What is anxiety? How to dial down the stress response.

We’ve probably all experienced anxiety at some point in our lives. It may be anything from concern about an upcoming exam that dissipates once we’ve sat the test, to full-blown debilitating, gnawing, continuous anxiety that prevents us from leaving the house and leading a normal life. Or anything in between.

Now, anxiety is a perfectly valid response to a real danger. With the emphasis on ‘real’. It sits alongside depression and anger as a life-saving reaction to a threatening situation.

When we’re anxious, we’re hypervigilant, on red alert. Our senses are heightened and we’re on the lookout for potential hazards. If we identify a threat, any internal systems useful for dealing with the threat ramp up, so we can escape or confront the danger, and any internal systems that aren’t immediately useful shut down.

When we’re exposed to danger, our bodies are flooded with the stress hormone adrenaline and that has a massive effect on our physiology. Our heart rate and blood pressure increase so there’s more blood flow to the muscles needed to run away from or to fight the danger, and there’s more blood flow to the brain so that we can think more quickly and assess the level of threat. We breathe more rapidly to get more oxygen into our body so our muscles can operate more efficiently. Our pupils dilate to allow more light into our eyes so we can see better. Our blood-clotting ability increases so we’re better prepared for a possible injury. And our muscles tense so we’re primed for action.

Meanwhile, blood and oxygen are being diverted away from any systems not needed for our immediate survival, and they’re temporarily shut down. Functions like our digestive system, immune system or reproductive system are all given a lower priority and so cease to operate effectively. Bowel and bladder muscles may relax so that energy can be diverted to more useful muscles.

Most mammals exhibit this useful fight or flight response to danger, and we humans are no different. If there’s a predator about to pounce, we’re primed to fight, flee or freeze until we’re in a place of safety.

All well and good if there’s a sabre-toothed tiger about to attack. Not so good if our fight-flight-freeze response kicks in when we’re opening the bank statement, or we’re about to have a job interview, or we’re wanting to leave the house to do the weekly shop. If it does fire up, we’re likely to experience anger (fight), anxiety (flight) or depression (freeze).

So we can see that responses like anxiety, anger and depression once served us well. The problem is, we’re still running this outdated software in a modern environment. Generally speaking, you and I rarely encounter anything that’s genuinely life-threatening. Probably the most dangerous thing you and I do is cross a busy road. But our fight-flight-freeze system is still sitting there, primed for possible hazards. And it gets things wrong.

When you think about it rationally, we’re not going to die if we’re overdrawn at the bank, or we mess up a job interview, or we have a panic attack at the supermarket. But if our vigilant fight-flight-freeze system interprets the situation as dangerous, we might as well be facing a herd of stampeding woolly mammoths.

And this has a tremendous impact on our ability to function effectively. Because our brains are so focused on the immediate danger, we find it difficult to think about anything else. Because our digestive system has shut down, we experience a dry mouth, nausea or butterflies. Because our muscles are tensing for action, we start to shake and tremble. Because we rarely actually run away from the danger, the increased oxygen in our blood makes us feel dizzy or light-headed. And because we need to keep our body temperature within operating limits, we start to sweat to keep our bodies cool as the sweat evaporates.

So, what’s to be done? Well, we’re not going to be able to rid ourselves of the fight-flight-freeze response and nor would we want to. There are times when it’s appropriate to respond with these primitive reactions. If someone is hurting a child, that’s a valid reason to be angry. If you’ve just had a diagnosis of a serious illness, that’s a valid reason to feel anxious. If someone close to you has just passed away, that’s a valid reason to experience the symptoms of depression.

And if there’s no obvious cause for feeling anxious, angry or depressed, these reactions could well be providing a useful warning signal that something is not well and needs to be addressed. Maybe it’s time that you looked for another job, perhaps you should get on with that PowerPoint presentation you’ve been putting off, or maybe you should sit down with your partner and discuss balancing the household budget.

It's when we experience the fight-flight-freeze reactions inappropriately, or the symptoms last way after the threat has been dealt with, that it becomes a problem. It’s at times like these that we need to take action to dial down the stress response.

And that lies at the heart of dealing with anxiety. Being in a good enough headspace to identify when the anxiety response is being triggered, and having the inner resources to calm down our overactive warning system.

The good news is, there are ways that we can take control and prevent our fight-flight systems firing unnecessarily. Learning how to do this is key to living a life free from the tyranny of anxiety. We do this in the solution focused world by turning our attention away from the problem and towards the solution. And then taking small, incremental steps towards our preferred future.

And when we do that, anything is possible.