Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
You're listening to TED Talks Daily. I'm Elise Hu. Global anxiety levels are on the way up in recent years. And anecdotally, that feels true. In our episode for the Way We Work series, neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki offers science-based tools to turn down the volume on our anxiety. I know I could use it. And by sticking around after the break, you can too.
Chapter 2: What evidence-based tools can help calm anxiety?
You know when you get that ambiguous email from your boss and you start to feel sweaty palms and that empty, freaked out sensation in your stomach? Welcome back, anxiety. Most of us think of anxiety as a bad thing, something to be avoided at all costs. But what if it weren't? What if you could take all of that energy racing around your brain and your body and transform it into something helpful?
Global anxiety levels, both the clinical kind and what I call the everyday kind, have increased tremendously in recent years. And many of us are noticing this at work. We might think of anxiety as something that we'd rather just leave on the side of the road if we could. But anxiety is an important tool that arose during our evolution that we use to avoid danger. It's essential for our survival.
So how come we don't even feel vaguely protected by it? It's because the volume of our individual and collective anxiety levels has been turned way up too high and too much of even a potentially good thing like anxiety is bad. So I would like to share two powerful science-based tools for turning down the volume on our anxiety levels.
and helping us get anxiety back to its helpful protective state. And both of these tools begin by connecting with our bodies. Tool number one is breath work. It's just simple, deep breathing. Slowly inhale and exhale.
This can be one of the most immediate ways to calm anxiety because deep breath directly activates the natural de-stressing part of our nervous systems called the parasympathetic nervous system. I recommend a boxed breathing approach, which is 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.
You can even do this in the middle of any anxiety provoking conversation and no one will even know. Lots of people, from ancient monks to modern meditators, have figured this tool out and use it all the time. Tool number two, moving your body. This one also has immediate positive effects on your mood state, but for a different reason.
Every time you move your body, you're releasing a whole bunch of beneficial neurochemicals in your brain. These neurochemicals include dopamine, serotonin, noradrenaline, and endorphins. Mood and reward boosting neurochemicals that work to both increase positive mood states and decrease negative ones.
I like to say that every single time you move your body, it's like giving yourself a wonderful bubble bath of neurochemicals for your brain. So when your boss's email comes in and your heart starts to race, what exactly can you do? If you're in an office, try taking a short walk around the block or even to the supply closet for some sticky notes.
If you're working from home, put on two of your favorite songs and dance around the living room like no one is watching. Studies have shown that all it takes is 10 minutes of walking to get those mood-boosting effects.
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