Anxiety Hurts
Everybody knows what anxiety feels like - it's annoying and counterproductive and apparently useless, so why does it exist? It turns out your anxiety isn't useless ...
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[♪ Scishow Theme ♪] We've all had a big test or a scary speech looming over us at some point, So everybody knows what anxiety feels like. Your guts feel all twisted up, you can't stop clenching your jaw, and instead of sleeping, you just lie awake thinking useless thoughts. Like, "My mom's the only person in the world who really likes me ... or wait, does mom even like me?" It's annoying, and counterproductive, and apparently useless, so why do we even have that? Well, it turns out your body's anxiety response isn't useless at all. It's actually a result of the all-important sympathetic nervous system, which is in charge of the fight-or-flight response, the reason you can respond quickly and spectacularly to sudden threats. It's there ...
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[♪ Scishow Theme ♪] We've all had a big test or a scary speech looming over us at some point, So everybody knows what anxiety feels like. Your guts feel all twisted up, you can't stop clenching your jaw, and instead of sleeping, you just lie awake thinking useless thoughts. Like, "My mom's the only person in the world who really likes me ... or wait, does mom even like me?" It's annoying, and counterproductive, and apparently useless, so why do we even have that? Well, it turns out your body's anxiety response isn't useless at all. It's actually a result of the all-important sympathetic nervous system, which is in charge of the fight-or-flight response, the reason you can respond quickly and spectacularly to sudden threats. It's there ...
