Health & Wellness Research Weblog | HealthTrekker

Health & Wellness Weblog With Tips And Hacks

  • Welcome To The Future Of Cure: The Hu ...

    Welcome To The Future Of Cure: The Hu ...
  • Little Blue Pill, My ****! All A Guy  ...

    Little Blue Pill, My ****! All A Guy ...
  • Diet And Epilepsy: Can A Mashup Of Bi ...

    Diet And Epilepsy: Can A Mashup Of Bi ...
  • Watch Out Blade Runner, Because: !Sho ...

    Watch Out Blade Runner, Because: !Sho ...
  • I Was Just Going To Complain About My ...

    I Was Just Going To Complain About My ...
  • Selenium May Reduce Several Cancer Ra ...

    Selenium May Reduce Several Cancer Ra ...
  • How To Live To Be 100: Diet, Fitness, ...

    How To Live To Be 100: Diet, Fitness, ...
  • I For One Do Not Welcome Our New 3-D- ...

    I For One Do Not Welcome Our New 3-D- ...
  • EWG’s Dirty Dozen, Clean Fiftee ...

    EWG’s Dirty Dozen, Clean Fiftee ...
  • Fast Fat Loss Formula: The Quickest R ...

    Fast Fat Loss Formula: The Quickest R ...
  • Video: Doctor Ken Jeong Answers The I ...

    Video: Doctor Ken Jeong Answers The I ...
  • Calorie-Restriction’s Brain Ben ...

    Calorie-Restriction’s Brain Ben ...
  • Paging Doctor Charles Xavier... We Ha ...

    Paging Doctor Charles Xavier... We Ha ...
  • 2,000 Calories Of Why Fast Food Is Un ...

    2,000 Calories Of Why Fast Food Is Un ...
  • Apparently Jim Gaffigan Is Not One Of ...

    Apparently Jim Gaffigan Is Not One Of ...
‹›
You are here: Home / Mind/Brain
For information only. This site does not supply medical advice, diagnosis, or care.

Video: The Science Of Us Discusses How Anxiety Might Actually Improve Your Brain

Filed Under: Mind/Brain, Video

Video: The Science Of Us Discusses How Anxiety Might Actually Improve Your Brain

black cat watches goldfish in bowl
In this video, the Science of Us talks about the interesting side of a difficult psychological ailment: Anxiety.

For some of us we’ve either known, -or been someone who is way too reactive or neurotic to potential-threats; or even imagined-ones.

Well in nature’s endearingly-odd way, it turns out there is very likely an upside to this analysis-paralysis.

And it starts with Greater Connections…

The Brain’s 2 Shades Of Gray
So: In-general, there are two types of wires in the brain. -White Matter & Gray Matter.

You may have only heard about the latter & think that it’s the only stuff that well, ~”matters” (excuse the pun).

Well, it’s not. For lack of a better metaphor, gray matter is like the farm of supercomputers.

And the white matter is like the high-speed switches & network cables that connect them all together.

 
Which Is Better?
The first stuff may appear better & more important, but then how does it talk more quickly & efficiently to all the other bits?

-White matter.

(on a side-note, it turns out liars and improvisers of all types have noticeably more white matter than other people, too.)

And the other big correlation white matter has & the point of this piece is: Intelligence.

 
White Matter Matters For IQ
More than one study has shown that people afflicted with Anxiety, who were either mother nature’s hawkish-lookout characters, or the flighty-easily-spooked types with an exaggerated threat-response, Also turned-out to be more intelligent on-balance than the average person.

It would seem that the survival-advantage conferred by a hyper “Spidey-Sense” was passed down by descendants of those who actually ran first, asked questions later & thus: survived to pass down their genes.


Anxiety Requires More Brain Horsepower
At this point, you could get all chicken-and-egg, but it turns out all this hyper-awareness & sensitivity comes with both inherited costs & potentially-learnable benefits.

It takes an extra amount of brain-horsepower to be that alert, detail-oriented & then planning based on those details.

-Which comes in the form of the type of tissue that helps put all those different details, memories, and current perceptions into a +/- cohesive run-away plan: Noticeably-higher amounts of white-matter.

And of-course as hinted at before, the cost of this today is at least increases in both General and Social Anxiety.


What Can An Average Person Take Away From This?
Now, with respect to self-improvement and Elizabeth Gould’s proven recipe for brain-growth, 2 things:

1) It would be interesting to test the opposite-case. Look down the smart-people end of the spectrum & see if they’re all more anxious than the average population.

And 2) The part that matters for us: Can we become a little-bit smarter?

-For example, by becoming increasingly-obsessed with the details, can we effectively run the machine in reverse?


Can You Increase Your Own White Matter + Intelligence By Healthy “Obsessing”?
What if you could slowly get better at noticing increasing amounts of detail, baby-steps at a time through studying things that interest you, until the point where you’re almost as aware & mentally-active as a pathologically-anxious person.

-Just a better-balanced version of one.

Would it be possible to increase your white-matter, your interconnectedness, and thus your intelligence by doing so?

-At least a few studies on 3D video-games that require attention-to-detail seem to suggest something like that.

Food for thought.


And if you’re already anxious, you may have the advantage of being a more detail-oriented and intelligent person.

Check out the further details out at the Links:


Photo/Video Credits:
Video, “How Anxiety Can Make You Smarter: “The Science of Us” Episode 14″, by NYMag’s The Science of Us
Photo, “I did! I did taw a puddy tat!”, by broterham


Links:
• Source: NyMag-SciOfUs-Anxiety
• More Coverage: Slate | PsychCentral
• Source Studies:
   • CogSci-Thinking too much: self-generated thought as the engine of neuroticism
   • PERS-Intelligence and emotional disorders: Is the worrying and ruminating mind a more intelligent mind?”
   • Isr J.Psych-Social Cognition in Social Anxiety: First Evidence
for Increased Empathic Abilities[PDF]

Before you go: please share this story on Facebook, RT on Twitter,
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, Or, Subscribe to receive email updates.
-Thank you for your support!

Share On:    

Tagged: anxiety, brain fitness, freakonomics, get smart, intelligence, neuroscience, psychology
By: Will  /  December 17, 2015  /  Comment

You might also like:

Incentives Can Improve Weight Loss Success
You Can Probably Guess Another Person's Political Views. -With Your Nose
Video: DNews Asks Which Creativity Drug Works Best. -Alcohol Or Marijuana?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Note: For informational purposes only. Should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis or substitute for professional care.

Subscribe to the HT Email Newsletter:
 

Recent Posts

  • The New COVID Variants: US Daily Cases Are Trailing-Off, But Only For The Moment…

    The New COVID Variants: US Daily Cases Are Trailing-Off, But Only For The Moment…

  • The COVID-19 Vaccine: What Does It Do To Your Body? ASAPScience Answers!

    The COVID-19 Vaccine: What Does It Do To Your Body? ASAPScience Answers!

  • Remdesivir Vs. COVID: Encouraging  Developments And A Very Strange Case Show It’s A Viable Fix

    Remdesivir Vs. COVID: Encouraging Developments And A Very Strange Case Show It’s A Viable Fix

  • New Coronavirus Waves Coming Even With Vaccine Imminent, Don’t Let Your Guard Down. Winter Is Coming!

    New Coronavirus Waves Coming Even With Vaccine Imminent, Don’t Let Your Guard Down. Winter Is Coming!

  • Coronavirus Pandemic Got You Sitting All Day? !SCIENCE! Figures Out How To Offset The Damage To Your Health

    Coronavirus Pandemic Got You Sitting All Day? !SCIENCE! Figures Out How To Offset The Damage To Your Health

Popular

  • ring tailed lemur face looks pensive
    Gastroenteritis, Stomach Flu Cure May Have Been Discovered By Clay-Eating Cheeky-Monkeys
  • yasmina rossi bikini sunglasses desert side view
    Yasmina Rossi Is The New Queen Of The Silver Foxes! 59 Year-Old Model & Grandmother Shows Us Mortals What Age-Defying Really Looks Like
  • manchurian candidate faceoff
    Calorie-Restriction’s Mousechurian Candidate: Ancient Chinese Secret Creates Mighty-Mouse With Mighty-Brain
  • cute blonde girl drinking beer oktoberfest hofbrauhaus
    15 Benefits Of Beer, Backed By Science That Is 60% Bulls**t, -But Keep Drinking Just In Case...
  • yoga lotus pose person in gold sunlight
    Brain Benefits Of Turmeric-Like Curry Spice Might Help Your Mind Repair Itself, Chillax, Then Take Over World

Editor’s Picks

  • cool old guy with red addidas hatHow To Live To Be 100: Diet, Fitness, Connections, Mindset, DNA, X-Factors
  • gilleys cold beer dirty girls mud wrestlingDirty = Good? and the "Hygiene Hypothesis"
  • red tachometer revvingFast Fat Loss Formula: The Quickest Results Ever Were From MetRx And Sandwiches. Who Knew?
  • silver buddha head statueYou Can't Fix Stupid, but You -Can- Grow New Brain Cells
  • nanotechnology biological dangersNanotech Mega Mesothelioma w/a Half-Gainer off the High-Dive
Websites We Love

Categories

Copyright © 2021 | Terms Of Use | Top | Contact / News / Tips | Sitemap | About | Privacy

Powered by: The Genesis Framework · WordPress