Get Rid of Anxiety by Getting Older

Millennials (from early 20s to mid 30s) are much more anxiety-ridden that Baby Boomers .  Georgia Tech PhD candidate Brittany Corbett led a study that proves it scientifically.  She talks about Baby Boomers this way:

“They are focusing more on the goal of having a happier life and a better overall well-being. So they put forth their cognitive resources from not having memories of negative events. The younger adults are not.”

Brain scans were performed on both groups. When participants were shown pictures of disturbing scenes, the Boomers brains showed the region that controls higher thought (ventromedial prefrontal cortex) appearing to tell the region that controls negative emotion (amygdala) to reduce its activity!  With the millennials, the negative emotion region became more excited.

Corbett calls the phenomena "the positivity effect" and says it hinders bad memories from being created.  A millennial herself, Corbett learned from her study that dwelling on negative "what ifs" just doesn't lead to a peaceful, positive life.


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