Q: Anxiety is a big problem for me. I worry a lot, seldom get a good night’s sleep and am edgy around the house, snapping at my wife and needlessly getting after our three kids. I would like to learn more about this condition.
A: Anxiety is big throughout the world and even more so in North America.
Here are some facts:
- In the United States, about 18.1 percent of the population is struggling with some form of anxiety.
- In Canada that figure drops to 11.6 percent. However, was recorded before COVID-19. My guess is that it is a bit higher now.
- In the U.S., 23.4 percent of women struggle with anxiety while 14.5 percent of men report struggles with it.
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It’s not clear if men struggle as much as women, but are less likely to see physicians or counsellors for help or if women actually worry more than do men. My guess is the former.
Anxiety means excessive worry with little or no chance for resolution to various concerns. People worry about their diets, about their finances, whether or not their loved ones are faithful, about success and failures both in themselves and in their children, whether it is going to rain, if their in-laws respect them and whether their mean average in failures secedes that of their neighbours.
This is called content, and the more you dwell on content, the less likely it is you are going to relax into tranquility.
The resolution to anxiety comes in process, or more specifically how you are feeling at any given time. Very often, when you are worrying, you are oblivious to your emotions and yet it is those emotions that keep you stuck in whatever it is that you are obsessing at the moment.
Imagine that you have a great big stop sign in your head. Just stop every now and then and take an inventory of what you are feeling, away down inside. If you do that enough over time many of those worries will start to disappear.
You can help the process by eating nutritious foods (a whole lot of greenery), resting regularly, exercising, and hugging whomever it is you share your intimacies.
If you do that, you might be able to avoid joining the 90-plus percent of people with anxiety who rely on medication to help them deal with it.
If you follow this advice and are still struggling try joining the 20-plus percent who go for counselling. Over time, healthy living and appropriate counselling may help you engage the land of the living to the demise of the neurosis of excessive worry.
