If anxiety is in my brain, why is my heart pounding? A psychiatrist explains the neuroscience and physiology of fear
Heart in your throat. Butterflies in your stomach. Bad bowel feeling. These are all phrases that many people use to describe fear and anxiety. You may have worried about your chest or stomach, and your brain usually does not harm when you are afraid. Many cultures link cheese and courage more To the heart Or courage From the brain.
But science has traditionally seen that the brain is the place of its hometown and the treatment of fear and anxiety. So why and how do you feel these feelings in other parts of your body?
I Psychiatrist and nerve scientist Who searches and treats fear and anxiety. In my book “scared,“Explain how fear in the brain and body works and what a lot of anxiety does for the body. Research confirms that while emotions arise in your mind, it is your body that executes orders.
Fear and brain
While your mind develops to save you from a rapid fall or predator, the concerns of modern life are often more abstract. Fifty thousand years ago, your tribe may mean death, but a great work in a public speech at school or at work does not have the same consequences. Your mind, however, You may not know the difference.
There are some main areas in the brain that are strongly involved in the treatment of fear.
When you imagine something dangerous, whether it is a pistol, indicating you or a group of people who are unfortunately looking for you, these sensory inputs are transferred first Almond. This small area is discovered in the form of almonds in the brain near your ears, or the emotional importance of the situation and how to respond to it. When you see something, it determines whether you should eat, attack, escape from him, or have sex with him.
Discover the threat It is a vital part of this process, and it should be fast. The first people did not have much time to think when the lion was walking towards them. They had to act quickly. For this reason, the amygdala has evolved to bypass the brain areas involved in logical thinking and can directly participate in physical responses. For example, an angry vision on the computer screen can turn on A A response that can be discovered from the weight Without the viewer, it is aware of this reaction.
Hippocampus Close and tightly connected to the tonsil. He participates in preserving what is safe and what is dangerous, especially with regard to the environment – it puts fear in the context. For example, seeing an angry lion in the zoo and in the desert provokes a response to fear in the weight. But the hippocampus takes and prevents this response when you are in the zoo because you are not in danger.
the LobeIt is located above your eyes, and is mostly involved in the cognitive and social aspects to address fear. For example, you may be afraid of the snake until you read a sign that the snake is unintended or the owner tells you that it is a friendly pet.
Although the frontal lobe shell is usually seen as part of the brain that regulates feelings, it can teach you fear based on your social environment. For example, you may feel neutral about a meeting with your boss at work but you feel immediately nervous when a colleague tells you about rumors about the demobilization of workers. a lot Biases like racism Ritted in learning fear through tribalism.
Fear and the rest of the body
If your mind decides to respond to fear of what it justifies in a specific situation, it is active A series of nervous and hormonal paths To prepare you for immediate work. Some of the fighting or flying response-such as increasing attention and discovering threat-speaking in the brain. But the body is where most of the movement occurs.
Many tracks prepare various body systems for intense physical action. the Cortex From the brain it sends quick signals to your muscles to prepare them for quick and powerful movements. These muscles include the chest and stomach that help protect vital organs in those areas. This may contribute to the feeling of distress in your chest and prepared in stressful circumstances.
the The friendly nervous system It is the pedal that speeds up the systems participating in fighting or flying. Sympathetic nerve cells are spread throughout the body and are particularly dense in places such as the heart, lungs and intestines. These adrenal nerve cells raise hormones such as adrenaline that are transmitted through the blood to reach these organs and increase the rate that is subject to fear.
To ensure adequate blood supply to your muscles when you are in high demand, the symptoms of the sympathetic nervous system increase your heart rate and the strength that you shrink. You feel increasing from the heart rate and the strength of the shrinkage in your chest, which is why you may have a feeling of extreme emotions with your heart.
In your lungs, the friendly nervous system signals expand the airways and often increase the rate of breathing and depth. Sometimes this leads to a feeling shortness of breath.
Since digestion is the last priority during the fighting or flying position, the friendly activation slows your intestine and reduces blood flow to your stomach to save oxygen and nutrients for more vital organs such as the heart and brain. These changes on your digestive system can be considered as a discomfort associated with fear and anxiety.
Everything returns to the brain
All physical sensations, including those visceral feelings from your chest and stomach, are transferred to the brain through the tracks Via spinal cord. Your brain is already anxious and severe effects and then treats these signals on both conscious and unconscious levels.
isolation It is part of the brain specifically in the conscious awareness of your emotions, pain and physical sensations. the Lobe He also participates in self -awareness, especially by developing the name of these physical sensations and naming, such as feeling distress or pain in your stomach, and raising the cognitive value for them, such as “this is good and will disappear” or “this is terrible and I die.” These physical sensations can sometimes create a ring of increased anxiety because it makes the brain feel more fearful than the situation due to the disorders that refresh it in the body.
Although feelings of fear and anxiety begin in your mind, you also feel your body because your mind changes your physical functions. Emotions occur in your body and mind, but you realize their presence with your mind. The rapper, Emineem, also narrated in his song “Lose Yourself”, and the reason for his comfort was the smell of sweat, his knees were weak and his heavy arms because his brain was nervous.
This article has been republished from ConversationAn independent, non -profit news organization brings you facts and trusted analysis to help you understand our complex world. Written by: Arash Jafafakhtand Wayne State University
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Arash Javanbakht does not work with shares, consulting, or receiving them from any company or institution that will benefit from this article, and has not revealed any related affiliations that exceed its academic appointment.
