The regular patterns of overthinking may lead to anxiety, irritability, panic attacks as well as low appetite, irregular sleep patterns, high blood pressure, and much more. Emotions play a significant role when it comes to keeping oneself sane.
Overthinking changes the structure and connectivity of the brain leading to mood disorders therefore it can lead to mental illnesses such as anxiety, stress, and depression. Moreover, it can decrease your energy to focus and can affect your problem solving and decision making power.
Anxiety problems are known to cause feelings of muscle weakness. However, you should visit a doctor if you're experiencing this, in order to make sure that there isn't another medical or physical explanation. Most often, however, the muscle weakness that you feel is likely to be linked to your anxiety.
Some of her patients who deal with negative thoughts and anxiety have also experienced headaches, body aches and stomach problems, she said. Overthinking is also often associated with mental health issues like depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and borderline personality disorder.
Outside of your brain, your digestive system contains the second largest number of nerves in your body. Some scientists even call your gut your "second brain." It's no surprise then that the hormones and chemicals released when you're anxious can cause gut-related issues, including: Nausea.
Overthinking is commonly associated with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), says Duke. GAD is characterized by the tendency to worry excessively about several things. “Someone can develop GAD due to their genes. Or it could be personality factors like the inability to tolerate uncertainty in life.
Overthinking can be an early indicator or symptom of depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions. To stop overthinking, you can try challenging your thoughts, reaching out to loved ones for support, or talking to a mental health professional for extra help.
In addition, medications originally designed for depression, the SSRIs (Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Lexapro, Effexor, Cymbalta, and others), are also capable of lowering the underlying level of anxiety which takes a lot of steam out of this phenomenon.
If you're feeling drained at the end of a demanding day at the office, it could be you've been thinking too much.
Anxiety itself can cause symptoms like headaches or a racing heartbeat, and you may mistake these for signs of illness.
Recognize the Signs
Extreme feelings of fear or anxiety that are out of proportion to the actual threat. Irrational fear or worry about different objects or situations. Avoiding the source of your fear or only enduring it with great anxiety. Withdrawing from social situations or isolating yourself from friends and ...
The autonomic nervous system produces your fight-or-flight response, which is designed to help you defend yourself or run away from danger. When you are under stress or anxious, this system kicks into action, and physical symptoms can appear — headaches, nausea, shortness of breath, shakiness, or stomach pain.
Overthinking is caused due to various reasons like fear, intolerance to uncertainty, trauma, or perfectionism. Overthinking can also be a symptom of already existing mental health conditions such as generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, or depression.
Stress and anxiety are likely to be two of the most common causes of overthinking. Stress can further amplify the cycle of overthinking, as worrying tends to breed more worrying. Try to recognize when your mind begins to spiral downward and take measures to prevent it from taking control.
People who overthink tend to score high in the neurotic department. Neuroticism is one of the five big personality traits, along with openness, conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness. It's linked to anxiety, fear, moodiness, worry, envy and frustration.
Medications to treat the symptoms of GAD include: Fluoxetine (Prozac) Sertraline (Zoloft)
One way to help an overthinker is to encourage them to focus on the present moment. This can help them to live in the moment and appreciate what they have instead of worrying about what could go wrong.
If you have anxiety, medication can help because the medicines used for anxiety alter the chemicals in your body and brain, reducing symptoms, and often helping you calm down and focus on other things.
Are you always waiting for disaster to strike or excessively worried about things such as health, money, family, work, or school? If so, you may have a type of anxiety disorder called generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). GAD can make daily life feel like a constant state of worry, fear, and dread.
Hyper-Rationality is a trauma response and coping strategy. Overthinking, over-analyzing, and over-rationalizing are coping strategies that we learned early on to help us make sense of an unpredictable environment that at some point made us feel unsafe.
Type Of Overthinking #2: Rumination About The Past
This can involve, for example, incessantly dwelling on a mistake you made in the past, or continuously replaying a time you were hurt over and over again in your mind.