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If anxiety is in my brain, why is my heart pounding? A psychiatrist explains the neuroscience and physiology of fear

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/arash-javanbakht-416594">Arash Javanbakht</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/wayne-state-university-989">Wayne State University</a> Heart in your throat. Butterflies in your stomach. Bad gut feeling. These are all phrases many people use to describe fear and anxiety. You have likely felt anxiety inside your chest or stomach, and your brain usually doesn’t hurt when you’re scared. Many cultures tie cowardice and bravery more <a href="https://afosa.org/the-meaning-of-heart-qalb-in-quran/">to the heart</a> <a href="https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/bowels-of-mercy/">or the guts</a> than to the brain. But science has traditionally seen the brain as the birthplace and processing site of fear and anxiety. Then why and how do you feel these emotions in other parts of your body? I am a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=UDytFmIAAAAJ&hl=en">psychiatrist and neuroscientist</a> who researches and treats fear and anxiety. In my book “<a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538170380/Afraid-Understanding-the-Purpose-of-Fear-and-Harnessing-the-Power-of-Anxiety">Afraid,</a>” I explain how fear works in the brain and the body and what too much anxiety does to the body. Research confirms that while emotions do originate in your brain, it’s your body that carries out the orders. <h2>Fear and the brain</h2> While your brain evolved to save you from a falling rock or speeding predator, the anxieties of modern life are often a lot more abstract. Fifty-thousand years ago, being rejected by your tribe could mean death, but not doing a great job on a public speech at school or at work doesn’t have the same consequences. Your brain, however, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1006/nimg.2002.1179">might not know the difference</a>. There are a few key areas of the brain that are heavily involved in processing fear. When you perceive something as dangerous, whether it’s a gun pointed at you or a group of people looking unhappily at you, these sensory inputs are first relayed to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnpp.2009.121">the amygdala</a>. This small, almond-shaped area of the brain located near your ears detects salience, or the emotional relevance of a situation and how to react to it. When you see something, it determines whether you should eat it, attack it, run away from it or have sex with it. <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-of-fright-why-we-love-to-be-scared-85885">Threat detection</a> is a vital part of this process, and it has to be fast. Early humans did not have much time to think when a lion was lunging toward them. They had to act quickly. For this reason, the amygdala evolved to bypass brain areas involved in logical thinking and can directly engage physical responses. For example, seeing an angry face on a computer screen can immediately trigger a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1006/nimg.2002.1179">detectable response from the amygdala</a> without the viewer even being aware of this reaction. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xoU9tw6Jgyw?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><figcaption>In response to a looming threat, mammals often fight, flee or freeze.</figcaption></figure> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2009.83">The hippocampus</a> is near and tightly connected to the amygdala. It’s involved in memorizing what is safe and what is dangerous, especially in relation to the environment – it puts fear in context. For example, seeing an angry lion in the zoo and in the Sahara both trigger a fear response in the amygdala. But the hippocampus steps in and blocks this response when you’re at the zoo because you aren’t in danger. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2016.16030353">prefrontal cortex</a>, located above your eyes, is mostly involved in the cognitive and social aspects of fear processing. For example, you might be scared of a snake until you read a sign that the snake is nonpoisonous or the owner tells you it’s their friendly pet. Although the prefrontal cortex is usually seen as the part of the brain that regulates emotions, it can also teach you fear based on your social environment. For example, you might feel neutral about a meeting with your boss but immediately feel nervous when a colleague tells you about rumors of layoffs. Many <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-the-politics-of-fear-and-racism-how-our-brains-can-be-manipulated-to-tribalism-139811">prejudices like racism</a> are rooted in learning fear through tribalism. <h2>Fear and the rest of the body</h2> If your brain decides that a fear response is justified in a particular situation, it activates a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780190259440.003.0019">cascade of neuronal and hormonal pathways</a> to prepare you for immediate action. Some of the fight-or-flight response – like heightened attention and threat detection – takes place in the brain. But the body is where most of the action happens. Several pathways prepare different body systems for intense physical action. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2014.00043">motor cortex</a> of the brain sends rapid signals to your muscles to prepare them for quick and forceful movements. These include muscles in the chest and stomach that help protect vital organs in those areas. That might contribute to a feeling of tightness in your chest and stomach in stressful conditions. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0IDgBlCHVsA?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><figcaption>Your sympathetic nervous system is involved in regulating stress.</figcaption></figure> The <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK542195/">sympathetic nervous system</a> is the gas pedal that speeds up the systems involved in fight or flight. Sympathetic neurons are spread throughout the body and are especially dense in places like the heart, lungs and intestines. These neurons trigger the adrenal gland to release hormones like adrenaline that travel through the blood to reach those organs and increase the rate at which they undergo the fear response. To assure sufficient blood supply to your muscles when they’re in high demand, signals from the sympathetic nervous system increase the rate your heart beats and the force with which it contracts. You feel both increased heart rate and contraction force in your chest, which is why you may connect the feeling of intense emotions to your heart. In your lungs, signals from the sympathetic nervous system dilate airways and often increase your breathing rate and depth. Sometimes this results in a feeling of <a href="https://theconversation.com/pain-and-anxiety-are-linked-to-breathing-in-mouse-brains-suggesting-a-potential-target-to-prevent-opioid-overdose-deaths-174187">shortness of breath</a>. As digestion is the last priority during a fight-or-flight situation, sympathetic activation slows down your gut and reduces blood flow to your stomach to save oxygen and nutrients for more vital organs like the heart and the brain. These changes to your gastrointestinal system can be perceived as the discomfort linked to fear and anxiety. <h2>It all goes back to the brain</h2> All bodily sensations, including those visceral feelings from your chest and stomach, are relayed back to the brain through the pathways <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK555915/">via the spinal cord</a>. Your already anxious and highly alert brain then processes these signals at both conscious and unconscious levels. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2016.16030353">The insula</a> is a part of the brain specifically involved in conscious awareness of your emotions, pain and bodily sensations. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fs41598-019-52776-4">prefrontal cortex</a> also engages in self-awareness, especially by labeling and naming these physical sensations, like feeling tightness or pain in your stomach, and attributing cognitive value to them, like “this is fine and will go away” or “this is terrible and I am dying.” These physical sensations can sometimes create a loop of increasing anxiety as they make the brain feel more scared of the situation because of the turmoil it senses in the body. Although the feelings of fear and anxiety start in your brain, you also feel them in your body because your brain alters your bodily functions. Emotions take place in both your body and your brain, but you become aware of their existence with your brain. As the rapper Eminem recounted in his song “Lose Yourself,” the reason his palms were sweaty, his knees weak and his arms heavy was because his brain was nervous.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210871/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/arash-javanbakht-416594">Arash Javanbakht</a>, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/wayne-state-university-989">Wayne State University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-anxiety-is-in-my-brain-why-is-my-heart-pounding-a-psychiatrist-explains-the-neuroscience-and-physiology-of-fear-210871">original article</a>.

Body

Why the nose-diving British pound matters for Australia

As the British pound hit its lowest value since 1971, experts are warning it could serve as a dire warning for those of us beyond UK shores. On Monday, it was reported that the pound was worth as little as $US 1.037 ($AU 1.60 or $NZ 1.82), its lowest since the currency was decimalised in 1971. It comes amid concerns about the state of the global economy, with central banks working to slow the rate of inflation, and economic changes the UK government has introduced. After Liz Truss became the UK’s new Prime Minister on September 6, Treasury chief Kwasi Krawteng released a controversial mini-budget including hefty tax cuts for the wealthy and an increase in borrowing to spur economic growth. But, many economists warn it’s more likely to increase inflation even further, with the British central bank expected to increase official interest rates in response. Since the announcement of the tax cuts on Friday, which come as the biggest cuts in 50 years, the pound lost more than five percent of its value against the US dollar. Along with the cuts that are set to total £45 billion ($AU 75 billion or $NZ 85 billion), the government also plans to cap prices for electricity and natural gas for homes and businesses to cushion the impact of price rises caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. With the caps to the tune of £60 billion ($AU 100 billion or $NZ 114 billion), Kwarteng said the government would be borrowing the funds needed to finance it. How does it affect us? Though that could mean your next UK holiday is cheaper, economist Jason Murphy points to it as a warning for what could be in store for the Australian economy. Australia’s new Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is expected to release his first budget in October, which is expected to include his proposed tax cuts that will mostly benefit high-income earners, known as “stage three tax cuts”. These cuts are a hand-me-down from the Turnbull government’s 2018-19 budget, coming from then-Treasurer Scott Morrison, but they could pose some issues as Aussies face inflation everywhere from the supermarket to keeping the lights on. Tax cuts encourage spending and that spending encourages businesses to increase prices, resulting in inflation. With debts from the payouts delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic, <a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/markets/world-markets/british-pound-hits-a-record-low-in-big-warning-for-australia/news-story/36c1a1c7b5c3431147948a9dcea5395a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Murphy argues</a> that steering clear of tax cuts will also help reduce the country’s debt, which is significantly higher than when Morrison’s budget was first announced. As we continue to watch what happens in the UK, senior investment and markets analyst Susannah Streeter said it’s difficult to know just how far it will fall. "It depends, I think, now on what the Bank of England does in response to sterling's most recent fall," she said. "There's been this dramatic loss of confidence in the government's economic management. But now the ball is in the Bank of England's court." Image: Getty Images

Money & Banking

Strawberry pound cake

This sweet cake features strawberries, which are rich in both vitamin C and folate to optimise your immune system. Ingredients: Cake <ul> <li>250g unsalted butter, softened</li> <li>2 cups plain flour </li> <li>½ cup almond meal </li> <li>3 teaspoons baking powder</li> <li>1 teaspoon salt</li> <li>1 ½ cups raw caster sugar</li> <li>1 lemon, finely grated zest & juice for glaze</li> <li>125ml thick Greek yoghurt</li> <li>5 large eggs</li> <li>¼ cup light flavoured oil (light olive, grapeseed or rice bran oil)</li> <li>250g fresh Queensland strawberries, finely chopped</li> </ul> Glaze <ul> <li>1 cup sifted icing mixture</li> <li>2-3 tablespoons liquid – try a mix of strawberry syrup, passionfruit and lemon juice</li> </ul> Method: <ol> <li>Preheat oven to 175 degrees C (fan-forced). Grease and line 1.5 litre loaf tin.</li> <li>Sift dry ingredients together, mixing to combine.</li> <li>Using a stand mixer or electric hand mixer on a medium setting; beat butter & sugar until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes.</li> <li>Reduce the speed of the mixer to low, add eggs, one by one, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add yoghurt, then oil & mix until just combined. Gradually add flour, mixing on low until just combined (do not over mix).</li> <li>Fold in chopped strawberries and lemon zest, spoon into prepared loaf tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 50-60 minutes. The cake is done when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.</li> <li>Cool in tin for 20 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.</li> <li>To ice, mix icing to desired consistency (thin glaze to thick drizzle) and spoon over cake.</li> </ol> Notes: <ul> <li>The plain flour and almond meal can be substituted with 2 ½ cups wholesome blend (a supermarket pre-packaged blend of wheat, millet, oat and coconut) or 2 ½ cups of cake flour.</li> <li>The acidity in passionfruit and lemon juice work perfectly as a glaze with this cake.</li> </ul>

Food & Wine

The perfect pound cake

Pound cake is a simple recipe, and it is loved by many for its ability to be dressed up or down, for any event, in any setting. It’s a delicious snack, a sweet start to the morning or a little teaser before dinner. Although pound cake seems easy to wrap your head around – it’s even better with a few slight adjustments to get the creamiest, buttery and smooth tasting home-baked cake. This recipe is one by Rose Levy Beranbaum in her cookbook <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cake-Bible-Rose-Beranbaum-1988-09-20/dp/B01K3NO8LU">The Cake Bible.</a> The chef’s recipe is a lot like the traditional method, however, uses milk, lots of extra butter and a little amount of baking powder. In result, a fluffy, buttery and creamy pound cake should be the turn out. “This cake not only has a silky-smooth dissolving texture similar to the famous Sara Lee pound cake but also the incomparable moist, butter flavour of a home-baked cake. It’s excellent keeping qualities make it ideal for slicing ahead and bringing on picnics,” she wrote. See the recipe below: Servings: 8 Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 50 minutes Total Time: 1 hour 5 mnutes Ingredients 3 tblsps milk (skim, low fat, or whole) 3 large eggs 1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1-1/3 cups cake flour, spooned into measuring cup and levelled with a straight edge 3/4 cup sugar 3/4 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 13 tblsps unsalted butter, softened (no need to cut it in pieces) Method 1, Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and lightly grease an 8x4-inch loaf pan with butter or non-stick cooking spray. 2. Dust the pan with flour and shake off excess. 3. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk milk, eggs, vanilla until combined. 4. With a hand mixer (alternatively you can use electric mixer with a paddled attachment), place flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl before mixing on low speed until blended. 5. Add butter and only half of the egg mixture and mix on low speed until all the dry ingredients have moistened. 6. Increase the mixture to medium speed (high speed if using hand mixer) and beat for one minute. Scrape down sides of the bowl and add in the remaining egg mixture, in two separate additions, until completely combined. 7. Do not over-mix the combination, ensure the batter has a slightly curdled or grainy appearance. 8. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top with spatula. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until cake is golden brown. 9. Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes on rack. 10. Wrap the cooled cake in plastic wrap or sealable plastic bag Notes The wrapped pound cake will stay edible for one week when refrigerated. Alternatively, the cake can be frozen for two months.

Food & Wine

Jane Austen fans outraged at new £10 note blunder

The Bank of England has revealed the new £10 note featuring Jane Austen that will be entering circulation on September 14. However, fans of the famous author are disappointed with the quote that appears under the portrait of Jane Austen. The note, unveiled exactly 200 years after Jane’s death on July 18, includes the quote, “I declare after all there is no enjoyment but reading!” The issue fans have with the quote is that it wasn’t said by Austen, but by the “detested” character Caroline Bingley in Pride and Prejudice, who hated reading. In the book, the line is not to be taken literally but it was said in a sarcastic tone. <img width="496" height="280" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/39746/jane-auten-in-text_496x280.jpg" alt="Jane Auten In Text"/> The outraged fans have expressed their disappointment on Twitter at the selection of the quote. One fan wrote, “Should we ask a Jane Austen expert for a good quote?' 'Nah, just ctrl+F for "reading" in Pride & Prejudice.'" Another expressed, “This is what happens when people don't actually READ Jane Austen's works. Just slap a quote on there and call it quits." One fan said, “You know what's a great idea, using a Caroline Bingley quote to celebrate Jane Austen' – said no one ever." Some fans have defended the choice of the quote and one tweeted, "Perhaps they chose the quote tongue-in-cheek, as a tribute to Jane Austen's use of irony." The Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, defended the use of the controversial choice of quote. He said, “It's two things; it captures much of her spirit, that is the quote, you can read it straight, there is no enjoyment like reading, and we agree with that." "If you know her work, you can enjoy the irony of that, it draws out some of the aspects of her social satire, it works on many levels." The Bank of England has begun replacing all paper notes, starting with the £5 note at the beginning of the year, £10 this year and the £20 in 2020. The new notes will be more secure, resilient to counterfeiting and more resistant to damage as they are made of polymer plastic. It is the first note from the Bank of England with tactile features such as raised Braille dots to help those with vision impairments. Do you agree with the outraged fans? Let us know in the comments below.

Books

Couple welcome 14.8 pound baby boy

A Chinese woman has given birth to a baby boy weighing in at an incredible 14.8 pounds – 6.7 kg. The newborn is believed to be one the heaviest ever born in China at double the weight of the country’s average baby boy. Nicknamed “Kang Kang” (meaning “healthy”), the 58cm-long bub was delivered via Caesarean last week and reported to be in good health. The boy’s father, Mr Wang, said his wife had been suffering from gestational diabetes, which led to eating disorders, leaving her a little “chubby”. He added that the 35-year-old mother’s diet during pregnancy consisted mainly of coarse food grain, and that his newborn son must have been “too good at absorbing nutrients in his mother’s belly.” In China, families prefer larger babies and would even overfeed mothers-to-be in the hopes of delivering a big baby. However, the couple’s doctor has warned them to keep a close eye on their boy’s weight to prevent him developing high blood pressure and cholesterol. Coincidentally, it’s not Mr and Mrs Wang’s first large baby, either. Their 8-year-old daughter was born weighing 11 pounds (5 kg) – however these days is down to a normal weight and exercises regularly. Related links: <a href="/news/news/2017/03/dad-responds-to-judgemental-diners-after-his-toddlers-restaurant-tantrum/">Dad responds to judgemental diners after his toddler’s restaurant tantrum</a> <a href="/news/news/2017/03/little-boys-reaction-to-news-of-heart-transplant/">Little boy has the best reaction to news of his heart transplant</a> <a href="/news/news/2017/03/three-generations-of-family-share-same-birthday/">Three generations of family share same birthday</a>

News

Woman donates five-pound note, worth £50,000, to charity

An elderly Northern Irish woman has donated a famous Jane Austen five-pound note, worth £50,000 ($NZD86,686), to charity. Graham Short, a famous engraver, etched a four five pound notes with a tiny picture of the Pride and Prejudice author. Each one is estimated to be worth £50,000. So far, the Irish woman is the third person to find the note. She sent it back to the engraver with a note asking him to "help young people". "£5 note enclosed, I don't need it at my time of life. Please use it to help young people," the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, wrote. Mr Short's website <a href="http://www.grahamshortart.com/northern-irish-note-discovered/">reads:</a> "The lady who found the note has surprised us all by sending it to the gallery and asking that it be used to help young people. So Graham and the Gallery will be working closely together to do so. "Currently contacting outlets connected to Children in Need to try and give this to a good cause so we honour the request of the lucky woman who originally discovered the note. "Stay tuned for more information as the story develops over the following days!" Mr Short told BBC the elderly woman did not want to be famous; she just wanted the money to go to a good cause. “An old lady found it and she said 'I don't want my picture in the papers' and she said 'if it sells for a lot of money it will be better if young children could benefit from it',” Mr Short told the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-39015115">BBC</a>. There is still one note to be found. Related links: <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/lifestyle/retirement-life/2017/01/sneaky-things-ageing-does/">Sneaky things ageing does</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/lifestyle/retirement-life/2016/12/pat-simmons-three-goals-for-retirement/">My three goals for retirement</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/lifestyle/retirement-life/2016/12/perception-of-ageing-needs-to-change/">Why our perception of ageing needs an overhaul</a>

Retirement Life

Polenta pound cake

Pound cake is a moist, dense, buttery cake that goes well with just about anything, but is equally delicious when eaten by itself. Use this recipe as a base, and feel free to add your favourite herbs (thyme, rosemary, etc) to create a not-too-sweet dessert that tastes wonderful drizzled with a fruity sauce or syrup. Ingredients: <ul> <li>1 cup plain flour</li> <li>1 cup polenta</li> <li>1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)</li> <li>1 ⅓ cups sugar</li> <li>¼ teaspoon salt</li> <li>5 large eggs, beaten together</li> <li>1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract</li> </ul> Method: <ol> <li>Preheat your oven to 160°C. Grease/line a loaf pan.</li> <li>Whisk together the flour and polenta in a medium bowl.</li> <li>In the bowl of your stand mixer, or using electric beaters in a large bowl, beat the butter until it’s light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the sugar, then the salt. Very slowly add the beaten eggs, beating constantly. Add the vanilla.</li> <li>Add the flour mixture in three batches, beating after each one until just blended. Pour the batter into your prepared pan.</li> <li>Bake for one hour and 15 minutes, or until the cake is brown on top and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack and cool completely.</li> </ol> Related links: <a href="/lifestyle/food-wine/2015/06/mini-lemon-tarts/">These mini lemon tarts are to die for</a> <a href="/lifestyle/food-wine/2015/06/carrot-cake-cookies/">These cookies are what you get when you combine carrot cake with biscuits</a> <a href="/lifestyle/food-wine/2015/06/mini-fruit-tarts/">Mini fruit tarts are a delicate, decadent dessert</a>

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If anxiety is in my brain, why is my heart pounding? A psychiatrist explains the neuroscience and physiology of fear

Why the nose-diving British pound matters for Australia

Strawberry pound cake

The perfect pound cake

Jane Austen fans outraged at new £10 note blunder

Couple welcome 14.8 pound baby boy

Woman donates five-pound note, worth £50,000, to charity

Polenta pound cake

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