The biochemical state that fear creates in your body adversely affects your immunity and increases your susceptibility to viruses and bacteria that are all around you. For example, most people have the bacterium that causes pneumonia in their respiratory system at all times, but it stays in check until your vibration is lowered in some way.
HERE IS HOW FEAR LOWERS YOUR IMMUNITY:
- Fear shuts down your gut. When you experience fear, your body releases stress hormones that slow, or shut down, bodily functions that you do not immediately need for survival. This includes your gut where most of your immune system resides.
- Fear short-circuits your brain. The flow of stress hormones creates an overactive mind by flooding the amygdala portion of your brain. This makes you unable to think rationally as you react to signals sent from your amygdala. When in this overactive state, your brain perceives events as negative and stores all of the details surrounding the perceived danger, including sights, sounds, odours, time of day, weather, and so on, as negative memories. Later, those same sights, sounds, and other details can trigger fear by bringing back the initial memory; in some cases, you may feel afraid without consciously knowing why. This can lead to a constant state of fear and anxiety or even PTSD. Fear can also impair the formation of long-term memories and cause damage to certain parts of your brain, such as the hippocampus. Finally, fear can interrupt processes in your brain that allow you to regulate emotions.
- Fear can lead to chronic health problems. Living in a constant state of fear can cause gastrointestinal issues, including ulcers and Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). It can increase your risk of cardiovascular damage. And fear has been associated with decreased fertility, depression, fatigue, and accelerated ageing. Fear has even been associated with an increased risk of death—you’ve heard sayings such as “She worried herself to death,” haven’t you?
- Fear attracts what you fear most. All emotions including fear are energy. When you let fear run your life, you attract to you more of whatever it is that you are afraid of. If you’re afraid of illness, you will attract it. If you’re afraid of being alone, you will be alone for as long as it takes to get over that fear. If you’re afraid to die, you will never live fully and joyfully. Do you live in fear?
GET SUPPORT
Fear can also cause us to feel disconnected from others. One of the key predictors for the longevity of people who had encountered trauma in their lives was the strength of their social relationships.
There are many reasons for this. Friends and family can help us make a realistic assessment of the threat. With the support of others, we feel more confident that we can deal with issues. And physically, having a loved one close calms us and reduces the fight or flight response.
GO FOR A WALK IN NATURE
As a new field of nature-based therapies shows, being in nature reduces fear and anxiety and increases pleasant feelings. Looking at a scene of natural beauty, people describe their feelings with words like calm, beauty, happiness, hope, and aliveness. Being connected to nature not only makes people feel better emotionally, it reduces blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and the production of stress hormones, all signals of stress and fear.
So, when you are fighting feelings of fear or anxiety, find a park or greenspace and go for a walk or run. In addition to the restorative effects of nature, physical exercise will also help your mood.
PRACTICE SELF COMPASSION
Research has suggested – and personal stories support – that many members of racial, ethnic, sexual, and gender minority groups experience higher levels of fear and anxiety, due to alienation and discrimination, which sometimes includes violence. Self-compassion can be a deeply healing practice for people experiencing this type of ongoing threat. That’s because, in addition to treating yourself as you would a beloved friend, self-compassion includes reflecting on the shared suffering of other people like you.
PRACTICE MINDFULNESS RELAXATION
Mindful relaxation is an effective way to combat stress. With a little practice, you can learn how to shift into a relaxation mode. When done successfully, the relaxation response increases alpha brain wave activity and lowers blood pressure, pulse, respiration rate, metabolic rate, oxygen consumption, anxiety, and produces a greater sense of wellbeing.
Over time, you will develop an ability to shift into a more relaxed state in the midst of stressful situations
TRY BREATHING TECHNIQUES
Another way to master stress is to be aware of your breathing. When people feel panicked or unconsciously stressed, they tend to take short, shallow gasps of air. The resulting lack of oxygen restricts blood flow and causes muscles to tense. By allowing more air to enter your body, you slow down your heart rate, lower your blood pressure, and break the stress cycle.
I will be organising mindfulness meditation circles for women soon but in the meantime, you can visit my therapies page for some wonderful relaxation body and energy work.
Love
