The Chemical Composition Of Anxiety

With the ever-increasing prevalence of anxiety, it is more important than ever to know what it entails so that you can take the right steps to prevent it. Knowing what it means can help you and the people around you avoid catastrophic thoughts and other common symptoms of anxiety. In this article, we will talk about the chemistry of anxiety to explain what happens from the first trigger to the increase of T cells in your body.

Is a feeling of anxiety bad?

Many experts consider stress and anxiety as the same thing. However, one tends to become more stigmatized in today’s society. They are both related to the body’s stress response, which is a natural biological process that is important for human survival. Consequently, you should not consider anxiety as good or bad.

When a perceived threat makes people feel anxious or scared, activation is what often triggers a response of wanting to fight or flee.

Humans evolved with this mechanism because it has ensured our survival. Without it, you would not be able to act quickly and make crucial decisions on the spot. Your body would not have the physical ability to protect itself.

The problem arises when your body triggers the stress response to “threats” that are not dangerous. Your body then prepares for battle or flight, even if that reaction is completely unnecessary. The chemical and emotional reactions involved in fighting or fleeing are what make you feel so weird when you are anxious.

The chemistry of anxiety

Evaluation of the threat: fight or flight

When you identify a threat, you assess it in seconds. Although people are not chased by lions as often these days, this reaction is just as relevant to anything you perceive as a threat. It can be anything from a simple comment to strange and sudden noise you consider threatening.

The feeling of anxiety: The sympathetic nervous system

After evaluating a threat, your body chemistry goes into action. In the sympathetic nervous system, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is activated, which then triggers the release of the adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH).

The hypothalamus regulates the release of ACTH in the body. The hypothalamus is also responsible for regulating eating, drinking, mating and aggression. Thus, it makes sense that the neuro-hormonal mechanisms of the stress response are also triggered, which stimulates the pituitary gland to release ACTH.

ACTH in turn stimulates the adrenal glands, which flood the bloodstream with glucocorticoids.

Glucocorticoids help you in stressful situations

Glucocorticoids give you the opportunity to survive stressful situations. It includes everything from physical injuries, such as breaking a leg or falling from a tree, to situations involving anxiety, fear and hunger.

Glucocorticoids stimulate adrenaline and endogenous opioid peptides. The latter are involved in homeostasis (maintaining body balance), pain regulation, cardiovascular control and stress.

The release of adrenaline and other hormones pauses some bodily functions that can be a strain in stressful situations. Digestion, for example, takes a lot of energy. Therefore, you may have an upset stomach or lose your appetite after an anxiety attack. Just be patient and let your body recover.

Your body releases opioid peptides to help you tolerate pain from potential injuries.

The consequences of the chemical reactions of anxiety

This hormonal activation leads to many changes in your body, and not just the ones you can expect. The stress response causes many internal changes that are not always obvious. In response to these hormones, your heart rate increases to facilitate blood flow and increase oxygen levels. This is very characteristic of anxiety, and one of the things that patients often work on the most.

Some of the techniques psychologists use to reduce the stress response are controlled breathing and progressive muscle relaxation. Both techniques resort to breathing as a way to reduce anxiety. Thoughtful breathing can reduce your heart rate and help you calm down.

During a stress response, the spleen also contracts and releases many red blood cells. This is very useful in case of an injury. Although many of the “threats” we perceive today do not actually represent physical danger, keep in mind that your ancestors ran from wild animals to protect themselves. Red blood cells are part of your immune system, and they protect you in case of a possible infection.

The liver also synthesizes and releases sugar into the bloodstream, while bronchial dilatation increases respiration in response to a greater need for oxygen.

Another consequence of these chemical reactions is the dilation of the pupils that allow more light to enter the eyes so that you can see the contours of the objects better. The last thing your body does in response to a potential threat is to increase the coagulation activity in the blood and increase the circulation of T cells (a type of white blood cell).

The key to reducing anxiety

As you can see, the chemistry of anxiety has a very specific purpose. The good news is that so does chemistry for relaxation and all the mechanisms that activate it. In fact, the primary goal of relaxation techniques is related to the parasympathetic nervous system.

While the sympathetic nervous system activates the systems in your body, the parasympathetic nervous system reduces muscle tone and slows down breathing. It also increases arterial dilation, which increases peripheral blood flow. The parasympathetic system reduces the frequency of breathing, the release of adrenaline and noradrenaline from the adrenal glands, and the basal metabolic rate.

The key to reducing anxiety is this fact: the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems cannot be active at the same time. Breathing and relaxation techniques can help you deactivate one and activate the other.

Anxiety has a clear biological and physiological basis. In response to a threat, the body prepares for what may happen. On the other hand, we know that the actual threat of danger is not what triggers the chemistry of anxiety, but the perceived threat of danger.

Anxiety is not bad in itself. The physiological mechanisms that make the stress response possible are normal and necessary. Anxiety becomes a problem when you perceive everything as a threat, whether it actually is or not.

In that case, the body is preparing for something that is not going to happen. It’s like stepping on the accelerator pedal when you are in neutral –  you use up the energy for no reason.