Anxiety is becoming commonplace in our society. In a day and age where everyone is on the go, scheduling meetings so frequently that we forget we should probably eat at some point during the day, and with the constant feeling of being overwhelmed with worry about a dozen things, people have begun to think that worry is as common an emotion as happiness. This is not the case.

Back in the days of cave men, there was no technology, no need to constantly be accessible, no scheduled deadlines and no mandatory lunches with the boss. Worry only occurred during famine or a threat to safety. Our bodies were built for this level of stress. Stress was generally infrequent or short in duration. As we have evolved our ability to reason and the development of abstract thought has lead to a prolongation of stress. Now, stress is not only when we are threatened but also when we perceive a threat. This perceived threat does not have to be real, in proximity or actually even a real threat. We can lay in the safety of our own bed and worry about 1 million other things. Now we can expose ourselves to chronic stress, and tax the body with levels of stress it was never meant to cope with.

For those well versed in anxiety and the research associated with it, none of this is new news. But, did you know that chronic stress can actually change your pattern of brain waves making it more difficult for you to relax? Its true. Very simply put, when you think anxious worrisome thoughts, you are creating anxious worrisome brain wave patterns. Over time these patterns strengthen and become permanent. Now, this leads to the chicken and egg theory. Some can argue its biology, and “I’ve always been an anxious person”. Did the anxious thoughts lead to anxious biology or did anxious biology lead to anxious thoughts? It can be argued either way. However, what is fact is that regardless of the etiology, anxious thinking strengthens anxious brain wave patterns.