5 Science-Backed Ways to Worry Less in Your Day-to-Day Life

Everyone experiences feelings of worry from time to time. You might find yourself growing anxious about traffic during your morning commute, or tossing and turning at night after tallying up the bills. This is a normal part of, well, being human.

The good news? “The more aware we can become of our worries, the more opportunities we have to choose what we wish to do with them,” says Cecily Sakai, Psy.D., a licensed clinical psychologist based in Honolulu. For example, would you like to start meditating to help you stay calm during your morning commute, or should you handle your finances in the morning to give yourself more time to let go of money stress before bedtime?

Learning to manage these thoughts and feelings can help improve your quality of life—and your health. Worry may be linked to a whole host of health issues, like an overproduction of cortisol (also known as the stress hormone), heart disease, reduced immune function, and problems sleeping, according to findings from a study published in 2020 in the journal Clinical Psychological Science.