The Neurology of Worry

This is a post from life coach Judy Widener at www.myinnerfrontiers.com. We are, indeed, fearfully and wonderfully made. Check out some of your brain processes...

Did you know that chronic stress causes physical changes in the size and activity of many of your brain structures? When they’re swimming in the stress neurochemical cortisol, the prefrontal cortex (the CEO of the brain), and the hippocampus (houses long term memory) actually shrink in size.
Other parts, like the amygdala, swell when they’re over-stimulated. The result is an overactive stress response and impaired memory and reduced ability to plan and act. Sound a little like you? 

Is it comforting to know that there’s a concrete physical cause for this experience? On the other hand, there’s a downside to knowing that your thoughts are causing the shrinkage. Unless you do something about it, your brain will keep shrinking. Numerous studies have linked dementia with reduction in brain mass.
Neurologically speaking, worry is the emotional by-product of your amygdala activating the flight response. In previous posts, you learned that the amygdala recalls scary past events. Here’s the neurological cause for that distraction.
The two sides, or hemispheres, of your brain are separated by and communicate with each other via a bundle of neurons called the corpus callosum. 

In each side of your brain, there are specific structures that process individual aspects of your experience: what you hear, smell, touch, feel, remember, and more. When the two sides of your brain communicate with each other, you coalesce these tiny pieces into a whole experience.
However, sometimes, information from the right hemisphere can’t make it over to the left hemisphere (researchers are still trying to figure out why this happens). To account for this absence, the left hemisphere starts to look for stories.
This search is stressful, which spawns worry. Cue the amygdala! And the scary stories get rolling.

There are several steps along the stress response route where you can pause the old pattern of reaction and create a new way of responding to potentially stressful situations. Let’s start with the first step in your stress response.
How you respond in any given situation begins with your appraisal of it. Your level of ongoing stress will dictate which aspects of the situation you focus on, and how strong a negative reaction you have to them. Most people have at least a low to moderate level of stress simmering all the time, which predisposes them to negative future appraisals. 

In other words, your present level of stress, worry or anxiety becomes your amygdala’s filter for your next experience. With every unexpected turn of events, your amygdala will focus on any threats you perceive: this situation is dangerous, difficult, painful or unfair.
In this mindset, there’s only one possible type of outcome: negative. And you won’t think you have the resources that would give you more, or better options. 

Giving yourself more options is what researchers call flexible thinking. The more flexible you can be, the less stress you’ll feel. When you’re feeling stressed, flexibility feels impossible for two reasons.
First, since you’re doubtful that things could go well, trying to think of more options only conjures up more negative outcomes. Not helpful.
Second, stress limits your ability to attend to all of the details about what’s happening in this situation, so opportunities to get what you want won’t even hit your radar. 

When you choose opportunity over difficult (or dangerous), your amygdala sleeps. Worry and stress are avoided. You give yourself the option to experience the same situation as an opportunity to learn, grow, express yourself fully and engage with others. You can focus your thoughts on using your resources to make wise choices and influence events in a positive way.