Greetings everyone! I know I have been irregular in publishing Brainblogs. I don’t want to give you reasons and bore you with my explanations but let’s just say I am in my cave. Meaning, I have been feeling less motivated, more irritated, and more or less depressed. Whoa! That’s a big word Nupur, you sure you wanna use that here? Yes. Acute depression is a temporary phase and is characterized by feelings of loss, worthlessness, fatigue, and a general decreased interest in daily life or a life in general. Don’t let me fool you with big words, I am just feeling blue and that is perfectly normal. Everyone who is bound to the karma-life cycle is bound to these feelings. You just can’t escape it….jeena isika naam hai!
How do these blues in life affect your ‘oh so glorious’ brain? Definitely in a bad way! Over emotional>>> overthinking >>> increased brain activity in the amygdala >>> increased cell numbers to carry out functions >>> but energy requirement is not satisfied >>> so the brain has to pull some plugs from other regions >>> that leads to less logic and altered decision power and so on so forth. But that’s not it. Today I want you to know about the special stress hormone “Cortisol”. When you are feeling low/stressed/numb/blue, your hippocampus triggers something known as the HPA axis, (Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal axis). It’s like a chain reaction. One region activates the other, then another and another. Ughh even talking about it is making me numb. Okay…once this reaction is initiated your happy hormones, serotonin and dopamine go down. If you experience such feelings for a longer period of time, your brain gives this circuit a priority and makes it rigid, Hence forcing you to take external serotonin and dopamine (anti-anxiety and antidepressant pills).
When you become aware of your state of mind though, your brain acts differently. It tries to help you like your best buddy by signaling you to do your favorite things. Eating, listening to music, dancing fanatically, excessive talking or not talking to search for inner peace, etc.….everyone reacts differently to their blues. All that matters is YOU being AWARE. It’s similar to lucid dreaming….a dream, where you became aware of it, can never turn into a nightmare because you know nothing bad can happen and even it does, it’s just a dream, you’ll be fine. Thus, it is extremely important to know what you are going through. Don’t pile up your emotions, process them. Don’t let your emotions drive your life, let them guide you.
Let everything happen to you
Beauty and terror
Just keep going, because
No feeling is final….
-Rainer Rilke
Comments