Rumination: the annoying vicious circle of thought.

Obsessive thoughts that don't let us stay calm. Why do they appear and how to avoid them?

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

There are some situations that make us more prone 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 transform everything over time making us feel worse.

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

What is rumination?

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

Where there is rumination, there is also a person who is unable to think without a good part of the things he experiences, whether external stimuli or memories, making him think about his discomfort and its causes. By finding so many references to the origin of this feeling of gloom and anxiety, everything to which we direct our attention becomes a trap door through which we fall until we return to the place where we were before: the consideration of the things that worry us.

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

When thinking 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 spun together so that they are related to our discomfort.. In this way, we lose our ability to concentrate and it is more difficult for us to manipulate ideas voluntarily, since all the elements will end up shifting our attention towards a specific experience or a thought that produces negative feelings.

As our thoughts are trapped in this loop, it is difficult for us to take initiatives that can serve to relieve this accumulated stress, and this in turn will mean that we will not find stimulating distractions on which to concentrate.

The outcome of thought rumination

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

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

Three ways to break the loop

If instead of waiting for the rumination to go away on its own, we prefer to take action on our own, there are some strategies that can help, there are some strategies that can help in this regard.

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

1. Sport

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

After tiring ourselves out by exercising, our muscles are not the only ones that start to recover: neural connections also begin to connect with each other in a new way.after having been dedicated for some time to approaching the goal of each physical exercise.

2. Mindfulness

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

Other forms of meditation may also have benefits of this type, but have not been as scientifically studied.

3. Walking

Something as simple as going for a walk can help you think more spontaneously, as well as releasing endorphins.It can also serve 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 to relax and, at the same time, it is difficult to find direct references to our daily routine and to what makes us anxious, this kind of spaces are perfect to disconnect. During the time we spend in wild environments, our brain learns to function outside the route marked by rumination, and this effect is fixed over time.