Transcription
Overthinking is one of the most common problems that people face today. This is when you think about a problem, you keep thinking, and you never come to a solution. You don't conclude anything, and worst of all, it never leads to any action. And if you do this sometimes, this video is for you.
I'm DR. SIDHART WARRIER. I'm a neurologist, and in today's video, we're going to talk about why do we overthink and what are the three things that you can do to stop this. Let's do this.
Overthinking happens because your brain is trying to do something. It is trying to calculate every possible outcome of a situation, and it is doing this for one reason: it wants to reduce risk. Now, this is a good thing. Usually, humans have evolved to become the most advanced species on Earth because the prefrontal cortex in the brain has developed this magical capacity to calculate risk. It is like being able to look into the future to know what can kill you and what can keep you alive. So, the better you are at this, the more survival chances you have. It's Darwin's principle.
The most successful human beings on Earth, in fact, have this capacity. They're able to calculate risk better than other people, whether it's stock market traders, whether it's successful doctors, whether it is sportsmen. Every one of them has the capacity to predict how things are going to go and accordingly take action. And this ability to take the right action after judging a situation is valuable and it is rewarded. That is why the most successful people who do this are usually also the richest. In other words, thinking about the future is one of the most useful things that your prefrontal cortex can do.
So, what is the problem? Why is thinking so good and overthinking so bad? Or, in other words, when does thinking become overthinking? The answer is one word: anxiety. Anxiety is a fear of the future, a feeling that you are not in control of what is happening, and a fear of what will happen if you lose control.
When your brain becomes anxious, two important things happen. Number one, your brain now believes that you are in danger, and so it becomes hyper-vigilant. That means it starts looking for signs of threat everywhere. This happens because a primitive part of the brain called as the limbic system activates an area called amygdala, and this area is responsible for identifying threat. And the more active the amygdala is, the more potential threats you will see. And not only will you spot more risks, you will also overestimate the importance of those risks. And so, everything becomes amplified, and you start overthinking.
The other thing that happens in anxiety is your prefrontal cortex, which is the most evolved part of your brain, becomes less active. It is now unable to control the limbic system or calm the limbic system down. So, basically, when you are anxious, you are more under the control of your limbic system. These two things put together leads to overthinking.
Remember what I said earlier, that thinking is good, but overthinking is bad? We can now rephrase that and say that thinking by the prefrontal cortex is good, but thinking by the limbic system is usually bad. Because the limbic thinking is not really thinking, it is a form of worrying, and it leads to a spiral because worrying does not really lead to a solution, and the problem still persists. The only part of the brain that can come up with a proper solution is the prefrontal cortex, and the PFC can only do that if the limbic stops worrying. This is the loop that somebody who's overthinking gets stuck in.
So now that you know what overthinking is, how do you avoid it? Well, one thing you should definitely not avoid is subscribing to my channel because if you like neuroscience and if you like videos like this and you want to see more of such videos on your timeline, hit the subscribe button. It'll help me and encourages me to make more of such videos.
Now, how can you stop overthinking? Here are three steps.
Step number one: Name your fear. Most of the fears that we have are vague. We have a sense of dread, like something is wrong, but if somebody asks you what you are afraid of, you're not able to say it out clearly. This is because the fear is coming from the limbic system, but the ability to use words is coming from the prefrontal cortex, from a small area called Broca's area. So, when you put words to your fear, when when you describe your fear, when you write it down, you are actually transferring control from your limbic system to your prefrontal cortex. And as soon as the prefrontal cortex gets more control, it is now able to solve that problem. So, naming your fear and talking about it actually helps. As you describe things more and more, your nameless fears will get converted into a list of problems that can be solved one by one. But this, this will only happen if you write it down.
Step number two is: Calm your body. A common mistake that a lot of people do is they try to solve overthinking by overthinking, or they try to think about overthinking and try to come up with the solution. But the truth is that overthinking is happening because of anxiety. Anxiety is happening because your body feels threatened. So, one of the ways to solve this problem is by first making your body feel calm, feel safe. And safety starts with sleep, regular physical routines, and movement. Get 8 hours of sleep, go for a brisk 30-minute walk, and take a shower. Come back and do 5 minutes of deep breathing. Feel your nervous system calm down from a hyper-sympathetic state to a calm parasympathetic state. Now, sit in front of your problem, write it down, and see how your overthinking slows down. Gradually, you'll find yourself much more capable than before of dealing with those over thoughts.
Now, at this point, I should mention that if you are suffering from anxiety disorder or any other mental health issue, you should definitely speak to your psychologist or a psychiatrist to get proper treatment because many times, asking for help is the most sensible thing you can do.
Now, moving on to step number three: Action is the antidote to thought. Now, if I can be honest, this is the, the step that helped me fix my overthinking beyond everything else. Understanding that a lot of times I was overthinking to procrastinate. In other words, my body was too lazy to move, and so it tricked my mind into overthinking. This is why it happens. All action takes effort, and the brain is very sneaky. The brain does not want to spend unnecessary effort, and so it tries to minimize effort while still feeling like it's doing something productive. Now, action requires more effort than thinking, but if thinking feels productive, why not just do that? Why actually get up and do things? And this is the trick that your brain plays on you in order to make you feel like you're doing something productive, but you're actually not. So, realizing this was key for me to just stop thinking and get out and do whatever I had to do.
Now, there are other things that you can do to help overthinking, like meditation, working with an accountability partner, gratitude journaling, etc. But these three steps were the ones that I found most useful to solve my overthinking, and I hope that it does the same for you.
If you like this video, hit that like button. Subscribe to my channel. It's really encouraging for me to see so many people enjoying these kind of videos. I would happily take your questions in the comments below, and I will see you guys soon. Bye everyone, take care.