If you want to find out how to lower anxiety it's worthwhile taking a couple of minutes to really understand exactly how our brains works when we are stressed as it is the reaction that causes anxiety and an anxiety disorder.
Understanding anxiety and the effect it has on our brain is the first step towards reducing anxiety or curing it.
Man has evolved a long way since primitive man. The brains of our ancestors were completely different to modern man's and yet we also have a lot in common with our ancestors.
Think of your brain as being in two halves. The best way to describe this is to think about the two halves is as a primitive brain and a civilised brain. The inner part of our brain is known as the Limbic system. In our caveman ancestors this part of the brain made up a larger proportion of the brain than with modern man.
Contained within the limbic system is a small part of the brain called the Amygdala. This is the part of our brain that is responsible for our instinctive reactions to things including our instinctive response to being threatened or frightened. This part of the brain contains all the instinctive, reflex actions that we make without thinking. These are the reactions that helped our ancestors to remain alive.
Whenever they experienced fear they reacted instinctively with the flight or fight response. Thousands of years of evolution have perfected our response to danger. Any of our ancestors that reacted the quickest to a threat, survived. The slowest didn't!
If you feel a rush of adrenaline in answer to a situation you have nature to thank or curse. You can't help it. You have been programmed by centuries of evolution.
When we are threatened and when we feel frightened it is the primitive, basic piece of the brain that engages on autopilot.
Scroll forward several thousand years and we have evolved. The frontal lobes of our brain have developed to be much bigger. This is the section of the brain that is responsible for rational thinking, the piece of the brain that stops us reacting in an instinctive manner and allows us to make reasoned decisions. Unfortunately, whenever we feel frightened or anxious the Amygdala over-rides the rational part of our brain and we start to react in an instinctive basic way which leads to all the anxiety symptoms that we experience.
To deal with anxiety properly you need to start to use the rational side of your brain, the part of your brain that will allow you to reason and decide whether or not the perceived threat is real or not.
Most of the threats in modern day living are not a real threat. Things are unlikely to hurt us in the work situation for example and yet, because of the programming of our brain our body will over react leading to anxiety in the short term.
If the short term anxiety is severe enough or happens frequently enough we can develop an anxiety disorder as the Amygdala goes into overdrive, switching on the flight or flight response whenever we perceive the slightest threat.
Any successful anxiety therapy will involve reprogramming you to use the civilised, rational part of your brain whenever you are anxious, suppressing the natural instinctive reactions to stress.
So, whether you are looking for short term relief for temporary anxiety or a cure for anxiety disorders the answer will almost invariably mean that you will need to teach yourself how to think in a different way.
Switch off the caveman and learn to cope with today.
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