In the new year, make friends with your amygdala

Despite this being the season of peace and love, fear and anxiety are everywhere, aren't they?

Our weather patterns are becoming more unpredictable and severe. Communities, even families, are divided by hard-held tribal beliefs. People are dying all over the world from war and famine. And COVID-19 is still taking the lives of about 300 Americans every day.

So it's natural to feel fearful and anxious. But when fear and anxiety override our rational thoughts, the amygdala is the culprit. It can be our foe, but also a friend.

What is the amygdala (pronounced ah-mig-duh-la)?

You may remember the term from biology class, but we don't talk about it as much as we do frontal lobes. The amygdalae (ah-mig-duh-lee) - plural because we have one on each side of the brain - are small, almond-shaped clusters in the midbrain that act as an early warning system. It's a component of the limbic system, the part of the brain involved in our behavioral and emotional responses, especially those we need for survival.

When we dwelled in caves, the amygdala kept us safe from hungry mammals. When we jump at a sudden noise, the amygdala is activating our "flight or fight" response.

When the amygdala is kicking into gear, our hearts beat faster, we get clammy, our pupils dilate to improve vision. The body secretes more glucose for immediate energy, airways expand to take in and use more oxygen, and blood vessels constrict to direct blood to major muscle groups.

This is very useful when you're in a fraught situation, such as facing a medical emergency or escaping an attacker. It's not so useful when these feelings hijack the thinking parts of the brain. When you experience panic at the prospect of flying in a plane or speaking in front of a large group, it's your amygdala at work - causing fear when there's really no need for it.

The left and right amygdalae work together, but seem to have slightly different jobs. The right amygdala is more strongly associated with negative emotions such as fear and sadness, whereas the left has been associated with both positive and negative emotional responses.

An overactive amygdala can be the cause of anxiety disorder, insomnia, symptoms of depression and phobias. It can bring on emotional eating and increased drug and/or alcohol use - and coping strategies are not good for our overall well-being. Some correlations have been found with certain types of dementia.

It also seems to play a pivotal role in processing emotion and memory. If you have an emotional experience, the amygdala seems to "tag" that memory so it's remembered more vividly - possibly a source of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It may also play a part in telling the brain, "Hey, this is important. Remember it."

If you're facing 2023 with fear and anxiety rather than hopefulness, it might be worthwhile to learn a few techniques for taming those amygdalae - not shutting them down, because we need them for survival, but sort of keeping them in their place while calming your mind and body.

Here are three suggestions:

Regular mindfulness meditation

Several studies have concluded that as little as eight consecutive weeks of mindful meditation practice can improve mental health. It has been shown to decrease anxiety, stress and depression.

It's not easy to start practicing mindfulness meditation on your own because the brain will keep telling you that you need to be doing something else. For help, there are any number of guided meditations on YouTube and in audio apps like Spotify.

Deep breathing

What's the first thing someone says when you're starting to panic? "Take a deep breath."

Studies have shown deep belly breathing can calm an overstimulated amygdala. It slows your heart rate and focuses attention away from anxiety-provoking thoughts to the sensation of being present in the here and now.

Thought-challenging

This can be part of mindfulness meditation. Bring your awareness to your thoughts and how they might be keeping you anxious. Ask yourself if those thoughts are true at this moment in time. Just bringing your attention away from anxiety-producing thoughts to the present may calm the amygdala.

Only 8% of people keep their New Year's resolutions. Rather than resolving to lose 20 pounds by March, let's set a New Year's intention for ourselves: To realize that at least some of our anxiety and fear may be due to an overstimulated amygdala and that we can do something about it.

Happy New Year, dear readers!

• Teri Dreher is a board-certified patient advocate. A critical care nurse for 30+ years, she is founder of NShore Patient Advocates (www.NorthShoreRN.com). She is offering a free phone consultation to Daily Herald readers; call her at (847) 612-6684.