Amygdala

DeAnna Willman

Psalm 103:2-5 “Bless YHWH, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

We have been talking about how the mind affects the body and our health. We must understand a little about how the mind (and free will) that God gave us works before we can connect it all to our health, other than to say that what we think affects every cell in our bodies, even our DNA.

We have looked at the three parts of the brain- non-conscious, subconscious, and conscious- and how each one functions within our mind and brain. We are learning the Quantum Physics of the Brain which consists of 1) information 2) consideration 3) choice 4) consequence. We have compared information coming into the brain to building materials at a construction site. We talked about how the construction crew must follow a blue print to build what is expected, but that our conscious mind, unlike the construction crew, can deviate from or even throw away the blueprint given by the non-conscious mind, and choose to build something completely different.

Today I will focus on a tiny part of the brain that can bypass the consideration and choice process faster than our conscious mind can realize what is happening. That tiny part of our brain is called the amygdala. It is like a watch dog or security system. Its whole job is to detect and alert the body to danger. So, for instance, you step out into the street and a car is suddenly headed your direction very fast! The amygdala detects danger and engages the sympathetic nervous system, causing the body to go into fight or flight mode without much conscious thought. After all, its job is to protect the body and there is danger headed your way! Your response should be to jump out of the path of the oncoming car. This can all happen in just a couple of seconds. By the time the car has gone by, your conscious mind will have caught up with your body and have determined whether you are still in danger, or if the danger has passed. If the conscious mind decided the danger has passed, the thought will signal the brain to signal the parasympathetic nervous system to be activated so your body can go into rest and recovery.

Another example: you are walking down the hall and suddenly someone jumps out from behind a doorway and yells, “boo!” The amygdala will not wait for the conscious mind to consider who yelled boo, why, and if there is real danger. The amygdala will signal the body to immediately go into fight or flight. You will probably jump back, perhaps run, duck, or even deck the person who jumped out at you. By then, your conscious mind will catch up with what is happening, have considered the information received, and will determine whether you are really in danger. If you are, more signals are sent out that empower the body to continue in the fight or flight mode to reach a point of safety. If it turns out that it was simply a prankster who jumped out at you, your conscious mind will have established that and will send signals to the amygdala that tell it you are actually NOT in danger. Then, the amygdala can send out the signal to the brain to signal the rest of the body to go into rest and recovery mode via engagement of the parasympathetic nervous system.

However, there develops a real problem when the amygdala is convinced that EVERYTHING is a threat. The guard dog or alarm system is malfunctioning. It is continually sending out signals that tell the body it is in danger, it must escape or fight, yet, the conscious mind does not “see” what it is that needs to be fought, or it cannot determine a means of escape. Medicine and science have labeled this constant being in stress as stage 2 of stress, also known as anxiety or worry. Some of the consequences of always believing you are being threatened is high blood pressure, heart issues such as palpitations and a-fib, thyroid issues, memory loss, adrenal problems, metabolic issues, hormonal and chemical imbalances, allergies, asthma, infertility, and so much more. The chemicals and energy signals continually being released due to the hyperawareness of the amygdala start eating away at the cells in your body, and they turn on DNA that otherwise would have remained dormant.

Stage 3 of stress occurs when one has been in stage 2 long enough to cause adrenal fatigue, to actually kill off healthy cells, especially in the immune system, and send the body into tail spin as it begins attacking itself. The body is being told it is being threatened, yet it cannot seem to fight or escape from whatever is threatening it, so it can turn on itself seeking to fight off the threat in that way. That is where science and medicine see the development of autoimmune diseases, heart disease, cancer, and so much more.

What the medical field calls stage 2 and 3 of stress, the bible calls fear. The body is not created to handle prolonged fear. The body must be able to return to rest and recovery as it was created to do after moments of stress, or the consequence is true harm to the body. Where are you operating in fear? (anxiety, stress, worry- whatever you are calling it) Where has your amygdala been over worked, hyper vigilant, and malfunctioning due to a perceived threat? What is keeping you up at night? What consequences are you dealing with as a result? It’s not too late to change the consequences of your thoughts. Are you willing to give up those fears and walk in faith? It takes work, but it can be done. Your health, just like your thoughts, can be changed. You have the power to make that change! HalleluYah!

This week, face some of your fears. Name them. Use the process of capturing your thoughts I shared with you to go through at least one of those fears and make it obedient to our Messiah. Your body will thank you.

Until next time:

Matthew 6:25-34, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or drink, nor about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?...Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is it own trouble.”