Why Trying Harder Doesn’t Make Anxiety Better

In many areas of life if you try harder, focus more, consciously push further, then performance and success improve. It is tempting to extend that logic to all areas of life, but medically that principle does not always work. In truth, only specific portions of our body’s activities are open to conscious guidance, while many other realms function below the level of daily awareness. They are “sleeping” functions. What are these? One, quite literally, is sleep; but other related “sleeping” processes include recuperation, regeneration, digestion, and metabolism. These don’t necessarily get better by trying harder. Just ask yourself: “When I am having trouble sleeping, does trying harder to fall asleep make it better?” or “If I have a stomach ache, does concentrating on the pain make it go away faster?” The answer is usually no.