we’re also tightening those areas. Consider doing a quick check in with yourself the next time you’re sweating bullets over a news story or while sitting in bumper to bumper traffic on the interstate. If you’re tightening your muscles like the rest of us, it’s time to attempt to relax your body. Doing so will deactivate your amygdala so that you’re protecting yourself from anxiety.
Not sure of how you can relax your body? Your options are endless and a simple internet search would likely result in hundreds of choices but one of the simplest ways is to imagine expanding your muscles while slowly and deeply breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. Give it try. It’s actually pretty easy and in a world that can become overcomplicated by stimulus, I’m all for simple.