Moving the body also triggers the release of gammaamino-butyric acid (GABA), which is the brain’s major inhibitory neurotransmitter (and the primary target for most of our antianxiety medicines). Having normal levels of GABA is crucial to stopping, at the cellular level, the self-fulfilling prophecy of anxiety—it interrupts the obsessive feedback loop within the brain. And when the heart starts beating hard, its muscle cells produce a molecule called atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) that puts the brakes on the hyperaroused state. ANP is another tool the body uses to regulate the stress
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