Anxiety

How to Stop Worrying and End Anxious Thoughts

Last updated on February 27, 2026

Are you plagued by constant worries, fears, and anxious thoughts, especially about things you can’t control? These tips can help calm your worried mind, ease anxiety, and end negative thinking.

By Lawrence Robinson, Melinda Smith, M.A. and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D.

How to stop worrying

Worries, doubts, and anxieties are a normal part of life. It’s natural to worry about an unpaid bill, an upcoming job interview, or a first date. But “normal” worry becomes excessive when it’s persistent and uncontrollable. You worry every day about “what ifs” and worst-case scenarios, you can’t get anxious thoughts out of your head, and it interferes with your daily life.

Constant worrying, negative thinking, and always expecting the worst can take a toll on your emotional and physical health. It can sap your emotional strength, leave you feeling restless and jumpy, cause insomnia, headaches, stomach problems, and muscle tension, and make it difficult to concentrate at work or school.

You may take your negative feelings out on the people closest to you, self-medicate with alcohol or drugs, or try to distract yourself by zoning out in front of screens. Chronic worrying can also be a major symptom of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), a common anxiety disorder that involves tension, nervousness, and a general feeling of unease that colors your whole life.

If you’re plagued by exaggerated worry and tension, there are steps you can take to turn off anxious thoughts. Chronic worrying is a mental habit that can be broken. You can train your brain to stay calm and look at life from a more balanced, less fearful perspective.

Signs you worry too much

The consequences of chronic worrying can manifest in various ways. Here are some examples of the physical, mental, and behavioral symptoms of constant worrying:

Restlessness. You may feel physically jittery, or restless and unfocused at work or school because your attention is so focused on your worries.

Fatigue. You can feel exhausted if your body’s stress response is active for too long. You may find yourself sleeping a lot but quickly feeling tired again.

Sleeplessness. On the other hand, your worries can keep you awake at night. You might have a hard time quieting your thoughts before bed, kept awake by the various “what-if” situations running through your head.

Muscle tension and pain. Many people carry stress in their bodies. You might clench your jaw when you’re worried, for example, which can trigger headaches. Or you may adopt a rigid posture, which causes aches and pains in other parts of the body.

Self-medication. You may self-medicate by turning to drugs or alcohol to change how you feel, or try to distract yourself from your worries by gambling or spending too much time online.

Changes in social life. The effects of chronic worrying can also spill over into your social life. You might find that you become short-tempered with people around you, or even self-isolate…

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