How Much Anxiety Is Too Much and How Can Millennials Cope With The Struggle?

The Physical Effects Of Stress

According to Dr. Scott Rauch of Harvard Medical School, anxiety boils down to one's innate response to fear. On a physiological level, it is a hormonal and psychological shift that threatens a person’s thoughts. A person’s pupils dilate, their heart beat increases, and blood flows away from the digestive tract to their extremities with the intention of combating whatever unpleasant factor is threatening. Millenials who have not been allowed to experience these feelings are not well equipped to control them.

Stress Begins In The Brain

The stress response occurs in the amygdala, which is a small, almond-shaped part of the brain that initiates the signals transmitted throughout the nervous system. The frontal cortex and the hippocampus tell the brain the difference between safe and dangerous situations to prevent a person from getting all worked up over nothing. However, stress causes the amygdala to send out signals whether a dangerous threat is present or not. Therefore, any stress becomes a form of punishment that leads to feelings of trauma when anxiety occurs.