A recent study at Michigan State University suggests that anxious women suffer with brains that are overactive even when faced with simple tasks. This indicates a large amount of mental energy yearning for an outlet, and expressing itself in the form of anxiety. Jason Moser, a Michigan State psychologist led a study into this issue based on both male and female sufferers of anxiety. He used an electrode cap to measure electrical activity in the brain when faced with easy tasks. Seventy male participants and seventy-nine female participants were asked to identify the middle letter in sets of five letters. They were shown a series of letter formations ranging from the simple (“FFFFF”) to the more difficult (“EEFEE”). After this test, they were asked to complete questionnaires about how much the tasks had worried them.
Results showed that men and women were approximately equal in their response to easy versions of the task. However, with the introduction of more difficult letter formations, the women showed a lower level of performance and a higher level of brain activity and stress. Jason Moser analysed these results by saying that women’s brains had to work harder to complete these tasks because they had more distracting thoughts and worries. He suggests that anxiety can have a more debilitating effect on women than men and make them more prone to burn-out.
The results of Michigan State’s study provide interesting material with which to examine the question of anxiety. They may also point to the way in which the childhood experience of anxiety can develop in later life. Accordingly, future research seeks to investigate the part played by oestrogen in this issue. The research can serve as a reminder of the importance of ensuring wellbeing for women. Subject to the ravages of the female cycle, they can experience much more hormonal disruption to their emotional wellness than the average male.