Mind Spinning? Here’s How to Stop It

Do you ever find yourself having repetitive negative thoughts that you can’t turn off?

It may not seem worth addressing, but your daily thoughts and behaviors can have a strong effect on your brain chemistry, affecting your moods, motivation, and ability to focus and follow through on things. Repetitive negative thoughts or concerns can cause tension, stomachaches, headaches, and irritability.

People who get stuck on negative thoughts often have too much activity in the frontal lobes of the brain, especially in the brain’s gear-shifter, called the ACG (anterior cingulate gyrus), which is involved with mental flexibility and "going with the flow."

When there is heightened ACG activity, which is usually due to lower serotonin levels, people can have trouble shifting attention, are prone to worry and hold on to past hurts, and can be cognitively rigid and inflexible.

Here are five strategies to help balance the brain and gain control of racing thoughts.

1. Practice thought stopping—If you notice thoughts looping or are getting stuck in your head, picture a stop sign in your head and say to yourself: “Stop! This is my ACG getting stuck!” You could also wear a rubber band on your wrist and snap it when you notice thoughts starting to loop.
2. Distract yourself—If you’re stuck on a thought, try distracting yourself and come back to the problem later. This could be singing, listening to music, taking a walk, doing a chore, playing with a pet, doing a structured meditation, or focusing on a word and not letting any other thoughts to come into your mind.
3. Write it down—Write down any thoughts that are getting stuck to get them out of your head. Seeing something on paper can help you deal with it in a rational way. Then you can make a list of things you can and can’t do about that concern.
4. Talk it out—If you can’t get rid of repetitive thoughts on your own, seek counsel of others. Sometimes talking about feeling stuck can open up new options.
5. Boost serotonin levels—Boosting serotonin can help calm a busy brain, so try eating complex carbohydrates (e.g., sweet potatoes and chickpeas), exercising, and consuming supplements to raise serotonin levels (e.g., omega-3 fatty acids, 5-HTP, inositol, tryptophan, and St. John’s Wort).