Do you ever feel like the more you think about your problems, the worse you feel? It’s not just in your head – psychology studies have found that actively thinking about something can actually make you feel sick to your stomach. Because of this, it’s important to know how to effectively deal with problems rather than allow them to weigh on your mind and worsen your mood. Here are some tips on how to do this. The More You Think The Sicker You Feel: Psychology Explains
6 Ways Thinking Makes Us Sick
1. Thinking about how you are feeling can contribute to the experience of pain.2. When you think about the past and your mistakes, it can affect your mood3. Visualizing an event in detail before it happens has been shown to reduce your threshold for distress4. Dwelling on what’s wrong in a relationship and fearing things will worsen will not fix anything5. Fantasizing about success is just that – a fantasy6. Children who worry more often experience more pain The More You Think The Sicker You Feel: Psychology Explains
3 Reasons Our Brains Focus on Negative Thoughts
Think of it like this – what you give attention to tends to have more power over you. And that’s because of how our brains are wired. There’s something called the negativity bias which means our brains are wired to pay more attention to negative things and turn them into memories that linger in our minds. Basically, when there is a neutral experience we aren’t really aware of it. However, if there is something that sucks about the experience we notice and think about it often.
The Downside of Rumination
Rumination is when you go over the events of the day or your life and how they played out. It’s a natural response to being faced with something stressful, but overdoing it will likely backfire and make you feel worse than if you had never thought about it in the first place. Ruminating is kind of like trying to pick at a scab–you don’t want to touch it too much because it might just tear open again and make things worse.
10 Things To Do Instead Of Overthinking
When you overthink, it can make you feel worse. If your mind is running at 100 miles per hour and won’t stop obsessing about everything that might go wrong, try these tricks to slow things down. 1) Breathe in for four seconds, hold for four seconds, and breathe out for four seconds. Repeat 10 times.
How To Be Less Negative
Constant negativity is not good for your body. It causes wear and tear on your immune system and even leads to depression. That being said, it can be a difficult habit to break if you find yourself in the habit of being negative all the time. If you find that your negativity levels are constantly high or just rising higher, try these tips to lower them again.
1) In what ways are my thoughts affecting my emotions?
2) Am I letting my thoughts control me?
3) Am I looking at things from all angles?
4) Am I finding something positive about each situation?
Overcoming Negativity – Tips from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a form of psychotherapy that targets distressing thoughts and replaces them with more accurate and less distressing ones. Essentially, cognitive behavioral therapy is a way to look at what you are thinking (cognitions) and how you are feeling (emotions), in order to improve your mood by replacing your negative thoughts with positive ones.
Q.&A.
– Can you tell me more about what I’m feeling when I start to get sick?
– If I’m starting to feel ill, what can I do to avoid making myself feel worse?
– What are some good coping skills for feeling like crap? – How long does it take for symptoms of the common cold to go away on their own?
– Does feeling down make me look old?
– How does my body know when I’m hungry or thirsty?