hi everyone are you tired of feeling overwhelmed by anxiety from physical symptoms
to constant worry it can be hard to escape the grips of this common mental health issue
but what if I told you that your body has a natural system in place to help reduce
anxiety and regulate your stress response it's called the parasympathetic nervous
system and it's your body's built-in break to the fight or flight reaction
in today's video we're going to be exploring the science behind the parasympathetic nervous system
the parts of the brain involved in anxiety and how you can use them to manage anxiety
but as with anything there's a catch so make sure you watch to the end to learn why solely relying
on activating the parasympathetic nervous system may not be the answer to your anxiety but before
I get into that just a couple of disclaimers to go over I'm a registered psychologist in the province
of British Columbia Canada and this video is for informational purposes only it is not intended as
a substitute or replacement for advice from your doctor or mental health professional
now with those things out of the way let's start talking about the neurobiology of anxiety
now our nervous system consists of two main parts the parasympathetic nervous
system and the sympathetic nervous system the sympathetic nervous system is like
the gas pedal in your car it's responsible for activating the flight or fight response
which is a survival mechanism that prepares our body to respond to perceived threat or danger
when the sympathetic nervous system is activated it causes the release of stress hormones like
adrenaline and cortisol which increases our heart rate blood pressure and breathing rate
these physiological changes help the body respond quickly and effectively to physical threat
now while the fight-or-flight response is great when you're in a dangerous situation
it's not so great when you're sitting at your desk trying to focus on work additionally prolonged
activation of the sympathetic nervous system can have negative effects on your body such
as increased risk of heart disease high blood pressure and other health problems
and so that's where the parasympathetic nervous system comes in it acts as the break to slow down
the fight-or-flight response and to help you relax it restores your body to a calm and relaxed state
the parasympathetic nervous system is often referred to as the rest and digest system because
it promotes relaxation and facilitates digestion it slows down heart rate it slows down breathing
rate and blood pressure it promotes digestion and other restorative processes in your body
the parasympathetic nervous system essentially does the opposite of
what the sympathetic nervous system does now for some people with anxiety they may have
an overactive sympathetic nervous system and underactive parasympathetic nervous
system which can lead to heightened or excess physiological responses to stress and anxiety
essentially they have a more highly tuned nervous system kind of like an exotic sports car so the
video of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems
now in order to understand how this works it's important to understand that one of the key ways
that the parasympathetic nervous system helps to counteract the effects of the sympathetic
nervous system is through the vagus nerve which is a a long nerve that runs from the brain stem
down through the chest and into the abdomen and when the vagus nerve is activated it releases
a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine which slows down heart rate and promotes relaxation
and this can help reduce feelings of anxiety and stress and promote a sense of calm
so the vagus nerve plays a critical role in anxiety and regulating the body's response to
stress by being activated by the parasympathetic nervous system so that might lead to the question
of how do we turn on this vagus nerve and how do we activate it and thereby activate
the parasympathetic nervous system in order to understand this we have to go further up
the nervous system into the brain and understand two key areas of the brain that play a role in
managing the parasympathetic nervous system and emotions like anxiety and I'll start with the
amygdala which is a small almond-shaped structure located deep within the brain's temporal lobe
it's the part of the it's a part of the limbic system which is involved in processing emotions
and memory and the amygdala plays a key role in promote in process in processing emotional
information including fear and anxiety when we perceive a threat or danger the amygdala
sends signals to activate the sympathetic nervous system leading to that fight or flight response
and in people with anxiety disorders the amygdala may be overactive leading to heightened anxiety
responses even in non-threatening situations think of the amygdala as your brain's smoke detector
when it senses danger it sends an alarm signal to activate the fight-or-flight response just like a
smoke detector can sometimes be too sensitive and go off even when there's no real threat or danger
an overactive amygdala can trigger anxiety responses even in non-threatening situations
however research has also shown that another part of the brain the prefrontal cortex can
modulate activity of the amygdala and help regulate anxiety responses the prefrontal
cortex is the part of the brain located at the front of the skull just behind the forehead
it's responsible for executive functions like decision making impulse control and working memory
the prefrontal cortex is also involved in regulating emotional responses including anxiety
and Studies have shown that people with anxiety disorders may have reduced
activity in the prefrontal cortex leading to reduced regulation of anxiety responses
you could think of the prefrontal cortex kind of like the CEO of your brain responsible for
making executive decisions and regulating emotional responses
just like a CEO needs to be able to prioritize and make rational decisions the prefrontal cortex
can modulate the activity of the amygdala and help regulate anxiety responses so one way to
think about this is it's kind of like a seesaw the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex are on opposite
ends of the Seesaw and they need to be in balance for optimal emotion regulation when the amygdala
is overactive it's like a heavy weight on one end of the Seesaw and so the prefrontal cortex
needs to step in and balance things out in order to prevent anxiety from taking over and this can
be done through interventions like cognitive behavioral therapy which is the type of therapy
that I do which can strengthen the prefrontal cortex's ability to regulate emotion responses
and so overall the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex play a crucial role in anxiety regulation
with the amygdala sounding off the alarm and the prefrontal cortex acting as the CEO or seesaw
balancer to modulate the anxiety responses so I've talked about the parasympathetic nervous
system the sympathetic nervous system areas of the brain and the vagus nerve I wouldn't
blame you if you're feeling a little bit lost understanding how all of these work together
mentioned before think of the parasympathetic nervous system like the set of a breaks on
the set of brakes on a car just as brakes slow down a car's speed the parasympathetic
nervous system helps slow down the body's responses to stress and anxiety
when you're in a stressful situation like a close call on the highway your sympathetic
nervous system kicks into gear and revs up your body's engine just like a gas pedal
but once the danger has passed the parasympathetic nervous system engages and helps put the brakes
on your stress response bringing your body back into a state of rest and relaxation
now when it comes to the vagus nerve it's kind of like the messenger between your brain and
your body it sends signals back and forth helping your brain stay connected to what's
happening in your body think of the vagus nerve as a telephone line that connects your brain to
different parts of your body when you're feeling anxious the vagus nerve can carry signals from
the body to the brain letting the brain know that something is off and that needs attention
and in turn the brain can use the vagus nerve to send calming signals back to the
body activating the parasympathetic nervous system and slowing down the stress response
to make it even simpler imagine that you're on a roller coaster the amygdala is like the part
of you that screams when the coaster goes over a steep drop the prefrontal cortex is like the
part of you that can remind yourself that you're safe and that the roller coaster is just a ride
and the vagus nerve is like the part of you that can take deep breaths and calm your
body down after the ride is over bringing your body back into a state of rest and relaxation
so in short the vagus nerve plays a critical role in regulating anxiety by acting as the
messenger between the brain and the body helping to keep the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex
imbalance and activating the parasympathetic nervous system to slow down the stress response
so if acting the parasympathetic nervous system helps reduce my anxiety Then it seems like the
solution for anxiety should just be finding ways to constantly engage the parasympathetic
nervous system and therefore I'll always be calm and relaxed that makes sense right
and I see this a lot in some of my clients who've worked with previous therapists or counselors who
Focus the treatment in interventions solely on things like relaxation training deep breathing
or meditation now I'm not saying that these aren't helpful Tools in terms of managing anxiety
but they're not long-term Solutions think about our metaphor of the parasympathetic nervous system
as the brake pedal in your car that slows you down if you're driving too fast it makes sense that
you need to activate the brake pedal to slow down and be safe but if you're constantly stepping on
the brake pedal what's going to happen you might come to a complete stop and feel completely stuck
quickly stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system through relaxation techniques deep
breathing and meditation this only provides temporary relief from the anxiety symptoms
it's like putting a Band-Aid on a wound without addressing the underlying cause
while a Band-Aid May provide some temporary relief it's not fixing the root cause of the problem
and I see this so often particularly in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder or
panic disorder where the therapy sessions Focus so much on trying to calm and relax the person that
it's actually counterproductive because the focus is on reducing the physical symptoms of anxiety
rather than what's causing the physical symptoms of anxiety in the first place which is excessive
worry in the case of generalized anxiety disorder and the fear of physical sensations of anxiety in
panic disorder it's the only intervention is to try to activate the parasympathetic
nervous system so that the person can feel more temporarily calm and relaxed this is actually
counterproductive because it's not getting at the actual problem also if you have to constantly be
doing deep breathing meditation or relaxation techniques like progressive muscle relaxation
it's going to make you less efficient getting anything else done in your life because you're
constantly having to meditate or do progressive muscle relaxation or do breathing exercises
so that's one of the main reasons why I don't spend a lot of time focusing on relaxation
techniques when working with my therapy clients well for one there are lots of resources and
YouTube videos that a person can watch that go through how to do the various different types of
relaxation training but more importantly my focus on working with clients is to address
the factors that are maintaining the person's anxiety symptoms essentially dealing with the
underlying anxiety condition that's causing their sympathetic nervous system to be so activated
and this is how cognitive behavioral therapy works to reduce anxiety by helping a person
develop a new understanding of their anxiety and equipping them with tools to help change
Behavior patterns and thinking patterns that are causing the underlying anxiety in the first place
so you can think of relaxation techniques like deep breathing similar to person
driving taking their foot off the gas pedal and gently tapping the brake pedal
deep breathing slows down your breathing rate which in turn helps to slow down your heart
rate and reduce activation of the sympathetic nervous system the vagus nerve acts as the
break to slow down the body's responses to stress and anxiety and affects activity of the amygdala
cognitive behavioral therapy activates the parasympathetic nervous system in a different way
it aims at helping person that aims at helping a person change their behaviors and reframe negative
thoughts that are contributing to their anxiety focusing more on the role of the prefrontal cortex
using our driving metaphor imagine a driver who always sees the worst in every situation
and assumes the worst possible outcome when they're driving this driver is likely
to be anxious and always on edge cognitive behavioral therapy can teach the driver to
reframe their thoughts and to see things from a more realistic and reasonable perspective
and this is like replacing lead foot on the gas pedal with a lighter more controlled foot which
results in a much more natural way of activating the vagus nerve and parasympathetic nervous system
if you want to learn more about how cognitive behavioral therapy works I'd encourage you to
check out this video so that's all for today's video as always thank you for
making it all the way to the end of this video and I will see you in the next one