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