In Scientific American Mind, the Nov/Dec 2009 issue, Victoria Stern discusses “Why We Worry.” Mostly, “people agonize about matters that rarely occur. Worriers nonetheless often report that they believe that overthinking about a possible negative event prevented it from taking place.”
When your worry begins to spiral out of control, try the following:
1) Identify productive and unproductive worry.
2) Keep an appointment with your worry.
3) Learn to accept uncertainty.
4) Reframe your worry.
5) Put worries in perspective.
According to Stern, “fretting can tax the body and promote cardiovascular problems. Worry is associated wit an elevated resting heart rate and low heart rate variability.” So in essence, worry is activating your fight or flight system, taxing your immune system and much more. In the next blog, we will discuss how to neutralize worry.
