What you feel as anxiety is the body's fight or flight response to
external stimuli as perceived by your thought. This is very important: Anxiety is not a bad thing per se. Anxiety makes you more perceptive to
your threat, more focused, and more physically able to respond to that
threat. Anxiety and rage cause the same physiological response: Increases in cortisol and adrenaline. Actually, increases in cortisol
potentiate the release of adrenaline. This physiology responds
directly to thought. Adrenaline increases your metabolism providing more energy for muscular
activity, allowing greater strength and endurance, as well as allowing
cortisol to repair and mitigate bodily damage. Adrenaline also causes
more directed focus, and minimizes your reaction to potential external distractions so you can
focus on the threat. In humans, this anxiety response takes
on even more importance. Our increased cognitive function means that
our survival instinct is not just animalistic, so the stress response
gives you greater focus to intellectual activities too.
However, some people have higher than normal
cortisol levels, so they have "mild" anxiety all the time. This higher
baseline means the person's normal state of existence is more anxious
than the average person. This has some benefits: It makes it less
necessary for an initiation of the fight/flight response, so you get
the added cognitive benefits of greater focus all the time. Until
recently, this was a big bonus, and there was little time to relax and
be calm. Life used to be hard. Females may also have higher than
normal cortisol as this would provide greater vigilance in child
rearing. Human females are often much more hypervigilant for their
children than other mammals.
It is the increase in
adrenaline that causes the jitters associated with anxiety, and
adrenaline increases in response to cortisol increases. Cortisol levels
rise in response to lessened (Gamma-AminoButyric Acid) GABA-1 receptor activation. GABA is the endogenous substance that binds to these
receptors. Drugs such as diazepam are GABA-1 agonists, i.e. they bind to
that receptor and activate its designed function. Antagonists bind to
the receptor, but prevent other drugs or endogenous substances from binding
to the site. Alcohol also binds to GABA receptor sites, but more to the particular ones involved with thought, which is why alcohol
impairs cognition so much more.
GABA rises in response to mu-1 opioid receptor agonists. Endorphins are
endogenous opioid peptides created by the hypothalamus, the "primitive" part of the mammalian brain, known to be involved
with pain/pleasure and thought. Other endorphins bind with other opioid
receptors to mediate respiration, bowel movement, and other basic
functions. Sexual orgasm
releases pleasure-inducing endorphins, as well as strenuous physical
activity, pain, eating, and happy thoughts. Opium, morphine, heroin, and
other derivatives work because they bind with the same receptors (thus
the name opioid receptors) - morphine actually bind
indiscriminately to all receptors. Opioids in pharmaceutical use today are not mu-1
site specific, so they cause respiratory suppression and relaxed bowel
movement. In addition to being powerful anti-anxiety agents, they are
effective for treating coughs and diarrhea. As a drawback, overdoses
can lead your respiration to cease causing death, and regular use will
cause constipation.
Amphetamines work in calming
people because they are structurally similar to adrenaline, and bind to
the same adrenal receptor sites. This tricks the whole stress response
system, by making your body think there is already enough adrenaline.
All
neuroreceptors become hyposensitive with continued exposure to
agonists, meaning more will be required to exert the same effect. There
is some evidence that continued exposure to large doses of
neuroreceptor agonists cause the brain to reduce the number of receptor
sites. After a prolonged period of agonist activity, neuroreceptors
become hypersensitive when the agonist is removed, or an antagonist is
introduced. An antagonist binds to the receptor but does not activate
them and prevent agonists from binding to the site.
So what does this mean for you? The easiest and safest thing to do: Induce endogenous opioid release. The healthiest way to do this: Work out on a daily basis, doing anaerobic activity like weight lifting.
Eating heavily is a popular alternative, but can be detrimental to your
health. Frequent sex can help a lot, too - e.g., many people feel sad after
ending a sexual relationship because of reducing opioid levels.
If those options are not effective to you, the aforementioned drugs can
be prescribed. Or you can buy liquor. Diazepam and other benzodiazepines
are very effective, by blocking the increase in cortisol in
response to stress. Anti-cortisol drugs are also in the works, and will
be out sooner rather than later. If you live outside the United States,
over the counter codeine products available from your pharmacist are
pretty effective too. (Codeine is an opioid metabolized by your liver into morphine.) If you are in the United States, it is unlikely opioids will
be an option, unless you buy them on the black market. Of all these options,
excessive eating or alcohol consumption are the most dangerous and will
affect your health to your detriment. Pharmaceutical grade
benzodiazepines and opioids are safe at recommended dosage.