How Fear Affects The Brain
Fear is a basic survival emotion. It helps us identify and recognize the possibility of a threat. And once it determines a threat is present, our brain triggers our sympathetic nervous system into action, commonly known as the fight or flight response. And while fear is necessary to keep us safe, the problem in our modern world is the threats around us aren’t as cut and dry as an apex predator hunting us.
When our brain senses a threat, a multitude of physiological things occur in our body. Our digestive system slows, our pupils dilate, our breathing speeds up, and blood rushes to our muscles, preparing us for action. But over time, our brain has begun to identify things such as stress as fear triggers. This means no matter how natural it is to feel fear, living in this constant state can have adverse effects on our brain.
Most of the time, we are able to use our rational brain to overcome the feeling of fear. However, when fear becomes chronic, this ability diminishes. And persistent fear can have serious consequences on the brain.
Memory
When our brain activates our fear response, it sends an increased surge of hormones to certain parts of the brain, primarily the amygdala and the hippocampus. This increase in hormones allows the brain to focus on the danger and store the event in our memory, enabling us to recognize the specific threat in the future.
But when this activation occurs for long periods of time, these areas of the brain risk becoming damaged. Because the brain is hyper-aware and focused on the threat, other events and memories can get fragmented or lost entirely. Our ability to form new long-term memory becomes compromised, and our brain will use our fear-tainted memories as confirmation that the world is a fearful place.
Decision-Making
In addition to memory, the amygdala regulates emotion and decision-making. When it is in a constantly heightened state triggered by chronic fear, it impairs our ability to process both in a consistent manner.
A hyperactive amygdala will misread signals around us misinterpreting and misunderstanding the stimuli in our environment. The tendency will be to define everything in relation to fear, making us overreact to even the smallest of situations. In addition, because fear speeds us up, we feel a pressure or a need to process information faster, leading to impulsive decision making, as our ability to assess information rationally is overtaken by our intense emotions.
Body Systems
The hormones the brain releases when our fear response is triggered are meant to streamline bodily functions so we can either fight or run. Ideally, these hormones dissipate when the threat is over, allowing our body to resume its normally balanced functionality.
But when we face constant fear, these hormones stay in our brain with several damaging consequences. Immediate symptoms can include feeling dizzy, nauseous, and headaches. Long term symptoms can be extensive, causing damage to our cardiovascular system, our digestive system, our respiratory system, and our immune system.
Mental Health
Living in a constant state of fear means our brain is overproducing stress-related hormones on a near-constant basis. This reduces our levels of serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin. Without these happy chemicals, we are highly susceptible to forming long-term mental health problems such as chronic stress disorder, severe anxiety, depression, and PTSD.
Fear is a natural emotion experienced by everyone at least once in our life. But it becomes harmful once fear becomes a habit. Beyond being mentally crippling, it can have grave effects on our physical health as well. Identifying the problem early is necessary to help get things under control.
Meditation, deep breathing, and focused thought are all excellent techniques to help break the fear cycle. However, if normal techniques aren’t enough, seeking help from a professional may be necessary. An expert can dig deeper to identify the root cause of the problem, along with providing useful coping tools. Recognizing chronic fear is the first step. With a healthy lifestyle and a strong support system, we stop the fear cycle in our mind.
