By Jumana Judeh, PhD

Imagine finally getting a chance to sit down and relax at the end of your day and then it happens, your mind starts wondering.  Did I get everything done that I needed to?  Are the kids ok?  Am I over my budget on the family expenses? How can I continue working long hours and maintain a certain level of sanity?  Well, you are not alone.  With everything women must deal with, science says that women experience overthinking more than men.  Chemically, when the brain does not focus on a specific task, its starts to occupy itself by reviewing the past, what happened, what didn’t happen.  This will surely result in anxiety at a time when you are tired and trying to relax.

There are two contributing factors to anxiety:  Genetics and the environment.  Researchers have discovered that there is a chromosome in each of us that is associated with anxiety. However, that is not an automatic that we will experience anxiety.  It is to stay that genetically we are prone to anxiety.  Researchers have also quantified that our anxiety can be attributed to this heritability trait by 26 percent.  If you have a parent with an anxiety disorder, the chances of have one is much greater.

The next question is what about the remaining 74 percent?  Most of our anxiety is due to our environment.  Our environment starts being shaped the day we are born.  How our parents raised us and what values did they instill, or not.  The atmosphere of the home you were raised in has a major impact on your anxiety as an adult.  Your relationship with your siblings, parents, friends, neighbors and teachers can feed into your anxiety as you get older.  The expectations society placed on you as you were growing up to go to college and succeed can be intense and difficult to overcome if you worry about what people will say.

We cannot do anything about our genetics, but we can certainly control our environment. We can learn to eliminate situations that surely will raise your anxiety level. Stay away from people that make you feel uncomfortable.  Do not put yourself in toxic situations.  You are responsible for making these decisions and only you can make those changes.  Do not worry about what will people say if you don’t attend a wedding, funeral, or a family function.  If such situations raise your anxiety level, stay away.  The decision is yours.

Let me know what you think: judehjumana@gmail.com