Many of us familiar with anxiety understand that our awareness can clearly affect our levels of anxious energy and stress. What we are aware of can clearly cause anxiety for us, and many can self-regulate this anxiety in a healthy way. Others do not have the same self-regulation and have to work harder to maintain a healthy stress level. But is limiting awareness a helpful tactic for minimizing anxiety? New research says no: if we avoid awareness mentally, body awareness is also lost. When this happens, we are unaware of stress that builds, and by the time it becomes noticeable, it is at a very high and usually overwhelming level.
Dr. Lori Haase and her team at University of California, San Diego have found that individuals who maintain awareness can adapt more positively to stress. TLDR; ignorance isn’t always bliss.
Click here to read the full article by Tom Bunn LCSW for Psychology Today.