Do you have negative and recurring thoughts? Thinking too much can sometimes be harmful too. Mental rumination is one of the signs of leading a life full of stress. Do you suffer from it?
Do you think too much about past mistakes? Can’t you stop repeating the same things over and over again? vicious thoughts? Rumination is one of the consequences of a life full of stress and anxiety, and although it is an attitude that many of us recognize, most of us do not give it much importance.
Ruminating or rumination is likened to a broken record that constantly plays in our mind. Every time you think about the argument with your partner or your friends and replay it over and over again, you are facing your thoughts. ruminative This vicious cycle occurs when people overthink or obsess over certain situations that have happened during the day.
Many researches have shown that ruminate thoughts It is associated with a wide variety of consequences that can be really negative (such as anxiety, depression, excessive alcohol consumption, among many more). Nolen-Hoeksema, a professor of psychology at Yale University, points out that the state of rumination may be due to individuals having a very high dose of stress in their lives. Furthermore, studies show a clear tendency among women for this type of ruminative thoughts.
Another of psychologist Nolen-Hoeksema’s observations is that one of the fuels for rumination They are relationships with others. Through these social situations, individuals prone to ruminative thoughts have the ideal fuse to not stop thinking about everything negative that others may have thought about them.
Why does rumination lead to such harmful results?
Face every day a cycle of negative thoughts It can be very harmful to your health. Constant rumination can cause you to be stuck in the past and not enjoy each of the moments that the present offers you. Ruminating thoughts always resort to memories of the most negative things from the past or interpret situations in a completely distorted way. Having these types of images and speeches in your mind is an inexhaustible source to see life with much darker tones. Mental rumination involves stopping focusing on the good things about the past, present and future.
Ruminations not only affect the person in question, but also their closest circle. An individual with constant negative thoughts makes the people closest to him feel frustrated because he cannot get them out of that constant loop. Furthermore, subjects who are immersed in ruminative thinking may feel helpless in many situations. The cause is that the rumination leads to affecting problem-solving skills. Worrying so much about a problem means that you cannot go beyond the negative thoughts that keep arising in your mind.
Consequences of ruminating or overthinking
These vicious thoughts They make subjects unable to focus on new perceptions and become trapped in emotional and psychological distress. Although it may seem that rumination only has consequences for mental health, the reality is that it affects many more aspects.
They trap you in a vicious circle: Stopping rumination can even be considered a heroic act. Turn to these ruminative thoughts It can be really addictive for individuals. People prone to rumination feel almost forced to keep doing it.
Increases the chances of suffering from depression: Spend all day with a ruminative thinking that constantly takes you to negative situations and emotions can cause you to fall into depression. These pain-filled thoughts cause individuals to end up seeing the entire reality distorted.
It is associated with an increased risk of alcohol abuse: Many of the people who ruminations dominate their mind they turn to alcohol as a patch to leave them aside. Drinking causes rumination and all its consequences, such as sadness and irritability, to lose strength for a few moments.
It can lead to eating disorders: Food and emotions often go hand in hand. Some people use food to try to manage the feelings of distress that our emotions can cause. overthinking
Encourages negative thinking: Focus most of the day on negative ideas and corrupted states of thought It makes us only able to see this part of life. This is how rumination colors our perceptions so that we begin to see everything with a dark halo.
Induces poor problem solving: Being trapped in this mental rumination loop or ruminative thinking It makes you face life with half-recharged batteries. For this same reason, when facing day-to-day problems, these individuals have much more difficulties.
Increases stress: The constant ruminations They increase stress responses both psychologically and physiologically. In this way, an incessant ruminative state can increase the risks of cardiovascular disease.
If you are interested in how to stop ruminating thoughts and try abandon ruminations, there are some proven methods that help to achieve this. The fundamental thing in these mental states is to fight and be constant to be able to combat them and eliminate them once and for all.
Engage in activities that encourage positive thoughts: One of the best ways to leave rumination behind is to replace negativity with more positive thoughts. Some of the activities with which you can achieve this are team sports or creative and meditative activities such as yoga and the arts. The goal of these hobbies is basic: to make the ruminations go away and stop taking the mind control
Solve the problems: The mental rumination It has consequences such as seeing problems where there are none. For this reason, one of the best exercises to be able to overcome the ruminative act is to solve these questions that arise with rational answers. Doing this exercise will make you let go of a part of the negativity since you will see that there are no logical reasons to continue with these thoughts.
Practice mindfulness: Meditation with full attention, better known as mindfulness, is one of the most effective ways against mental rumination Living fully in the present and leaving both the past and the future behind is one of the best weapons against this type of thinking.
Breathing exercises: Breathing is one of the most useful tools against stress and bad thoughts. There are many breathing exercises to calm the mind and let go of the negativity Having space to breathe deeply and do exercises of this style will reduce rumination.
Although everyone may have times where ruminations invade a large part of your mental life, the reality is that many of us can suffer from them constantly. One of the most effective ways to stop them will be through the help of a professional psychologist with whom you will learn techniques to erase them from your mind.
