Are you anxious all the time?
Anxiety is an inbuilt alarm system developed over thousands of years to protect us from harm. Millennia ago, those with a healthy anxiety and respect for sabre-tooth tigers and other hazards survived and passed their genetic footprint on to us.
However, increased anxiety levels now cause us harm, rather than protect us.
The fight, freeze or flight response is generated by emails, traffic, work pressure, relationship issues, parenthood and life, churning us up into a frenzy.
As with other emotions, anxiety is a cascade of thoughts, neurotransmitters and electrical activity that speeds our heart rate and pumps blood to the muscles and helps us focus on the threat ahead.
However, anxiety in a shark diving encounter can reverse that evolutionary advantage as the sharks can sense our increase heart rate. They can sense the fear.
So, as the boat departs Haleiwa harbour, Oahu, Hawaii, we are given our shark dive briefing. One of the most important safety messages we are given is to maintain eye contact with the sharks at all times.
Given there are 27 sharks on arrival in the water, that’s 54 sets of eyes to stare into.
Our expert One Ocean Diving guides, Jules and Sophie, brief us on further shark behaviour and how, by being on the surface we will demonstrate our apex predator status. The anxiety in the novices is palpable and a few of them look like they have booked the wrong trip. We hope to see tiger sharks as well as silky and Galapagos sharks, explains Sophie as her pupils’ pupils dilate to maximum.
With a 100 per cent safety record that all of us are keen to maintain, detailed explanations of the safety procedures and how to behave in the water go a long way to reducing anxiety. Which is the point.
Anxiety can be fear of the unknown, or fear of myths, rare events and propaganda generated by movies such as Jaws, and terrorist and aviation dramas. Thoughts flood our minds that cause a flood of stress hormones and their unwanted consequences, such as elevated blood pressure, and side effects like insomnia.
To slip into the warm clear Hawaiian waters and witness pelagic fish and dozens of sharks circling is calming and serene. We take turns in diving down under the watchful eye of our guides. We are asked to group together, not for protection but to show a more passive approach so as the sharks come closer. The more we dive, the more they disperse. Humans kill an estimated 273 million sharks a year. Take that statistic and compare it to the fact only four humans were killed last year by sharks, and they have good reason to fear us.
We have an irrational fear of many things in life based on our thoughts and beliefs. Controlling your thoughts is the key to controlling anxiety. When we Google our brain, we recall events that generate anxiety. Often, it’s not the event we begin to fear, but the anxiety itself. We engage in avoidance behaviour that reinforces the anxiety, creating a loop that fuels the fire and the 123RF response, such as a fear of flying.
A few miles down the coast I stop at Waimea Bay, a mecca of big wave surfing. The ocean is flat but a sign says beach closed due to shark sighting. Having just seen 27 sharks I’m not surprised, they live here. Sharks are an important sign that the ocean is healthy. We should respect, understand and protect them, not fear them. ● Dr Tom Mulholland is an Emergency Department Doctor and GP with over 25 years’ experience in New Zealand. He’s currently a man on a mission, tackling health missions around the world.