Overthinking – Cause, Effect, Solution
Introduction-
· Overthinking means thinking too much, instead of doing and acting on those thoughts, you analyze, comment and repeat the same thoughts again. One study found that 73 % of adults between the ages of 25 and 35 overthink, as do 52% of 45 to 55-years old. According to the National Science Foundation, an average person has about 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. Of those, 80% are negative and 95% are repetitive thoughts. This habit consumes your energy, distracts you from the present, disables your ability to make a decision, even simple questions like ‘what to wear today?’ It will turn into a life-or-death question.
So, you must have to change this habit otherwise you will be in danger because overthinking leads you into depression.
Just once think what you will do, if your laptop starts infinite boot loop right now. Same thing will happen with you in future because of overthinking.
Cause of overthinking
The primary things that causes overthinking is stress and anxiety. Because of stress you stay alone, you stop interaction with people, actually when we engage in face to face conversation some hormone releases which reduce our stress level. So, by staying alone you are indirectly becoming more stressed. Because of stress you feel guilty, then you start thinking about your past mistakes. You start anti-ruminative activities.
Thus, the uncontrollable overthinking cycle starts. (read more)
What Happens to Your Body During Overthinking?
1. 1. Many of overthinkers believe that they’re actually doing right by cycling their thoughts. And even they pretend that everything is okay with them. This is very harmful. Because as told earlier 80% are negative, if you thought negative things all the day, I think, that is not going to good for you. So first you must have to realize that uncontrollable overthinking is bad for us. Sometimes we started overthinking, on negative thoughts but we pretend that everything is okay. We need to stop these.
2. 2. Overthinking creates so many options in your mind that you actually became unable to choose any one of idea from that, this is called ‘analysis-paralysis’. You get stuck at potential consequences that may not even happen, just worry about certain outcomes, that freeze us from taking action. Then you stop trying. It is true that then you will not fail, which may be a potential concern, but at the same time you don’t succeed if you take no action.
3. 3. Negative thoughts make you worry. Therefor you feel stress and your body start releasing stress hormone-cortisol. And excessive release of cortisol leads you to depression, anxiety, ADHD, other mental disease, digestive disorder, weight gain, obesity, anger etc.
4. 4. You became less creative when certain parts of your brain and cognitive processes (mental processes involved in gaining knowledge) are quiet, you’re more creative.
· Frontal cortex & the anterior cingulate cortex is associated with cognitive function, we will learn things faster if we able to shut off these parts, as these parts are not required for learning.
5. 5. Lots of overthinkers struggle with insomnia, sleep problems. Overthinking disrupts your sleep. If you don’t sleep, then you will feel tired every day, and your energy level will constantly decrease.
6. 6. Your appetite/eating habits may change.
How to Stop Overthinking?
1. Make a thought diary -
Whenever any thoughts came in your mind write it down, it will help you to comeback in track. And you will also able to realize that what trigger’s you to overthinking.
2. 2. Talk with your friends or loved one, and discuss on your problems, it will be easy to solve then.
For example- when anybody ask you to solve their problems you very easily solve that, but if the same problems happen with you then you became unable to solve. The same thing will happen if you asked somebody about your problems.
3. 3. Engage yourself into hobbies, like watching movies, drawing etc. these hobbies will make you excited to do. And you not anymore feel stress. It will then lead you to stop overthinking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VorH9x9LqSM
4. 4. If you have any siblings of age 4 to 7 play with them, it will also help you.
5. Meditation –
Meditation is another key to solve this. First be consistence, make your schedule such that you get 30 minutes extra to meditate.
At the first you will not able to meditate properly, but you have to practice every day, try to focus on your breathing.
6. Walk 10 minutes in the presence of bright sunlight.
It helps to maintain our normal biological clock. Sunlight is 5 to 10 times brighter than our indoor light and it turns out that our body need sunlight in order to set our circadian rhythms right.
And biological clock helps you to maintain hormone regulation, time for sleep, time to feel energetic, any change in normal biological clock leads us to stress, depression which is one of the main causes of overthinking.
Imagine if you feel tired all of the day and when night comes you cannot sleep well. These are the common problems that most people with anxiety have.
So, this clock needs to be adjusted.
7. Humor -
Laughter can help lessen your stress & anxiety and may make you feel happier. Laughter release endorphins and decrease stress hormones among many other benefits
It will help you to distract yourself, for some time, from overthinking.
8. Exercise/Yoga is also an effective way to struggle against overthinking.
Conclusion-
We are worried only about past & future we need not to forgot the past, rather learn from the past. Like I become more depressed after the sudden death of Sushant Singh Rajput.
According to motivational speaker, Sandeep Maheshwari, learn from past, we can do nothing on physical time, all thinking is happening on psychological time, psychological time has no existence in physical world. Maybe the past is worse, but it doesn’t matter how bad the past was, important is to learn from the mistakes in past, that will make a better future, better future means – ability to change life at any point of time.
I will suggest all of you, maybe you are older than me, but still I will advise you to – Enjoy the life, life is very short, don’t died by overthinking. Your mind is the most powerful force, you will ever face. Your mind will tell you lies. Mind is a wild horse, if you are unable to control it…. It will run in wrong direction, and destroy you.
If I am wrong at any point, please forgive me. Have a good day. We all will pray for your better life.
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