Do women worry more...

"Worrying is like a rocking chair it will give you something to do but it won't get you anywhere!"

I have spoken to so many women this week who have all shared different levels of anxiety, which is really common. 

For every 3 cases of anxiety two occur in women (depression shares a similar statistic).This gender gap seems to establish itself at puberty and remains well into old age. However, women and men also report a difference in the types and intensity of symptoms.  

Girls and women tend to develop what are called internalising disorders and are often noticed for the first time around adolescence these include - 

Panic disorders, phobias, social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and eating disorder.

Anxiety is the most common mental health condition globally, with one in three women and one in five men will experience anxiety at some point in their lives.

Feelings of anxiety stem from an abnormal regulation of fear. But being aware of fear is exactly what our brain has evolved to do in order to stay safe.  Fear is our alarm system enabling us to fight, flee or survive danger.

When fear persists or is out of proportion to the reality of the threat it gets in the way of you living your life and you may experience high levels of anxiety. Symptoms of anxiety often developed slowly over time and given that we all experience worry and anxiousness at various points in our lives it can be hard to know when too much how much is too much.

Behaviours such as avoidance of situations that make you feel anxious which can impact your study, work or social life Feelings and thoughts such as excessive fear, worry, catastrophizing or obsessive thinking. Physical symptoms such as panic attacks, hot and cold flashes, raised heart rate, tightening of the chest, quick breathing, restlessness, feeling tense wound up or edgy. 

So can we blame our hormones for part of this gap between men and women? 

Clinical studies indicate that our mental health is more fragile when oestrogen levels dwindle this can be throughout our monthly cycle or throughout our life span. Such as menopause or giving birth.

Oestrogen can help you feel more confident, outgoing and social. It can even help us to view our appearance more positively!

But oestrogen isn't the only factor, women are more prone to “Inner Mean Girl”, negative self-talk and when we engage in this the voice tends to be louder and meaner than in males.

Women are also more prone to rumination, mentally chewing over intense emotional experiences and their possible causes rather than focusing on moving forward with proactive solutions and actions.

So, what can you do if you feel anxious...

Well everyone is different and there is no one size fits all. It can be trial and error but there is one thing that has the biggest impact and that’s action. 

Time of the month causing you anxiety -Action

Try “cycle-syncing”   and plan your month to allow you time to care for yourself around the time oestrogen plummets (just before or during your period) 

Inner Mean Girl:

Action - be aware of your self-talk and agree to work on what is not acceptable to tell yourself and come up with some positive statements instead of the old stories you tell yourself.

Rumination:

Action – give yourself some limited Hippo Time (time to wallow) then create a plan for your next step of action. 

Once again though human connection, love and affection remain the ultimate buffer so reach out, speak up and stay connected to the positive people in your life.

P.s there is no judgment, I've spent a lot of time on the rocking chair!