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Most of the time people think wandering occurs during free time or a lot of time to yourself. So do wandering thoughts have much of an effect on mood, and what makes wandering thoughts worse? The following article will learn about the above problem.
1. What is thought wandering?
Research from scientists shows that wandering or wandering thoughts often occur at leisure times or when people have a lot of time for themselves. Wandering thoughts are defined as thoughts that are independent of stimuli and they can occur at rest or when brain activity is unfocused. For example, experiences when you arrive at work but have no memory or recollection of moving along the way, which means you are in a state of mind wandering.
Many scientists have done studies on the things that people often think of in wandering thoughts. For example, Matt Killingsworth's study performed on a mobile app for study subjects, the results showed that miscellaneous thoughts took up 47% of the time in each person, and out of 22 activities. activities listed by participants such as working, exercising, sexual activity, shopping, etc., people's wandering thoughts accounted for the lowest percentage in sexual activities (10%) and many in bathing and grooming activities (65%).
2. What makes wandering thoughts worse?
Activities that require little concentration or when you rest, especially in the evening, your brain will tend to drift very far away with constant thoughts, thinking back to the past, about the present , future and generate positive or negative thoughts, daydreams or regrets.
Many studies have shown the effects of mind wandering on people's mood, according to which most people have a negative, unhappy mood when their mind wanders. Even if you engage in activities that are not your hobby, but you focus on them, they bring more joy and happiness than when you get caught up in thoughts that wander aimlessly. The results of research by Matt Killingsworth also show that when our minds wander, our interest in the activity we are doing is eclipsed.
So what turns wandering thoughts into worse things? To answer this question, scientists have conducted studies to understand how miscellaneous thoughts lead people to a brooding state in which negative thoughts are constantly repeated. . The study was conducted by recording the thoughts of the participants during 10 minutes of doing nothing and letting their thoughts wander. The results showed that most of the participants thought about the present and the future with negative or neutral thoughts, of which about 3⁄4 of the thoughts focused on themselves or imagining the future.
Especially for people with negative thoughts, it is likely that their ideas in the near future will tend to be negative. In other words, negative thoughts created a chain of reactions of more negative thoughts. In contrast, positive thoughts are less affected by the thoughts that follow, so positivity helps widen positive thoughts during mind wandering, but negativity narrows negative thoughts. negative thinking during human mind wandering.
suy nghĩ lan man tiêu cực ảnh hưởng đến cuộc sống của người
Lack of concentration is the source of wandering thoughts. In wandering thoughts, the majority of the negatives overwhelm the positives, which also helps explain why the mind-wandering often accompanies depression and anxiety.
A study conducted by Michael Coccia et al showed that mind wandering is related to the psychological stress people are experiencing and daily communication activities. The cause is explained by the need for chronic stressors to deplete the psychophysiological resources needed for people to regulate attention, which in turn leads to miscellaneous and wandering thoughts. In addition, mind wandering was more frequent and with greater frequency in people with chronic stress. This is explained by chronically stressed people using mind-wandering to get them out of their current stresses and pressures, and not engage with reality or difficult emotions.
Thus, wandering thoughts often lead to negative effects, psychological stress and are the cause of anxiety disorders and depression in people.
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