Are you worrying a lot?
Do you find yourself having difficulties focusing?
Do you have tense muscles?
Last week, whilst listening to BBC Radio 4 the topic of anxiety came up (1). How convenient, given that my next post is meant to cover anxiety (2)!
The radio programme brought up the renaissance of the TV artist Bob Ross. You might remember it: ‘The Joy of Painting’. It aired in the 80s and 90s. In this programme he taught the viewer how to paint, with a distinctive soothing voice and iconic big fluffy hair. Well, apparently, he has a new audience. Twenty-year-olds are watching his videos en masse on YouTube; some of his videos have millions of views. It turns out that people are drawn to the programme, in order to deal with anxiety. Who would have known?
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a natural feeling we humans have. It is a normal feeling we experience throughout our lives. It ebbs and flows depending on what is going on with us. “Anxiety is what we feel when we are worried, tense or afraid – particularly about things that are about to happen, or which we think could happen in the future. Anxiety is a natural human response when we perceive we are under threat. It can be experienced through our thoughts, feelings and physical sensations.” (3)
Anxiety can be experienced as fear. Fear however, is usually more specific. We fear something like a bee, but when we feel anxious it is often unclear what exactly triggers that feeling. There is a spectrum of intensity on which we feel and experience anxiety, from a little tense, to panic.
When anxiety hits us it can be very intrusive; it can impact so many aspects of our lives. And when sustained for a longer time it interferes with our health, our partners, families, colleagues and teams.
What actually sparks anxiety (4)?
Our thought patterns contribute to feeling anxious; constant worrying and unhelpful self-talk when unchecked increase our anxiety.
I don’t want to get too academic about anxiety, but it is thought that there also is a genetic element resulting in some people being more prone to it (5). Personality type, level of stress, gender and past trauma are thought to be contributing factors too (6).
Environmental factors, in other words, the world we live in, also play a role. When younger I remember feeling anxious about finding a job due to high unemployment, the possibility of nuclear war, the AIDS virus, devastating famines and wars. Today’s young professionals are faced with job insecurity due to zero hour contracts, high student debts, climate change, fear of missing out, hyper-connectivity, high pressures to perform from a young age, amongst others.
Anxiety is very intrusive; it can impact so many aspects of our lives. Our health, our partners, families and teams will invariably all be impacted.
And right now, our external environment causes us worry. We are, after all, dealing with a global pandemic, COVID-19. Our news feeds are churning out information 24-hours a day, confronting us with conflicting facts and figures, the dramatic impact on our global economy and the uncertainty of what is to come. We have had to drastically change our way of life. All around us people are saying they are, indeed, feeling anxious.
How does anxiety manifest itself?
Anxiety triggers a whole array of physical responses. It fires up the oldest parts of our brain: the hypothalamus, hippocampus and the amygdala. This part of the brain is linked to our flight, fight, freeze and fawn response and prepares our bodies to deal with a threat to survival. Hormones, like cortisol, are released resulting in changes to our physiology. Amongst other things, our heart rate goes up, our digestion stops, our breath quickens, muscles tense up, and blood flows to the brain (7).
Anxiety is also associated with physical symptoms such as headaches, insomnia, and more (8). Difficulty sleeping, irritability, trouble concentrating can also be related to anxiety (9). Intrusive thought patterns such as continuous worrying or fearing can provoke anxiety. And finally there is the overall feeling of discomfort, the knowing that something is not right.
We have all experienced this before. I, for one, remember that in 2012 I ran a workshop for German female PhD students aimed to provide them with theory and practice to counter gender bias within their academic setting. The week prior to traveling to Germany, I started worrying, feeling intimidated and bringing up worse case scenario’s like forgetting what I was meant to say and do. I didn’t sleep well, and by the time I got to Germany and in front of the group my heart was racing, I felt nauseous and my legs felt as if I had been running a marathon. Thank goodness I put my meditation to good use and successfully delivered the workshop.
How can we deal with our anxiety?
Our brain can’t distinguish between a real threat to life versus anxiety brought on by constant worry, fear or other negative repetitive thought patterns. Our body, too, can’t distinguish between a real life threat and one brought on through our thought. This means that be changing our physical responses and/or our thought patterns we can decrease our anxiety.
As with many behaviours, feelings and physical states we want to tackle, creating awareness is step number one. Finding the triggers which set off certain thought patterns in us, becoming aware of our heart racing and breath being shallow or identifying that ‘feeling’ as anxiety.
Once we are aware, depending on the school of thought there are many ways to address it.
Countering the physiological responses through mindfulness, meditation, yoga, centring or diaphragmatic breathing is one way. These practices revert the physical responses; they lower the breath and heart rate, decrease the release of stress hormones and more. Since our mind and body are totally connected, these practices decrease the worrying and fear.
Diet, rest and exercise are also thought to have a positive impact on countering anxiety (10).
Reframing, challenging or replacing your thought patterns with more helpful ones will also help lower an anxious state (11).
There is also evidence that nature is our friend when seeking to decrease anxiety. You may have heard of the old Japanese tradition shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing. It is one way of many, where you connect deeply with nature, which has a proven beneficial impact on moods (12). Other ways can be through tending to a garden and caring for animals.
And finally, there is Bob Ross’s painting programme!
Are you experiencing anxiety at the moment and trying to find ways of addressing it? Please check out my ‘Radically Reconnect’ programme. Through this programme, you will find a deeper awareness of where you are now, what your anxiety triggers are and what gets in your way of progress. You will find your own path forward in a supportive group. You will experiment with practices and learn relevant theory on how bodies and minds interact and react, with the aim of adding to your toolbox of resilience.
If you’re curious, you can reserve your space now, or check out my website for information about the Radically Reconnect 6-week online programme.
Be bold and reserve your place on the programme.
For questions or individual coaching please contact me.
Sources & Notes:
(1) https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000j1z2
(2) This article is focussed on anxiety, not anxiety disorders. Experiencing anxiety is not the same as having an anxiety disorder. Here is the definition of anxiety disorders: they “differ from developmentally normative fear or anxiety by being excessive or persisting beyond developmentally appropriate periods. They differ from transient fear or anxiety, often stress-induced, by being persistent (e.g., typically lasting 6 months or more), although the criterion for duration is intended as a general guide with allowance for some degree of flexibility and is sometimes of shorter duration in children.” (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety#cite_note-DSM-5_189-4 extracted from the DSM 5)
(4) In this article, I am focussing on the Western experience of anxiety. There is a great deal of research to show that anxiety can be experienced differently around the world.
(5) https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0134865
(6) Research on this is mostly related to anxiety disorders.
(7) https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response
(8) https://www.healthline.com/health/anxiety/effects-on-body#1
(9) https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/overcoming-anxiety
(10) https://www.anxiety.org/what-is-anxiety#prevention-and-coping-with-anxiety
(11) https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/how-to-cope-with-anxiety#anxiety-red-flags