I have a theory on the link between anxiety and physical wellness...
My theory is:
If you feel/are actually physically compromised, it triggers anxiety because your brain perceives you're in greater potential danger as your survival instinct mechanisms won't be as effective.
Our primitive brain perceiving "danger". Rightly or wrongly.
Here's an example;
You get an injury whilst playing spot at school. Quite a serious one that results in you breaking you leg in some form. You get whisked off to hospital and put in a cast. You have to walk around on crutches for a while but after 6-12 weeks, you heal and life goes on. True healing takes a lot longer and (if you're anything like me) the more long term effects and healing continues for the rest of your immediate future.
Let's say you were pretty good at sport. Now you're feeling massively at a disadvantage compared to everyone else who's still running round playing merrily. You have to stop physical activity and may have to abandon the specific sport altogether.
You've lost your tribe.
From a primal perspective, this is a serious anxiety inducer. A lone, primitive, Homosapien has a seriously reduced chance of survival without his tribe (which in the case above he'd probably lost the moment bones got broken in the first place).
Horses as flight animals try to mask their pain (physical compromise) because they know a predator would notice and target them when hunting. Horses don't experience "anxiety" - well they do but very much fleetingly and in the moment not chronically!
This initial injury (+ recovery time) is the first step in a much farther reaching crippling anxiety predisposition. There are MANY variations on the scenario I've made up above.
And the "physical compromise" isn't always an injury. If you are generally unfit, have underlying health issues such as asthma, are over weight... these are all physical compromises. Going back to our primitive brain wiring, these are all going to make it physically more difficult to run away or fight. Leaving your only mechanism for survival as freeze.
Ever felt the onset of an anxiety attack? Complete lack of control of your body? Inability to do anything? Can't think straight? That subconscious response, that's your body going into survival mode. That's an anxiety attack. This, I believe, is often why after gaining a physical injury, whether horse related or not, their is a general overall increase in a person's anxiety levels.
Adrenaline preparing every muscle of your body for action; muscles twitching, heart palpitations, mind doing overtime thinking of all sorts of weird and wonderful scary thoughts... Except, in modern day society, there is nowhere to run. And if you've experienced a catastrophic "physical compromise", your brain might recognise that you actually can't run away.
So, the flip side to my theory is: if you're at your physical "best", your anxiety will reduce.
Build your fitness, lose the weight, allow time for your injuries to truly heal... do activities WITHIN your physical capabilities (there's a time and a place for pushing yourself out of your comfort zone don't get me wrong but give yourself the best chance in the first place!) and find a perhaps different tribe. It'll do your primal brain a huge favour.
If you are struggling with anxiety and you wish to gain a better understanding of why your intrusive thoughts could be arising, get in touch to book a 45 min 1-2-1 NLP coaching session for £75 - email me directly and in confidence on francesdixon93@outlook.com - there's no judgement here!
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