Why do I feel anxious when nothing is wrong?
Submarine’s have a sonar which is constantly scanning the surrounding environment for enemy submarines. When it thinks that it has detected an enemy submarine it sets off the alarm system to get ready to fight or escape.
Our bodies have a similar threat detection system. Our brains are scanning 24/7 for potential threats and danger, even when we’re asleep. When the brain thinks it has detected a threat it sets of our bodies alarm system which releases adrenalin and cortisol into our blood stream, our heart beats faster, our muscles tense, we’re ready to fight or run.
There are three things that I think it’s important to know about anxiety.
1) Everyone is anxious
There is a phrase that people use at the moment: “I have anxiety”. Which sounds like they have something that other don’t. But if you’re a human then you have anxiety. It is a hardwired, physical system that has evolved over millions of years
2) You wouldn’t want to switch anxiety off
Imagine three cavemen sat around a fire at night in the jungle. Two of them have the same anxious threate detection system as you and I, the third has no ability to feel anxious. A sabretooth tiger jumps out of the bushes only metres from them. What happens next?
The non-anxious caveman dies.
If you could flick a switch and remove your ability to feel anxious, would you? If you did what would happen over the next few weeks?
The reality is that you would be incredibly vulnerable to danger. Crossing the road would not go well.
3) Anxiety is wildly inaccurate
Anxiety is designed to keep us safe in dangerous situations. But if you compare all the times in your life where you have felt anxious to the times where there has been a genuine danger, there’s probably a huge difference.
Imagine if the submarine sonar was detecting threat all over the place, it thought that it was surrounded by enemy submarines. In reality one of them is a clump of seaweed, one is just a rock and the other is finding nemo. It’s a false alarm, there are no enemy submarines. This is often what’s happening with our anxiety.
Our anxiety is often being triggered by thoughts, feelings and physical sensations that are falsely detecting threat. Imagining that something bad is going to happen, is not the same as something bad happening. Our brains are not good at telling the difference between imagination and reality. This is why we can get emotional or terrified when watching a movie. We know we’re watching something that isn’t real, with actors we recognise from other movies. But another part of our brain doesn’t really know this and can get triggered.
NEXT BLOG: The fuel that keeps anxiety going
