The Neuroscience Behind Anxiety: Why Logical Thinking Takes a Back Seat
Navigating anxiety is exhausting. It causes you to overthink things, causes indecision, you start to question your ability to do or say the right things, and then leads to feelings of low self-worth. To understand why your anxiety causes this type of thinking, you need to first understand the connection between anxiety and your brain.
━━━━━━━Let’s Break It Down━━━━━━━
The Brain’s Fight-or-Flight Response
When faced with a perceived threat (i.e. anxiety or fear), your brain’s fight-or-flight response kicks into gear. This is an evolutionary survival mechanism designed to protect you from danger. At the heart of this response is the amygdala, a small, almond-shaped structure located deep within the brain. The amygdala acts as your brain’s alarm system, rapidly assessing situations and triggering an immediate response to danger.
While this system is incredibly effective at keeping you safe from physical harm, it doesn’t distinguish between real threats, like a car speeding toward you, and perceived threats, like public speaking or an intimidating social situation. When the amygdala perceives a threat, it sends signals to release stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, preparing your body to fight, flee, or freeze.
The Logical Brain Gets Overridden
Here’s where things get tricky. The prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain responsible for logical thinking, planning, and decision-making, is essentially put on pause when the fight-or-flight response is activated. This is because your brain prioritizes survival over complex reasoning in high-stress situations. Instead of weighing options or critical thinking, your body and mind focus entirely on immediate action.
This phenomenon explains why anxiety can make you feel “frozen” or cause you to overreact in ways that seem irrational once the moment has passed. For instance, snapping at a loved one or avoiding a challenging task may seem justified in the heat of the moment, but once the anxiety has calmed and things are more clear, you realize that there were healthier ways to respond.
Breaking the Cycle: How to Reclaim Your Logical Thinking
Understanding why anxiety shuts down logical thinking is the first step toward regaining control. Here are a few strategies to help you calm your amygdala, reduce the anxiety, stop the immediate fight or flight, and re-engage your prefrontal cortex:
Practice Deep Breathing: Slow, deep breaths activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which counteracts the fight-or-flight response. Inhale for a count of four, hold for four, and exhale for six to reset your brain and body.
Ground Yourself: Engage your senses to bring yourself back to the present moment. Focus on the texture of an object, the sound of your surroundings, or the feeling of your feet on the ground.
Vagus Nerve Stimulation: There are several different ways to stimulate your vagus nerve, which activates the parasympathetic nervous system allowing your body to start to calm and relax. One example is splashing cold water on your face, or using an ice pack on your face or neck.
Develop a Mindfulness Practice: Regular mindfulness meditation has been shown to strengthen the prefrontal cortex and reduce the overactivity of the amygdala. If you don’t know how to meditate, go to Youtube and type in “guided meditation”, there are hundreds of great meditations to help you practice this.
Seek Professional Support: If anxiety feels overwhelming, consider speaking with a therapist. Therapy can help you identify the root of your anxiety and learn skills to manage and reduce the severity and frequency.
Why It’s Important to Understand Your Brain
By learning how anxiety impacts your brain, you can better understand why certain reactions occur and develop healthier ways to manage them. Remember, the goal isn’t to eliminate anxiety entirely—it’s to respond to it in a way that keeps your logical brain engaged.
So the next time you feel overwhelmed, take a moment to pause, breathe, and remind yourself that your brain’s alarm system is just trying to keep you safe. With practice, you can teach your brain to strike a better balance between emotion and reason, giving you the clarity to handle whatever life throws your way.
Anxiety may momentarily silence your logical thinking, but it doesn’t have to control you. By understanding the neuroscience behind the fight-or-flight response and practicing techniques to calm your mind, you can regain clarity and approach challenges with confidence. Remember, your brain is a powerful tool—and with the right strategies, you can train it to work for you, not against you.
