ORLANDO, Fla. – Studies show chronic anxiety makes a person at least 2.5 times more likely to later develop dementia.
Researchers in Australia recently found that once anxiety symptoms resolved or were properly treated, there was no association with an increased risk of dementia.
Many times social anxieties can surface when a person is trying to network to advance their career or going on interviews.
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Wednesday on Breakfast With Bridgett, licensed clinical social worker, Kenny Tello, talked about getting to the roots of what’s causing anxiety and how to get past it to reach your goals.
Tello says improvement starts with practice. Try recording yourself for two minutes and watching it back to look for ways to improve both non-verbal cues as well as tone.
“You think you’re speaking too loud when in reality you’re not and that’s something I notice when I work with introverts. I tell them ‘OK on a scale from 1-10 you’re speaking at a three, I need you to speak at a 7′ and they say ‘I feel like I’m screaming’, and I say ‘You’re not. Because when you’re speaking at a 3,’ It comes off like you lack confidence and you’re insecure,” said Tello.
Not only that but what you’re talking about and how well you can listen speaks volumes.
“Practice your elevator speech, what would you say in your first 15-20 seconds when you’re introducing yourself or meeting someone for the first time? Also, have 2-3 questions you like to ask the individual besides ‘What do you do?’,” he said. “One thing I always say is you have to be much more interested than interesting, meaning listen more than you want to speak because, for the most part, most people like to talk about themselves anyways, so if you’re introverted, you can leverage that anyway.”
Tello said a career counselor or life coach is a good place to start if you feel anxiety is hindering you in general. But if symptoms of anxiety are at a debilitating level, a therapist can guide you to finding relief.
Catch Breakfast with Bridgett, every weekday morning at 7:30 on News 6 Plus.