Is Anxiety Genetic?

October 19, 2015

4 minute read

Why can some people more easily take life’s challenges in stride while others feel stressed out? Do our genes predispose us to being anxious? Or do our environments and life experiences dictate how mellow we are? Everyday Einsten explores new research linking genetics to our stress levels.

138 EE Is Anxiety Genetic?

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People approach life from a large range of anxiety levels. You’ve probably even noticed this among your own friends. One person seems to take everything life throws at her in stride, while another sees the smallest of obstacles as huge stumbling blocks.

So are less anxious people born with their ability to roll with the punches or have they just had the good fortune to not experience high stress environments? In other words, do our genes predispose us to being anxious? Or do our environments and life experiences dictate how mellow we are?

See also: How Can You Tell If You Have Anxiety?

Our Brain Chemistry

Our body’s nervous system transmits information (from the brain to our muscles, for example) through electrically excitable cells called neurons. To communicate with each other, those neurons have to transmit signals over the gaps between themselves, junctions called synapses. Each neuron has around 7,000 junctions between other cells and so the human brain is expected to have 100-500 trillion synapses. We actually start out with more, a 3-year-old may have almost a quadrillion synapses, but that number declines as we age.

Cells use chemicals called neurotransmitters to pass signals from the transmitters on one neuron to the receptors on a neighboring neuron. We are not sure how many different neurotransmitters our brains use, but researchers have so far identified over 100 of these messenger molecules.

One such neurotransmitter is anandamide, a name that comes from the Sanskrit word ananda for joy or bliss, which (you guessed it) helps our brain communicate happiness, ease, and comfort. The levels of anandamide, otherwise known as the bliss molecule, in our brain are regulated by the fatty acid FAAH (fatty acid amide hydrolase) which works to deactivate the anandamide by converting it into other acids.

A Hard-Wired Chill Pill?

What if some people have a gene that makes them less anxious? Drs. Francis Lee and Iva Dincheva of Weill Cornell Medical College have been investigating a gene variation that, for the roughly 20% of adults lucky enough to have it, causes them to have less FAAH. Without as much FAAH to break down their anandamide, the anandamide can persist longer in the synapses to send its blissful chemical messages. The new research shows those with the gene variation are not only more mellow, but also more easily able to forget prior negative experiences.

To test the link between this gene and anxiety levels, the doctors at Cornell put the human FAAH variant gene into mice. When allowed to roam a maze, the mice given the gene spent more time in the open parts of a maze, a sign that they are more comfortable in their surroundings, compared to a control group of mice that were not given the gene and preferred the enclosures.

The now variant mice also had greater connectivity between the prefrontal cortex, basically the main switchboard in our brains, and the amygdala, an area of the brain important for processing fear. Such connectivity suggests lower stress levels and greater emotional control.

The researchers did a further test to determine if having the gene variation also meant being able to recover from anxiety faster, on top of being less anxious overall. They started with a neutral stimulus (something like a plain image) which they presented to both the mice and a group of a humans, some with the FAAH variant gene and some without it. They trained the mice and humans to associate fear and discomfort with the stimulus, for example, by poking someone or playing a high-pitched, loud sound whenever a person was shown the image.

So what happened?

Both the humans and mice with the gene variation, and thus excess anandamide, were able to more quickly forget those feelings of fear and anxiety and begin to see the stimulus as neutral again. They were thus not only less anxious to start, but also could more easily recover from stressful situations.

The next step for doctors is to determine how this new knowledge can be translated into a way to help those not lucky enough to have the gene variation. If the lower levels of the FAAH enzyme can be otherwise recreated, such a change in brain chemistry could give a boost to those fighting post traumatic stress disorder, depression, and even drug addiction.

While having the FAAH variant gene certainly goes a long way to de-stressing an individual, environmental factors can still trump genetics if they are strong enough.

Other medical issues, traumatic experiences, stressful work or family lives, and even our hard-wired personalities all have an influence over how anxious we feel when taking on new challenges.

Tips to Feel Less Anxious

If you aren’t working through more serious anxiety issues that are best treated through therapy and possibly medication, but are still looking for ways to de-stress your approach to life, there are some lifestyle choices that can help.

Find time to be active every day, even if it’s only for 15 minutes. Exercise improves your mood, lowers your stress levels, and has the added bonus of improving your health. (Less to worry about!)
Do your best to get full night’s rest. Prioritize sleep over watching one more episode of television or putting additional finishing touches on your work or school project. Relaxation techniques, like meditation or yoga, can help you de-clutter your thoughts and get some much needed rest.
Some doctors also suggest giving up caffeine which can amplify anxiety. However, since both Nutrition Diva and House Call Doctor have described the benefits of caffeine recently, nothing is coming between me and my morning cup of joe.

Until next time, this is Dr. Sabrina Stierwalt with Ask Science’s Quick and Dirty Tips for helping you make sense of science.

You can become a fan of Ask Science on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, where I’m @QDTeinstein. If you have a question that you’d like to see on a future episode, send me an email at everydayeinstein@quickanddirtytips.comcreate new email.

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