MSS #099: Understanding Fear and Worry: How Your Brain is Wired to Keep You Safe (And What to Do About It)

MSS #099: Understanding Fear and Worry: How Your Brain is Wired to Keep You Safe (And What to Do About It)

30 Nov, 2024

🕒Read time: 3.4 minutes

🚀 In a hurry? Jump to “A Simple Technique to Calm Worry” for a reduced reading time of 1.6 minutes.

Ever wondered why worry seems to creep in so easily, even when there’s no real danger?

Why our minds can race with fear over things that haven’t even happened?

This week, we’re exploring how your brain is wired to protect you—sometimes too much.

I’ll explain how your mind processes fear and worry and share a simple technique to regain control when anxiety strikes.

Ready? Let’s get started.

Your Brain’s Two Priorities: Safety and Conserving Energy

Your brain’s primary job isn’t to help you thrive; it’s to keep you alive and conserve energy.

It’s incredibly efficient at both. Despite only making up about 2% of your body weight, the brain uses around 20% of your total energy—making it the most energy-hungry part of your body.

To conserve energy, your brain operates on autopilot much of the time, using quick, instinctive responses to handle potential threats before you even realise what’s happening.

The brain’s pattern recognition systems work overtime to spot anything that might resemble a past danger. When it notices something familiar, it automatically triggers a “programmed” response, from previous learning —whether or not it’s helpful.

This system is fast and efficient but can often lead to worry and fear over situations that aren’t actually dangerous.

How the Brain’s Fear and Worry System Works

Your brain has a specialised threat-detection system called the amygdala, which reacts to perceived dangers in as little as 12 milliseconds. Its job is to trigger the fight, flight, or freeze response.

In contrast, the prefrontal cortex—the rational, decision-making part of your brain—takes much longer to process information. Studies show that the rational brain operates between 3.5 and 5 times slower than the emotional, fear-driven part of your brain.

This is why you often feel fear or worry before you’ve had a chance to logically assess the situation.

The logical part of the brain has the thinking power to say something like,

“Hang on, I know we have reacted badly to this situation but on analysis it’s not that bad in reality – we can stand down on this one”.

But when the irrational, faster brain has hijacked the response, the logical brain has to wait for us to calm down before gaining back control.

The challenge is that the amygdala doesn’t differentiate between real threats and imagined ones.

Whether it’s an actual danger or a stressful thought, your brain responds the same way. Once you’re in fear or worry mode, it takes considerable effort for the slower, more deliberate rational brain to regain control.

The Habit Loop: Real vs. Imagined Events

Your brain responds to both real and imagined events the same way. If you’re in the habit of worrying, your brain will treat even a harmless situation as a threat, triggering a stress response. This creates a loop where worry becomes automatic, driven by your brain’s instinctive systems.

Breaking out of this loop requires you to consciously engage your rational brain.

This is where mindfulness comes into play. By being present and aware, you can interrupt the automatic worry cycle and shift back into rational thinking.

A Simple Technique to Calm Worry

The best way is to create your own fast habit loops, that operate as fast as the worry loops, but this is for another day – something I do a lot of with others.

Here’s a straightforward technique I use to disrupt worry and bring the rational brain back online:

1. Notice You’re in Worry Mode
The first step is awareness.

Once you recognise that your thoughts are spiraling into worry, you’ve already begun to slow the amygdala’s automatic response.

2. Ask Yourself: Is This My Reality or Just a Thought?
This question engages your prefrontal cortex.

Often, worry is based on imagined scenarios, not actual events.

By asking yourself this question, you begin to invite logic into the situation.

3. Remind Yourself: “Thoughts Aren’t Facts”
This is a crucial truth.

Just because your brain produces a worrying thought doesn’t mean it’s based in reality.

Reminding yourself that “thoughts aren’t facts” helps to reduce the emotional impact of your thoughts and brings you back to a calmer state.

Why This Works

This simple technique works by consciously interrupting the brain’s automatic response to worry.

By engaging your rational mind, you shift out of fear mode and back into a more logical, present state.

Mindfulness and being aware of your thoughts are powerful tools that help you navigate away from the automatic worry loop and regain control.

Summary

Your brain is hardwired to prioritise safety and conserve energy, which is why fear and worry can take over so quickly.

The emotional part of your brain (the amygdala) operates much faster than the rational part (the prefrontal cortex), making it challenging to override automatic worry responses.

However, by using mindfulness techniques, you can slow down your emotional brain and re-engage your rational mind.

Quick recap:

• Your brain’s primary priorities are safety and energy conservation.

• The amygdala reacts to threats in 12 milliseconds, while the prefrontal cortex is 3.5 to 5 times slower.

• Fear and worry can be triggered by both real and imagined events.

• Use this simple three-step technique to regain control:

1. Notice when you’re in worry mode.

2. Ask yourself if the worry is based on reality or just a thought.

3. Remind yourself that “thoughts aren’t facts.”

Implement this approach when you find yourself spiraling into worry, and you’ll be able to manage your emotions and regain a sense of calm.

Let me know how it works for you!

See you next week. One more thought 👇

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That's it for this week. Thanks for reading, really hope this helped. Contact me if you think I can help you further at [email protected].

Happy thinking.