Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff. Lauren bog Obam here with a classic
Speaker 1: episode from the Vault, hosted by my predecessor, Christian Sager.
Speaker 1: These days, it's perfectly natural to be feeling anxious. Everyone
Speaker 1: does sometimes, and there are plenty of things that anyone
Speaker 1: can do to help combat it. Christian goes through a
Speaker 1: few ideas at the end of the episode, but in
Speaker 1: this one, we wanted to talk about what's going on
Speaker 1: in the brain when anxiety becomes a disorder. Here's Christian,
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, It's Christian Sager here. Listen. I get anxious.
Speaker 1: You do too, But hey, it is a totally normal
Speaker 1: and healthy response that keeps us from doing things that
Speaker 1: might actually be dangerous, like sticking your hand in a fire,
Speaker 1: for instance. But when anxiety is so pervasive that it
Speaker 1: interferes with your daily life, it becomes a disorder, and
Speaker 1: most researchers believe that disorder begins in your or brain.
Speaker 1: There's several types of anxiety disorders. Phobias, PTSD and o
Speaker 1: c D are just a few, and some forty million
Speaker 1: American adults suffer from an anxiety disorder, according to the
Speaker 1: National Institute of Mental Health. But let's focus today on
Speaker 1: general anxiety disorder, which affects close to seven million adults
Speaker 1: and is twice as likely in women. You're constantly anticipating
Speaker 1: a threat or disaster that isn't actually present. Maybe you're
Speaker 1: worried about money, health, family, or work, and despite reality,
Speaker 1: you'll expect the worst. The symptoms include restlessness, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, irritability,
Speaker 1: muscle tension, and sleep disturbances. The symptoms officially become a
Speaker 1: disorder when you can't control your worry for at least
Speaker 1: six months. You may still be social or even employed,
Speaker 1: but people with general anxiety disorder can have difficulty carrying
Speaker 1: out even the simplest of daily activity. These experts believe
Speaker 1: that general anxiety disorder is caused by both biological factors
Speaker 1: and life experiences good old combination of nature and nurture.
Speaker 1: But anxiety is also recognized by many as an emotional
Speaker 1: response with neurobiological roots. Simply put, the neural pathways in
Speaker 1: our brains sometimes lead to irrational anxiety, and stressful situations
Speaker 1: encourage us to develop associations with those pathways by influencing
Speaker 1: which neurochemicals passed through them. The same way you learn
Speaker 1: to tie your shoe, you can also learn to be anxious.
Speaker 1: The neurons in your brain fire, and over time they
Speaker 1: get wired together. One stressful thing like being stuck in traffic,
Speaker 1: leads you to think of another stressful thing, like a
Speaker 1: car crash you once survived, and this activates a part
Speaker 1: of the brain stem called the locus ceruleus. This triggers
Speaker 1: the symptoms of anxiety by releasing neuro epinephrin into your
Speaker 1: spinal cord and parts of your brain, while hormones like
Speaker 1: adrenaline and cortisol spread through your body. It's supposed to
Speaker 1: initiate an analgesic response to suppress pain and initiate defense
Speaker 1: when you're under threat, like if you were actually in
Speaker 1: a car crash and injured. But when there isn't any
Speaker 1: actual threat, all we're left with is the jitters of anxiety.
Speaker 1: A couple other things about the brain contribute to anxiety.
Speaker 1: Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have found that people with
Speaker 1: a thicker ventro medial prefuntal cortex are less likely to
Speaker 1: get anxiety. Basically, some brains have more armor against anxiety
Speaker 1: inducing situations than others. We don't have enough time in
Speaker 1: this episode for a full accounting of the treatments available
Speaker 1: for anxiety disorders, but you should know that only one
Speaker 1: third of the people suffering from anxiety are actually getting help,
Speaker 1: even though it's highly manageable. Treatment usually involves a combination
Speaker 1: of cognitive of behavioral therapy a k a. Talking to
Speaker 1: a therapist, and medications to relieve the symptoms. Other treatments
Speaker 1: include relaxation techniques like meditation, improve nutrition, exercise, and adequate sleep.
Speaker 1: Medications will change your brain chemistry temporarily, and some even
Speaker 1: dispute that, but they are not a cure for anxiety.
Speaker 1: For that, you'll need to change your neural pathways associations
Speaker 1: by learning new behaviors through therapy. This method of learning
Speaker 1: new everyday strategies can be slow going and repetitious, but
Speaker 1: scan show that you can literally change your brain with
Speaker 1: enough practice. Today's episode was written by Christian and produced
Speaker 1: by Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of
Speaker 1: other brainy topics, is it how stuff works dot com.
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