BITESIZE | 3 Practical Strategies to Reduce Anxiety | Dr Russell Kennedy #407
Dr. Russell Kennedy, a medical doctor and neuroscientist, discusses managing anxiety by focusing on the body's alarm response rather than just the mind's anxious thoughts. He emphasizes that it's more effective to use the body to calm the mind, not the other way around, offering practical strategies to address anxious feelings.
Deep Dive Analysis
8 Topic Outline
Understanding Chronic Worry and Anxiety
The Alarm-Anxiety Cycle Explained
Separating Anxious Thoughts from Body Alarm
Finding and Addressing Alarm in the Body
Physiological Sigh Breathing Technique for Calming
Importance of Practicing Calming Techniques Proactively
Worry as a Way to Avoid Deeper Pain
The 'Am I Safe in This Moment?' Practice
4 Key Concepts
Alarm-Anxiety Cycle
This cycle describes how unresolved past traumas store a state of alarm in the body, which the mind then compulsively tries to make sense of by creating 'what ifs,' warnings, or worst-case scenarios. Believing these worries generates more alarm in the body, perpetuating a cycle where the symptom (worry) is mistakenly treated as the cause.
Body Alarm vs. Anxious Thoughts
Anxiety is presented as having two distinct components: an 'alarm' stored in the body, often from old, unresolved traumas, and the 'anxious thoughts' of the mind that try to interpret or make sense of this physical alarm. Conflating these two makes it difficult to treat anxiety effectively, as addressing only the thoughts is like bailing water from a leaky boat without patching the hole.
Insular Cortex and Emotional Signature
The insular cortex, part of the limbic brain, creates an emotional signature of past trauma, which manifests as a physical sensation in the body. This means that current feelings of anxiety in the body can be a re-experience of how one felt during a past traumatic event, often from childhood, with the same limited coping mechanisms.
Survival Physiology/Brain
When experiencing alarm, the brain shifts into 'survival physiology,' which hinders rational thought processes. This state makes individuals more prone to perceive threats and simultaneously paralyzes the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for rational assessment, making it difficult to logically dismiss worries.
5 Questions Answered
While some anxiety is a natural part of human existence, it becomes a concern if it's chronic, if you wake up with it daily, or if your natural response is to get deeply worried and ruminate in your head.
It's challenging to think in opposition to how your body feels because the mind is trying to make sense of an underlying physical alarm. Trying to 'think better' without addressing the bodily alarm is like bailing water from a leaky boat without patching the hole.
To find the alarm in your body, close your eyes and imagine a stressful scenario, then scan your body. Notice where you feel sensations, and describe them by asking yourself if it's hot or cold, its size, color, texture, and temperature.
Anxiety triggers 'survival physiology' in the brain, which makes us look for more threats and paralyzes the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for rational problem-solving, making it harder to logically calm down.
When feeling anxious, especially in the middle of the night, ask yourself, 'Am I safe in this moment?' Focusing on the present moment and assuring yourself of immediate safety can help, as anxiety is always about the future or past trauma.
7 Actionable Insights
1. Ask “Am I Safe Now?”
When experiencing anxiety, particularly during panic or in the middle of the night, ask yourself, “Am I safe in this moment?” or state, “I am safe in this moment.” This practice anchors you in the present, where anxiety (which relates to future worries or past trauma) cannot exist, offering immediate relief.
2. Prioritize Body-Based Calming
Shift your approach to anxiety by focusing on using your body to calm your mind, rather than attempting to use your mind to calm your body. This involves actively engaging with physical sensations to break the alarm-anxiety cycle.
3. Modified Physiological Sigh
When stressed, perform a modified physiological sigh: take two deep sniffs, expand your chest, hold for 2-3 seconds, then exhale slowly through closed teeth with a hissing sound, imagining an over-inflated tire relaxing. This technique helps to calm the autonomic nervous system more effectively than mental rumination.
4. Practice Calming When Calm
Regularly practice calming techniques, such as the modified physiological sigh, for at least five minutes daily even when you are not anxious. This consistent practice trains your autonomic nervous system to relax, making these techniques more effective during actual stressful situations.
5. Locate Body’s Alarm
When feeling anxious, instead of getting lost in thoughts, direct your attention to your body to identify where you physically feel the “alarm” (e.g., solar plexus, throat). This helps to separate the body’s physical alarm from the mind’s anxious thoughts, which is key to breaking the anxiety cycle.
6. Detail Body’s Alarm Sensation
Once you’ve located the alarm in your body, describe its physical characteristics by asking yourself about its temperature (hot or cold), size (e.g., grape, baseball), color, and texture. This process helps create an emotional signature of the trauma, translating the body’s feeling into a more understandable form.
7. Recognize Worry as Avoidance
Understand that constant worry and mental rumination can serve as a coping mechanism to avoid feeling deeper, unresolved pain or “alarm” stored in your body, often stemming from childhood experiences. Recognizing this function can help you redirect your energy from mental dissociation to body-based healing.
5 Key Quotes
It's much more effective to use the body to calm the mind than it is to use the mind to try and calm the body.
Dr. Russell Kennedy
If you think better, you will feel better, but it's really difficult to think in opposition to how your body feels. It's just a constant uphill battle.
Dr. Russell Kennedy
Worry is very childlike. When you look at it, when you look back on it, you go, why did I worry about that? That just seems so ridiculous.
Dr. Russell Kennedy
If you live in this, in the present moment, there's no anxiety in the present moment.
Dr. Russell Kennedy
Worry doesn't do anything. It absolutely does do something. It takes us away from this pain, typically childhood, that's stuck in our body.
Dr. Russell Kennedy
2 Protocols
Finding Alarm in the Body
Dr. Russell Kennedy- Close your eyes.
- Think about a stressful situation (e.g., your boss firing you).
- Scan your body and identify where you feel a sensation.
- Describe the sensation: Is it hot or cold? How big is it (grape, baseball, watermelon)? Does it have a color? Does it have a texture? What is its temperature?
Modified Physiological Sigh for Anxiety
Dr. Russell Kennedy- Take two quick sniffs in through your nose, expanding your chest deeply.
- Hold your breath for about two or three seconds.
- Close your teeth and breathe out slowly through your teeth, elongating the exhale with a hissing sound.
- As you exhale, imagine an over-inflated tire relaxing.
- Relax your shoulders and jaw during the exhale.
- Repeat this process three times.
- Practice this technique for at least five minutes a day even when not anxious to train your autonomic nervous system.