When you are asked to take note, use the margin on the right to do so.

How to Stop Worrying

Cathy Perlmutter

Asked the secret of longevity, comedian George Burns once put it this way: "My attitude is, if something is beyond your control--if you can't do anything about it--there's no point worrying about it. And if you can do something about it, then there's still nothing to worry about." For most of us, unfortunately, the comedian's easygoing attitude isn't so easy to adopt. "We're a society that seems to worry a lot," says Pennsylvania State University worry researcher Denise Person, Ph.D. "If you watch the news, we go from crisis to crisis--one isn't even over before the next one starts." Most of us don't have to look as far as a national crisis for something to worry about. Surveys show that the most common sources of worry for Americans are family and relationships ("What if she leaves me?"), job or school ("What if I fail?"), health ("What if I get sick?"), and finances ("What if my check bounces?"). And then there's a miscellaneous category that includes everything from the environment to world peace. While most people worry about 5 percent of the time, for some people, worrying becomes a way of life. Chronic worriers report that an average of 50 percent of each day is spent worrying, and some report as much as 100 percent, says psychologist Jennifer L. Abel, Ph.D., associate director of the Stress and Anxiety Disorders Institute at Pennsylvania State University.