86Thousand400: Fear and Exercise

Fear is the memory of danger. If we suffer from an anxiety disorder, the brain constantly replays that memory, forcing us to live in that fear.

The misinterpretation stems partly from a part of the brain known as the amygdala that isn't effectively controlled by the prefrontal cortex.

Left unchecked, the overexcited amygdala tags too many situations as challenges to survival and burns them into memory. The fear memories form connections with each other, and the anxiety snowballs.

Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factors (BDNF) could be an essential ingredient in combating anxiety, because it helps wire in positive memories that create a detour around the fear. This is a big reason why exercise is so effective at treating not just the state of anxiety - but also relieving muscle tension and increasing serotonin at the same time. Exercise gives neurons everything they need to connect, and if we direct that process we can have a huge impact on teaching the brain to cope with the fear. As a result, just as anxiety can feed on itself, so can courage.

Moving forward to panic, this is the most painful form of anxiety.

Rapid, shallow breathing expels too much carbon dioxide, the blood's pH level drops, triggering an alarm from the brain stem that causes muscles to constrict even more. (This is why breathing into a paper bag stops us from hyperventilating: it forces us to rebreathe the carbon dioxide).

The fear leads to a desperate need for control - whatever is necessary to maintain a stable and safe environment. This manifests itself in various ways: passive aggressiveness, which is one way of trying to control others; compulsiveness, to keep the fear triggers at bay, and overall inflexibility.

Studies were cropping up about treating anxiety with antidepressants that had been around for years. The antidepressants manipulate the interaction of norepinephrine and serotonin in a part of the brain which regulates basic life functions such as breathing, waking, heart rate, and blood pressure.

One of the drugs used were called beta blockers. These calm down the sympathetic nervous system by blocking epinephrine receptors in the brain and the body and thus preventing epinephrine from elevating blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing during times of stress or anxiety.

People with panic disorders are often treated with beta blockers as they quash the fear and relax the body.

As it turns out, exercise impacts the same pathways as these medications - it puts a safety on both triggers.

The refreshing thing about this, is that it means that we can take control of our thoughts through exercise as opposed to feeling the need to spend money on drugs/pharmaceuticals. Of course the drugs will give us an immediate response, however by going with nature and allowing the body to heal itself through exercise you’re giving yourself a far better chance to get through the problem with a view to the long game and without any side effects (apart from a bit more positivity)! J