How To Train Your Brain To Stop

Worrying
Worrying is an unnecessary evil when it comes to your mental
health. Some consider it simply a bad habit that can be unlearned with
practice. Some think that worrying may serve a purpose for the brain by
helping us to learn from past experiences and prepare for new ones. Whether
good or bad, worrying occupies our brain by focusing on an uncertain future
that we can’t control.
It is said that depression is focusing on past events that you wish you could
change, and that worrying is focusing on future events that you have no
control over. It could also be said about worrying that you only think you have
no control over the future when you can actually choose to take action to help
prepare for whatever it is you are worried about. In this article, we will look at
active ways that you can help train your brain to stop worrying.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR BRAIN TO STOP WORRYING

1. STOP YOUR BRAIN FROM WORRYING BY WRITING IT
DOWN
When you are training your brain to stop worrying, this one technique is said
to be the most valuable. If your brain is keeping you up at night by thinking
about something, put it down on paper or electronic format. Doing so lets your
brain breathe a mental sigh of relief by no longer having to spend energy
trying to remember these details. If you’re worrying about what to serve for a
gathering of friends, write down ‘What to serve?’

Writing it down also is a way for you to put your brain on notice and tell your
brain ‘This is important enough to write down.’ Your brain has now been
alerted to put resources toward solving this problem rather than being
worried or having to remember the important thing to worry about.
Why write it down? Researchers now have evidence that chronic worriers may
be chronic problem avoiders too. Scientists in the journal Anxiety, Stress &
Coping gave worriers an opportunity to write down three possible outcomes
for the situation they were worried about, then they analyzed their answers for
practical solutions. The scientists say ‘When participants’ problem
elaborations were rated for concreteness, both studies showed an inverse
relationship between degree of worry and concreteness: The more
participants worried about a given topic, the less concrete was the content of
their elaboration. The results challenge the view that worry may promote
better problem analyses. Instead, they conform to the view that worry is a
cognitive avoidance response.‘

2. MEDITATE FOR A WORRY FREE BRAIN

Meditation can help train your brain to stop worrying.Researchers in the
journal Psychosomatic Medicine studied the effects of meditation and found
that meditation is particularly good for reducing cognitive anxiety, or worrying.
Although some people believe that they do not have time to meditate,
meditation is as easy as choosing to close your eyes right now for 30 seconds
or longer. The act of choosing to tune out other sources of stress is an active
step to train your brain to stop worrying.
A few moments where you consciously choose to avoid any non-natural noise
in your life will allow you to get centered around what is most important to you,
now and in the future. Worrisome thoughts may come to you while you
meditate, and this is normal. Those who have mastered the art of brain
training to stop worrying recommend observing worrisome thoughts as
they enter the mind and simply watching them pass like clouds on a
breezy day.

3. EXERCISE TO TRAIN YOUR BODY AND YOUR BRAIN

TO STOP WORRYING
Worry is how your brain learns to survive by deciding to activate the fight or
flight system. If a cougar jumps out at you, you instantly feel a rush of
adrenaline, and this fear response is the same thing that is happening to your
body when you worry, just at a much lower level over a longer period of time.

The same study in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine found that exercise,
on the other hand, is good for when your body feels the symptoms of anxiety,
like jitteriness. If your body feels less of the physical symptoms of stress,
your mind will interpret that there must be less to worry about because
the body is not in a state of heightened arousal.
Related article: How To Train Your Brain To Stay Positive
Exercise seems to give the body a secondary reason for the rapid heart rate
and perspiration that we may feel on a small level when we worry. Exercise
can help lower blood pressure, which is another physical symptom of stress in
the body. If you can identify that you are worrying, go for a 5-10 minute walk,
outside if possible. Appreciate the sights and sounds of nature while focusing
on the motion of your limbs and the breaths that you take.

SOURCES:
JOURNAL PSYCHOSOMATIC MEDICINE,
HTTP://JOURNALS.LWW.COM/PSYCHOSOMATICMEDICINE/ABSTRACT/1978/06000/PATTERNING_OF_COGNITIVE_AND_S
OMATIC_PROCESSES_IN.4.ASPX
HTTP://LINK.SPRINGER.COM/ARTICLE/10.1007/S12671-016-0561-5
WORRY AND AVOIDANCE, HTTP://WWW.TANDFONLINE.COM/DOI/ABS/10.1080/10615800008549263