– why do we get that heavy feeling in our chest when we’re anxious?
In: 1090
There are basically two components to an emotion. After your sensory system is presented with an ’emotionally competent stimulus’ (ECS), like, say, your foot gets stuck in a railway track when a train is coming, the first part of emotion is a series of automatic reactions from your brain’s motor system, which we call ‘neurohumoral’ responses. At this point, you haven’t felt anything yet. Feeling, which is the 2nd component of emotion, is when the sensory part of your brain senses all these hormones that have started flowing, muscles contracting, etc. That’s when you become consciously aware of things like a tight chest.
Ok, so why is your chest tight? First, the motor component of emotion increases the base level of tone in your muscles, like switching on your shields, so they are less susceptible to bleeding when injured, and ready to spring into action for things like fighting or running. This includes the intercostal muscles between your ribs, which makes it hard for you to relax and get a normal volume of air. Therefore, anxious people occasionally take a deep, sighing breath and will report their chest feels tight or constricted.
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