Do we worry ourselves to death???

[Towncrier]

I have a good friend who constantly frets about everything. I think that he is as much amazed at my laise faire attitude about life as I am about his paranoia. I found an interesting quote on boingboing.net this morning that I wanted to share with my CB friends:

Recurrent or unremitting fear has the same deleterious effects on the human body that running persistently at 80 to 100 miles per hour has on a car. Many illnesses are more likely to occur as a result, including heart disease, stroke and depression. Thus, we should focus our efforts on avoiding the ordinary killers such as heart attacks that develop as a result of our unremitting worries rather than extraordinary occurrences or exotic diseases. Consider: in 2001 terrorists killed 2,978 people in the U.S., including five from anthrax attacks. That same year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease killed 700,142; cancer, 553,768; accidents, 101,537; and suicide, 30,622. Murders (not including 9/11) accounted for only 17,330 deaths.

From the book False Alarm - The Truth About The Epidemic Of Fear by Marc Siegel.

While my friend frets about the possibility of being robbed of his cash on vacation or of someone taking the mail out of his mailbox or some other calamity (all of which COULD happen but probably won't), I choose to throw caution to the wind.

 

[clarabelle]

your friend my not choose it -he/she may not be able to help it. Worrying (anxiety) is not usually a "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" kind of thing.

 

[Pam]

I've had people steal stuff out of my mailbox -- and put firecrackers in it.......

but I hear what you're saying.

 

[Rex Rules]

I have spent my entire life over worrying about everything and it has made me physically ill on many occasions. Therefore, I am now in therapy trying to figure out how to worry less and be more calm - have only had one session so far, but I am very hopeful that it will be a great benefit to me.
Amazingly enough, I spent three days before the first appointment worrying about the appointment - useless worry over stupid things like what will I say, what will she think about me?

 

[Chicago526]

Oh, I so totally beleive that stress does a real number on our bodies! I've got the family history to prove it!

I come from a long, proud line of worry-worts.

My grandmother worries. Constantly. About everyone and everything! She also suffers from depresion so I'm sure that's tied into it.

My grandfather was more layed back, but when Regan got elected in '80, he was CONVINCED that he'd do away with Social Security and that he'd have to go back to work (he'd just retired) just to make ends meet. He worried so much for so long over this that he gave himself a heart attack. Docs never found a blockage, his cholestoral was fine, there was no reason for the heart attack that they could find. Fortunatly he did recover (he died in '89 of cancer though )

My mom was under a lot of stress in '94. She was getting ready to retire and had to train her replacement and work was REALLY stresfull, Dad was away on business for a 2 month stretch, and at the time we were living in a town home 1/3 the size of our old home and we were pretty unhappy as a whole. We'd sold our old house before the lease was up for the renters of the house we were moving too, so we had to rent a home for a few months until the new house was empty. All of this got her so stressed, she had a mini stroke! No perminant damage, thank heaven! She retired in January of '95 and with all that stress removed, has had good health (more or less) since.

That same year I was under so much stress as a college freshman that I had heart palpatations daily. Now that I'm aware that I have a family history of this, I make an effort to try and relax about things, and make sure I only get worked up about things that I truely SHOULD worry about. But it's a constant effort. I have to read myself to sleep everynight, to keep my mind from thinking about all the things that could go wrong at work the next day, or stressing about getting the house clean for my parents visit next month, and so on and so on.

 

[Nickunited]

Oh, I so totally beleive that stress does a real number on our bodies!

I agree CHI-Town!!! I used to stress out over the littlest things - everything worked me up - now - I just take things as they come! I have learned to enjoy life and not get all worked up about everything that goes wrong. My body was a mess - you know - anxiety attacks!

I beleive that most of the times in life - things will go wrong - that is what makes the things that do go right - more enjoyable!

I have seen to much, lost to many people early to really worry about the everyday gibberish that takes place!

I urge anyone that gets worked up to find a hobby that relaxes them. For me its the gym, heck - try Yoga!!! Something that for like an hour a day you can put all the problems of work, family and life aside and think about yourself and think about something that you enjoy!!

 

[Miss Jasmine]

When I go through one of my anxious/worry phases, I am PHYSICALLY ill the whole time. I KNOW it's not good for me, but it happens. I do have coping skills, but sometimes they just don't work, and I really don't want to go the medicine route. I do my best to stay healthy in other ways (eating, exercise, etc.) and hope that things balance out.

 

[Keli]

You know, I do worry waaaaayyyy too much. I know I do and it's almost a habit that I'm trying to break. I'm definitely getting better, lol.

 

[Nickunited]

I am sure you guys can get through it - I found that the bulk of my stress issues was because I always worried about what others thought of me and said about me. I stressed everything I did because I did not want anyone to get mad at me. A couple of things happened where I was like, you know what - I am just going to be myself, and if no one likes it, then so be it - I really dont care - There are millions of people in this world - why should I stress over a handful. I like myself and many others like me - so I am not going to stress over those that do not.

Work Stress is tough to break though. I mean you want to work and be the best you can be so you can better yourself. That stress I still run into here and there, but again - that is where the gym comes into play - after a hard day of work - just give me a bench press and I am free of worries after my 3rd set

 

[lillygator]

Worrying for me joined my life when I had my children. Other than my girls I try to keep it to a minimum...I've always thought that too much worrying leads to self fulfilling prophecy......

 

[Disney Doll]

I think I only worry about things that are appropriate to worry about. My mother, on the other hand, is a professional worrier. She worries about the hood over my stove being greasy and starting a fire. She worries about the mail getting stolen out of our mailbox. She worries about the kids who live 3 houses down riding their bikes in their dirveway....what if they lose control of the bike and end up in the street and get hit by a car??? I actually feel badly for her sometimes because her worry about every little nitpicking thing really doesn't allow her to enoy life fully. If she's going on a driving vacation...what if they get into a car accident? If she's going on a flying vacation...what if the plane crashes? She checks all the lights in the closets a million times because a house in my town caught on fire because someone had left a closet light on and they went away for the weekend, and the light was close to a sweater in the closet, caught it on fire, and the house burned until the neighbors saw smoke coming out the windows but by then there was a large amout of damage.

Her level of worry is almost paralyzing at times, to the point where there's a lot I don't tell her because I am afraid it will add ot her "worry load" and kill her.