There is an abundance of anxiety disorders that plague our country and our world today. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States today and they affect 40 million adults every year. There is also a wide spectrum of disorders that are classified as anxiety disorders: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, General Anxiety Disorder, and many more.
Environmental Stressors
So what is going on in our world that makes these disorders so prevalent. Nobody really knows what is going on exactly, but some people believe the role of technology in our world as being a good place to start looking. We are constantly around some sort of screen where we can be entertained or connected to the outside world while just lying in bed or (heaven forbid) sitting in class or at work! We are always looking at our social media and many times worry about what other people think about what we posted, how we look, and more. With this constant stimulation and worry about what is going on with our technology, we take less and less time to unwind, relax, and disconnect from the world. This could be one of the biggest environmental stressors in our world today causing anxiety disorders.
Limbic Stress
What is going on in the brain that causes these anxiety disorders? Researchers don’t know exactly what is going wrong in the brain to cause these anxiety disorders, they do know that there is too much activation going on in the limbic system of the brain. In the limbic system are two important parts of the brain that have to do with emotion and memory: the amygdala and the hippocampus. With that over activation, or excitation, going on in the emotional and memory parts of the brain, long-term memories and emotional associations can be made to stressors. This can lead to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or Anxiety, two types of anxiety disorders.
Run! Run! As Fast as You Can!
Think about a time when you were very stressed out. This could be from anything: a family matter, school, work, or something else that could cause this. You likely thought, “I wish there was some way for this stress to just go away or some way that I can calm myself down enough to deal with it.” Well there is a way to do this: Exercise! Researchers have found that individuals who work out have a higher concentration of the neurotransmitter GABA in the brain. This buildup of GABA due to exercise is found in the amygdala and hippocampus of the brain. GABA is a neurotransmitter that lowers the action potential of neurons, in other words, it reduces the activity of neurons causing a calming effect. When a stress is felt, GABA is released giving way to a calming feeling, in this case, to the memory and emotional parts of the brain.
Always Listen to Mom
So when somebody tells you that you can’t run away from your problems, that may be true. However, it might help you to relax and better cope with your problems later. So with exercise doing so much good for your body and brain, why wait until something is wrong to make a change. Listen to what your mom always told you, “Go outside and have some fun!”
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