Many of us have never experienced what it is like to live in a pandemic such as Covid 19. Worry about our loved ones and our friends in poor health is now shared by almost everyone. To one degree or another we struggle with anxiety throughout our lives. From feeling mildly anxious because we can’t get a friend on the phone to an all-out panic attack brought on through an overwhelming sense of fear. We are born with an inbuilt fear response and we need this to alert us to danger; it’s very important for our survival. However, in this modern, competitive world fear can develop into a constantly anxious state that affects us in many ways. For example, we might be nervous at the thought of a meeting with our boss and this results in a disturbed, perhaps sleepless, night which leaves us feeling tired and unable to think clearly. So, when I’m asked: “Does anxiety affect the brain?” my simple answer is “Yes”.
There are many symptoms of anxiety including:
Irritability
Aching in the solar plexus
Breathlessness
Sleeplessness
Brain Fog
Loss of Words
Others include: chest pains, feeling sick, heart beating rapidly and feeling shaky. All can be due to underlying medical problems and should always be discussed with a doctor. Medication is often given when, in fact, complementary therapies can help without debilitating side effects and a number of doctors are realising this. Increasingly, they recommend Deep Relaxation Therapy which helps to trigger the nervous system to switch from its sympathetic ‘fight or flight’ function, which is caused by anxiety or the threat of danger, to the parasympathetic which restores the body’s calm and composed equilibrium. Research has shown that deep relaxation effects the mitochondria, the part of a cell that generates energy, making more energy available for healing. Our bodies are amazing because they have all the answers – we just have to ask the right questions and give them the right feedback!
Norman Doidge* explains how the brain heals itself through changing its own structure and how it functions in response to activity and mental experience. Hundreds of studies showed that thinking shapes our brains. When a brain is wired to an EEG which tracks and records brainwave patterns, it’s seen that the wavelengths increase from state to state with the lowest being when a person is sleeping, a faster frequency when in a calm focused state and a very fast frequency when worrying about a problem and in an anxious state. Does anxiety affect the brain? It’s now scientifically proven that it does.
We all know how horrid it is to feel anxious. The sweating, gut-wrenching, fearful feelings can become paralysing. We can’t breathe properly, we can’t focus and it’s almost impossible to work. The worse it gets, the more it affects our brains until the brain, unless we’re asleep, or deeply relaxed, is in a continual state of high frequency – similar to a car being continually revved whilst not moving. Eventually the engine will wear out.
Brain Fog isn’t a medical condition as such and it can be a symptom of a number of issues but it is one of the symptoms of chronic anxiety that results in a lack of focus or clarity, loss of memory, and a general feeling of not being completely ‘here’. Confusion and uncertainty are common as the brain tries to deal with the anxious thoughts which are a continual background ‘noise’ slowing down its ability to think clearly and function at its best.
It was brought home to me the other day when a friend of mine commented that she thought she might have early signs of a mental disorder because she was increasingly unable to find words. She’s always been a great communicator and it was worrying her. I knew that she had had a lot of family worries, apart from those that the Covid pandemic has brought. Many elderly people worry when they can’t find words and although there might be an underlying medical problem very often it’s because they’ve been anxious. Maybe a grandchild is ill, or one of their children has lost their job and thinking and worrying about this overloads the brain with putting it into high frequency brainwaves for far too long a time and so results in a loss of words. “Does anxiety affect the brain?” It does but, fortunately, we now know how Deep Relaxation Therapy works to relieve the damage caused by anxiety and how to deal with it on a daily basis.
Here at Sanctus Healing, I integrate three therapies in one treatment. These consist of: deep listening; phased muscle relaxation and diaphragmatic breathing, which is a gentle and non-invasive energy healing therapy. It’s been found to be a highly effective approach that helps to break the cycle of anxiety and it’s various symptoms.
*Norman Doidge ‘The Brain’s Way of Healing