Exercise, Anxiety and the Amygdala

Did you know exercising for as little as 20 minutes at a time can help reduce anxiety? 

How much do you know about your amygdala? This almond shaped structure is the main source of our emotional reactions. It’s the place where emotional memories are both formed and recalled. It’s the birthplace of our physical reactions to fear and anxiety, controlling the release of hormones and activating the areas of the brain that create the physical symptoms of anxiety we are all too familiar with. 

I don’t want to get too complicated but, this is interesting (anyone else?). The lateral nucleus of the amygdala receives messages from all of our senses. Like a strobe-light, it’s always scanning what we hear, see, smell and feel, for the slightest threat of danger. This information is received by the lateral nucleus of the amygdala a tenth of a second sooner than the information is received by our cortex (the part of our brain that figures out what’s actually happening). Once the lateral nucleus decides danger is present, it sends the decision to both the cortex and the Central Nucleus of the amygdala. The central nucleus is a cluster of neurons with a lot of power, think shot gun. This is where the signal to activate our fight/flight (sympathetic nervous system) response occurs with the release of hormones (via the hypothalamus) into the bloodstream, increased respiration, and muscles that are ready to contract, all in a split second. 

A little about the sympathetic nervous system. It’s made up of a bunch of neurons found in the spinal cord and they are super connected, to everything, seriously, to almost every organ system in the body. This explains why our body reacts to fear and anxiety and as Bessel Van der Kolk says, “the issues [get trapped] in the tissues”. All of this is to say, the amygdala is a key player, THE key player in our experiences of anxiety. It’s positioning and connectedness can both save us when we need to react quickly, without thinking and leave us frustrated and confused as it overrides the cortex and our ability to think our way through and understand the connection between our symptoms and our experiences. 

So the next time you are feeling the familiar symptoms of fear and anxiety creep in, consider exercising for 20 minutes to help dissipate the energy released into the body to fight or run, use up the adrenaline and glucose in the blood stream by moving your body vigorously reducing muscle tension and inviting muscle relaxation. Exercise can decrease muscle tension for up to an hour and a half after a workout and decreased muscle tension is associated with reduced activation in the amygdala. Also, it is very difficult to hold stress in a relaxed muscle body. The deeper, more intentional breathing that occurs when we exercise will also send calming messages to the brain, activating the rest and digest branch of the nervous system. Consequently, exercising will generally quell the symptoms of your activated amygdala, reducing the symptoms and experience of anxiety.

Mandy Fudge. MA. RCC. 

Island Elements Counselling. 

Pittman, C., Karle, E. (2015). Rewire Your Anxious Brain. New Harbinger Publications.