Do you excessively worry? Check out this interesting exercise for taking more control over your worrying and how you can curb your anxiety by scheduling a “worry marathon.”
Excessive worrying is one of the greatest killers of our physical and mental health; it’s associated with increased stress and anxiety, depressed moods, and sleep difficulties.
While there are many different tools for reducing everyday worry in our lives, one study published in Behavior Modification has discovered an interesting and counter-intuitive approach to worry less: schedule time in your day strictly for the purpose of worrying
In the experiment, participants who reported high anxiety and worry were separated into two groups.
In one group, participants were asked to not avoid naturally-occurring worry throughout their day so that their anxiety and worry would not paradoxically increase. In another group, participants were asked to schedule 30 minutes at a particular time and place to fully engage with their anxiety and worry.
After a two week period, researchers found that individuals who were asked to schedule 30 minutes of worry per day scored significantly less on measures of worry, anxiety, negative emotion, and insomnia compared to those who were asked to simply accept their worry in the moment. (Although there were no differences in measures of positive emotion or depressive symptoms between the two groups).
This has some interesting and practical implications for how we can reduce everyday worry and anxiety. Not only should we give ourselves permission to be negative, but we should purposefully carve out time and space throughout our day for it as well.
Here are recommendations for how to best schedule a time and place for your “worry marathon.”
Exercise: Schedule 30 Minutes to Worry Each Day
- Find a 30 minute slot in your day that you can designate for “controlled worry.”
- Try to stay consistent with the time and place of your “controlled worry,” and also try to avoid scheduling it too close to your bedtime, as researchers suggest that worrying close to bedtime can significantly hurt your sleeping patterns.
- If you find yourself worrying outside of your scheduled time, take a brief moment to write down the worry and/or say to yourself, “I’ll take time to worry about that later.”
- Set a timer for 30 minutes when you are ready to begin your “worry marathon.”
- There are many different ways you can engage with your worries during your “worry marathon.”
- For example, you can use this time to write about your worries (such as a brain drain exercise), observe and introspect your worries (such as an open mind meditation), analyze your worries and what is causing them (why you should question your feelings), express your worries in musical form (if you play an instrument), or even doodle your worries (check out the benefits of drawing).
- Experiment with different ways to engage with your worries. Try out the suggestions above or do a combination of multiple techniques throughout your “worry marathon.”
- Once your time is finished, say to yourself “Okay! That’s enough worrying for now!” then go back to the rest of your day.
While it may be difficult to find 30 minutes every day for a “worry marathon,” the principle behind this advice is very important and we should keep it in mind.
Not only is it crucial to give ourselves permission to worry, but the act of purposefully scheduling time for it also gives you the opportunity to engage with these worries on a deeper level, as well as begin to develop mental tools and strategies for better managing them.
One big part of self-regulation is developing more neural connections between the feeling parts of your brain (the limbic system) and the thinking parts of your brain (the neocortex). The “thinking parts” of your brain are generally what keep the “feeling parts” in check so that they don’t run wild.
When you make the conscious decision to sit down and take time to worry, you are already taking a step to be more rational when it comes to better managing your emotions.
In general, I believe any form of just sitting down with your mind is likely a step in the right direction. Try scheduling a “worry marathon” and see how it works out for you!
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