The Secret To Healing Yourself From Health Anxiety Is To Regulate Your Nervous System

Deep within our brain lies a small but mighty structure known as the amygdala. This almond-shaped powerhouse plays a crucial role in our emotional experiences, particularly when it comes to fear and anxiety. Understanding the workings of the amygdala can provide valuable insights into the inner mechanisms of our emotional responses and shed light on why we feel like we do - why so we react the way that we do to health anxiety?

So, the amygdala is our brains gatekeeper, it processes the incoming sensory information for emotional significance. It evaluates potential threats which enables us to respond swiftly to danger. In previous ages, when we were hunter gatherers, we would use this part of the brain an awful lot. When we were face to face with immediate danger, this part of our brain would kick in and it would send us into 'fight or flight mode' meaning that our pupils would dilate in order for us to become more aware of what was around us, blood would rush around our body, and our heart would pump faster - all of these things happened to get you out of danger and able to survive.

However, these days, our bodies aren't aware that we are not (generally speaking) under immediate danger, and therefore it becomes confused between real threats and what it perceives to be a threat.

For example, if we were once bitten by a dog, amygdala activates the fear response even though another - different dog may not pose as a potential threat.

So, its easy to see how our minds can become confused and easily mistaken. as it perceives the threat of health related danger as an immediate problem. You therefore may know deep down that the new pimple you have discovered on your body is nothing to worry about, but the amygdala knows that at one point you either did have a bodily problem to worry about, or that you know someone who did.

It therefore associates the perceived threat and the body symptoms that it produces as something to worry about, because you will start to experience all the physical symptoms that the real threat provides.

This is how your anxiety starts, develops and manifests itself.

Learning not only how your amygdala works but also how to recognise it and regulate it is key in controlling your health anxiety and moving forward.

As always, be kind to yourself

Amy x