Anxiety is a mental condition marked by feelings of excessive, irrational fear and dread. It presents itself in different forms, including constant worrying, panic attacks, specific phobias and obsessive compulsive behaviors. It's normal to experience some anxiety when you're facing a challenge. But when the symptoms of anxiety interfere with your ability to sleep or function well in daily life, anxiety becomes a problem. You can take steps to solve the problem once you understand what's causing you to experience anxiety. Sometimes, brain issues cause anxiety.
Neurotransmitters
Brain chemicals called neurotransmitters regulate your thoughts and feelings by transmitting messages between brain cells. If the neurotransmitters in your brain are at abnormal levels, your brain's internal communication network breaks down, and anxiety can result. The Center for Addiction and Mental Health explains that three different types of neurotransmitters in your brain affect how much anxiety you experience: serotonin, norepinephrine and GABA. Serotonin regulates mood, aggression, impulses, sleep, appetite, body temperature and pain. If your serotonin levels are low, you may feel anxious. Norepinephrine affects your body's fight-or-flight response and sleep, mood and blood pressure. If your norepinephrine levels are imbalanced, you can suffer from anxiety. GABA helps prevent you from becoming overexcited, and helps you relax and go to sleep. Your GABA levels should be high enough to do so, or you'll be prone to anxiety.
Brain Activity
The Center for Addiction and Mental Health says that brain imaging research has shown that changes in brain activity can lead to anxiety. Some of those changes can include abnormalities in your brain's blood flow and metabolism, and the way in which your brain's neurotransmitters interact with each other in the various parts of your brain.
Brain Structures
Structural issues within different parts of your brain can also cause anxiety, according to the according to the National Institute of Mental Health. When an anxiety attack strikes, it can affect several key areas of your brain. One is the amygdala, which coordinates your body's fear response. The cerebral cortex is also affected; that's the region that evaluates data about threats and forms judgments about them. Another brain structure affected by anxiety is the hippocampus, which plays a vital role in processing emotions and long-term memories. Finally, the locus ceruleus, the part of the brainstem that helps determine which brain stimuli are worth paying attention to, responds to anxiety as well. If these regions become more active than normal when you encounter a situation that makes you feel anxious, that can cause the initial anxiety you feel to grow. Also, if these brain structures become damaged, they can trigger anxiety.
