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Learn How To Reduce Anxious Thoughts

By Nick Whyte

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 02Mar2012
Word count: 1008
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If you would like to know how to lower anxiety it is worthwhile taking a couple of minutes to really learn about exactly how our brains react whenever we get stressed ,because it is the reaction that causes us developing anxiety and an anxiety disorder.

Understanding how anxiety effects our brain is the first step towards reducing anxiety or curing it.

Man has come a long way since caveman times. The brains of our ancestors were completely different to our own and yet we still possess a lot in common with our ancestors.

Imagine your brain as being two separate halves. The best way to describe this is to think of them as a civilised brain and a primitive brain. The innermost part of our brain is called the Limbic system. In our caveman ancestors this section of their brains made up a much larger proportion of the brain than in modern man.

Contained within our limbic system is a small part of the brain called the Amygdala. This is the part of our brain that is responsible for our natural, instinctive reactions to events including our natural response to being frightened or threatened. Thisbit of the brain contains all the instinctive, reflex actions that we make without thinking. These are the reactions that made sure our caveman ancestors reained alive.

Whenever they experienced fear they reacted instinctively with the fight or flight response. Hundreds or even thousands of years of evolution have honed and perfected our response to danger. Any of our ancestors that reacted the quickest to a threat, survived. The slowest didn't!

If you get a surge of adrenaline in answer to a situation you have nature to thank or curse. There is nothing you can do about it. You have been programmed to react by thousands of years of evolution.

Whenever we are threatened and whenever we feel frightened it is this basic,primitive piece of our brain that kicks in on autopilot.

Move forward several thousand years and we have evolved. our frontal lobes in our brain have grown much bigger. This is the section of the brain that is responsible for rational thinking, the piece of our brain that prevents us reacting instinctively and helps us to make reasoned decisions. Unfortunately, whenever we become anxious or frightened the Amygdala over-rides the more rational piece of our brain and we start to react in a basic, instinctive manner which leads to all the anxiety symptoms that we experience.

In order to cope with anxiety properly you need to start to use the rational side of your brain, the bit of your brain that allows you to reason with yourself and make a decision as to whether it is a perceived threat or real.

Most of the threats in modern life are not a real threat. Most things in the work situation, for example, are unlikely to harm us, and yet, because of the programming of our brain our body will over react leading to anxiety in the short term.

If short term anxiety is bad enough or occurs often enough we can develop an anxiety disorder as the Amygdala takes over our reactions, switching on the fight or flight response whenever we perceive even the slightest threat.

Any successful anxiety treatment will mean reprogramming your brain to use the civilised, rational part of your brain whenever you are anxious,turning off the instinctive, natural reactions to stress.

So,if you are looking for short term relief for temporary anxiety or a way to cure an anxiety disorders the answer will almost certainly mean that you will need to teach yourself how to think in a different way.

Switch off the instincts and learn to deal with today.

If you found this article useful and would like some helpful tips on how to lower anxiety levels visit http://www.selfhelpanxietycures.com

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