Rumination: the annoying vicious circle of thought

Although human beings have a good inventiveness, it is also true that we are not always especially imaginative and spontaneous.

There are some situations that make us more likely to make our mind go through the same familiar routes over and over again, as if we were a vinyl. These vicious circles of thought not only slow down our creativity, but also transform everything that over time makes us feel worse.

What is known in psychology as rumination is an example of this.

What is rumination?

The rumination of thought is the psychological phenomenon that appears when our focus of attention is "hooked" on a real or imaginary element what produces us stress and discomfort. That is, in rumination there is a paradox: something like thought, which by definition is dynamic and constantly changing, it becomes almost static and locked in a circuit that makes it move in loops.

Wherever there is rumination, there is also a person who is incapable of thinking without a good part of the things experiences, whether external stimuli or memories, make you think about your discomfort and the causes of this. Finding so many references to the origin of that feeling of regret and

anxiety, everything to which we direct our attention becomes a trapdoor through which we fall until we return to the place we were before: the consideration of the things that concern us.

This repetitive process causes that each time they accumulate in our memory more experiences that we have linked to stress on previous occasions, with which the variety of references to our discomfort grows over time.

When the thought goes on rails

Somehow, rumination causes our thinking to adopt an automated and repetitive pattern based on a simple mechanism: All the thoughts that occur to us will be woven together to be related to our discomfort. In this way, we lose the ability to concentrate and it is more difficult for us to manipulate ideas voluntarily, since all elements will end up shifting our attention to a specific experience or a thought that produces sensations negative.

As our thinking is trapped in this loop, it is difficult for us to take initiatives that can be used to download that accumulated stress, and this in turn will prevent us from finding stimulating distractions in which we can concentrate.

The outcome of the rumination of thought

In most cases, at some point the person experiencing rumination of thoughts spends enough time distracted to cause the loop to weaken and stress levels fall, but in other cases its persistence is associated with the appearance of the symptoms of depression.

In fact, one of the characteristics of depression is the lack of motivation and the ability to set goals that are not immediate, as well as the sedentary lifestyle, two factors that are also related to rumination.

Three ways to break the loop

If instead of waiting for the rumination to disappear by itself we prefer to take measures on our own, there are some strategies that can help in this regard.

The most useful and simple ones to reduce stress levels and free the focus of attention are the following:

1. Sport

Physical exercise It is a great help to combat rumination, among other things because, while it causes us to release endorphins, it requires us to focus on experiences that occur in real time.

After we get tired doing exercise, our muscles are not the only ones that begin to recover: neural connections also begin to connect with each other in a new way, after having been dedicated for a while to get closer to the goal of each physical exercise.

2. Mindfulness

The Mindfulness It has also been shown to be effective in reducing anxiety levels and in disengaging from sources of stress. Although it is true that even during meditation our thinking does not stop (it does not stop even while we sleep), during these sessions it takes alternative routes, and keeps us out of self-referential thinking that creates loops of discomfort and stress.

Other forms of meditation may have such benefits as well, but they have not been as scientifically studied.

3. To walk

Something as simple as going for a walk can help you think more spontaneously, in addition to serving to release endorphins and relieve tension. If this is done in natural environments with vegetation and away from noise, the better.

As in nature there is an atmosphere that helps us relax and, at the same time, it is difficult to find references direct to our daily routine and what causes us anxiety, these types of spaces are perfect for disconnect. During the time we spend in wild environments, Our brain it learns to function by going off the path marked by rumination, and that effect is fixed over time.