First, let’s talk about how your brain gets wired to create anxiety in the first place. Well, some people are born with the propensity for an anxious brain. So that means there’s a familial predisposition, brains do not fall far from the tree. If your parents have anxiety, then you may also have anxiety too. Therefore, our brains are wired like our parent’s brains but secondly is the environment; nature and nurture. The nurture part is if you feel anxious and you use the anxiety brain pattern. You are hardwiring that pattern into your brain every time you use it. Continue reading to learn how to re-wire your brain.
What Does This Anxiety Brain Map Look Like?
There are five main speeds in our brain to be able to shift in and out of states that we need to and we want to get in each day. The first speed is the extra slow speed that’s what keeps you asleep. Slow speed is the one that shifts you into sleep. Medium speed is couch mode and that’s the speed you use when you’re relaxing on the sofa. Fast speed is the perfect speed for information. So that’s the speed that your brain uses when you go to school or work. The fifth speed is the fastest speed and it’s used when something stressful happens in your life.
Today the main struggle for most people is going into fight or flight mode and gets stuck in this mode. So you must be able to get out of that mode to feel focused and relaxed. That mode is the anxiety brain pattern. A brain that is stuck in extra fast speed and you’ll see this in your qEEG Brain Map.
Watch the video I made for a quick explanation and keep reading below to learn more about the topic.
How Does Brain Rewiring Work?
First of all, there is a very complex and scientific law, which is called Hebb’s Law. This law shows that neurons that fire together wire together. So every time you use that brain pattern, it is hardwiring itself in. Basically, when you continue to use the same brain pattern it’s creating neural pathways in your brain. Therefore, neuro pathways are similar to roads, streets, or paths. Every time you use the anxiety brain pattern you’re trampling over the weeds and creating this divot that is memorizing the pattern.
The key to success is to take Hebb’s Law and use it to create a new path of calm and focus. So how do we do that, there’s a method called amphibian homeostatic learning. This works by stopping the use of the harmful brain pattern that creates your anxiety. Therefore basically unwiring that brain pattern to create a healthy new one. So we’re unwiring, rewiring and that’s happening simultaneously through brain health education.
What Do You Have to do to Rewire Your Brain?
It’s simple but maybe not easy. The simplicity lies in how we can approach getting rid of anxiety by rewiring your brain in two ways. Number one, a top-down approach that’s neurofeedback brain training. Neurofeedback can unwire that anxious brain pattern and rewire that calm and focus brain pattern without you doing anything. It teaches your brain to make more calm focus speed and to make less of that extra fast speed. Therefore, it literally shifts your brain out of that anxiety mode and creates more clam focus for you.
Number two is you have to use your mind and your body for a bottom-up approach to rewiring your brain. We know that anxiety many times can be partially in nature and a lot more nurture. Meaning that the constant use of the anxiety pattern is really what’s wiring it. So using behavioral techniques to use your mind and your body to calm yourself down. However, meaning that you have to change your behaviors, you have to force yourself to be able to do the thing that you may struggle with. This step becomes so much easier when using neurofeedback because your brain is moving into a calmer mode. Then that enables you to be able to use some of these behavioral techniques.
RELATED: http://leighbrainandspine.com/what-causes-adhd-and-anxiety/
More Information
If you’re interested in learning more about re-wiring your brain, check out my website at drtrishleigh.com or my private practice at leighbrainandspine.com. I have more information about Neurofeedback Brain Training on my youtube channel if you’re interested as well.