Scientists who study fear and anxiety have learned that they are related. People with anxiety have a learning

Fitness requires regular movement

problem with regard to fear. They can not control their Amygdala – the brains 911 center – with their prefrontal cortex – the executive center of the brain. They store every memory as a negative, possibly life threatening situation. In his book SPARK, Dr. Ratey gives 7 tips why exercise will help anxiety.

It provides a distraction – you can’t learn and store many memories during exercise. Your mind is occupied and you can’t be afraid and exercise simultaneously.

It reduces tension in your muscles. People with anxiety have overly sensitive and overly active electrical patterns in their muscles. Just like medication can slow this, so can regular exercise. This creates a greater feeling of relaxation.

It builds the brains resources. Exercise increases 3 brain chemicals, GABA which calms neurons. This is the opposite effect of Norepinephrine that excites them. Exercise also increases Serotonin that helps every part of the brain to reduce and control the fear response. BDNF – brain-derived neurotrophic factor – is increased also and this helps build stronger and more interactive neurons – improving cell to cell communication and building a stronger mind-body connection.

You learn a different outcome! Fear is memory stored to help us detect danger. If every memory is stored as fear, you have anxiety or fear about everything. You “learn” or create memories of increased breathing and heart rate without a fear rating being attached. These memories will reduce panic and anxiety

You reroute circuits – this is an active and not a passive way to control the amygdala and memory formation. It feeds data to the amygdala via a different brain path. The more you do this, the stronger that pathway signal becomes and the less anxiety you will experience.

Your brain becomes more resilient. You learn you can have symptoms that do not turn into anxiety or panic. You protect yourself against depression also.

You become FREE! Instead of withdrawing from the fear inherent in anxiety, you have a way to take action and control of your brains’ memory creation and response to the world.