Off The Record

5 Simple Ways To Stop Your Brain From Chronic Overthinking (That Actually Work)

Published on January 17, 2019

Anxiety is one of the most deceptive mental health issues that young people face today. Among other things, it is caused by the simple fact that they live in a world where, thanks to the rise in the number of people, competition is cutthroat and peoples eyes are always judgemental. These people keep scrutinizing their every mistake and eat them alive.

This issue of the mind is debilitating, making it hard to function normally, as one keeps over-thinking about every little thing; things that every other functioning adult faces easily.

As a result, with most of their minds occupied with fighting this demon, many young people end up distracted and that further hinders their progress in life.

Now, acknowledging this problem, here is our take on how you can try to curb it.

First of all, you are enough and adequate just the way you are. You make mistakes, you get up, shake the dust off, and carry on harder. There is a Japanese proverb that goes: “Fall down seven times, get up eight”. Engrave this in your head.

The more frequent your getting-up phases are, the sweeter life is going to be.

Here are five ways that can help you get back up and stop the whispering voices that make you over-think:

1. Close your eyes. Breathe in slowly, count to seven, and breathe out

This will help trigger your parasympathetic nervous system. This is the nerve-set that helps get your body back to normal after a stressful situation. Hence, it is also called the “rest-and-digest” nervous system.

When you are stressed, your body uses up a lot of energy, faster than it should. This makes you feel drained. If you do this exercise about four or five times, you will be helping ease your own nerves.

This will also help you take a breather off and regain focus on things.

2. Physical exercise

Hit the gym once in a while. Plug in some Sigur Ros (search them up on YouTube. If their songs don’t help you relax, very few things in the world will) and go for a run. Try some free-hand exercises.

A healthy body has better endorphin production and noticeably higher serotonin levels. That directly translates to lesser anxiety and better mental health too.

That old saying about a healthy body housing a healthy mind is true evidently.

3. Accept the fact that there are different people inside you

Yes, many cultures accept this too. In different situations, different selves come into being in a person. The person you are at a party is not the person you are with three computer screens staring at you.

The truth lies waiting for the moment when you stop denying the fact that there are different people in you, people who react to different situations differently.

Sometimes, it is better to leave some other person inside you to do some piece of thinking for you. That will save you and that other personality a lot of trouble, believe us.

4. A kind of meditation

It takes exactly 15 minutes to de-stress yourself and kick in endorphins. Lie down; let your mind be free. Yes, it will be a nightmare for the initial 6-10 seconds; but start counting the sounds you hear and do not identify and label them. Keep doing it to take a step back and un-blur the picture.

It gives you something you need right at that time: a sense of control over the world around you. That is a game-changer.

5. Try to find pleasure in the challenge

Sounds very cheesy and straight out of one of those run-of-the-mill inspirational videos from social media, but hear us out.

People get better at what they do because they keep doing it; and at some point, it turns into a habit.

Start thinking of yourself as the hero you are; after all, your enemy is within you.

And you still rage on and on against the difficulties, more often without the love you deserve.

Once you start seeing your anxious, over-thinking phases as challenges, you can use your over-thinking brain to your own advantage, solving complex problems better.

Now that would be something.

Until then, breathe, be healthy, eat healthy and at times, show the courage to step back and refocus.

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