How to Calm Your Anxiety, From a Neuroscientist | The Way We Work, a TED series
What if you could transform your anxiety into something you can actually use during your work day? Neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki shares two evidence-based activities -- breathing and movement -- that can soothe your nervous system and fuel creativity and connection. Visit http://TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You're welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know. Become a TED Member: http://ted.com/membership Follow TED on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TEDTalks Like TED on Facebook: http://facebook.com/TED Subscribe to our channel: http://youtube.com/TED TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization/our-policies-terms/ted-talks-usage-policy). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com #TheWayWeWork
How to Calm Your Anxiety, From a Neuroscientist | The Way We Work, a TED series
Turning Anxiety into a Helpful Tool
In this talk, the speaker discusses how anxiety can be transformed into something helpful. She shares two powerful, science-based tools for turning down the volume on our anxiety and helping us get anxiety back to its helpful, protective state.
Breath Work
- Tool number one is breath work.
- Simple deep breathing can be one of the most immediate ways to calm anxiety.
- The recommended approach is boxed breathing: inhale deeply on four counts, hold at the top for four counts, exhale deeply on four counts and hold at the bottom for four counts.
Moving Your Body
- Tool number two is moving your body.
- Every time you move your body, you're releasing beneficial neurochemicals in your brain that increase positive mood states and decrease negative ones.
- Studies have shown that just ten minutes of walking can get those mood-boosting effects.
- Be creative with your movement session; it will help your anxiety levels come down.
Benefits of Connecting with Your Body
- Once you connect with your body and turn down the volume on your anxiety, two important things will happen:
- You'll be in a better position to evaluate what about a situation makes you anxious
- You'll be able to use this emotion (anxiety), for exactly what it was evolved to do: warn you about potential dangers so you can become aware of them and find ways to effectively and creatively address them in your everyday life.
Approaching Anxiety in a New Way
In this section, the speaker discusses how to approach anxiety in a new way that can help individuals manage their anxiety better and develop empathy for others.
Benefits of Approaching Anxiety Differently
- By approaching anxiety differently, individuals can notice telltale signs of anxiety in themselves and others.
- This can allow individuals to give support to others experiencing anxiety by offering kind words or a smile.
- Approaching anxiety differently can also boost an individual's personal superpower of empathy.
Takeaway Message
- The takeaway message is that approaching anxiety differently can help individuals manage their own anxiety better while also developing empathy for others.