Anxiety in the United States Is Increasing
Anxious people are characterized by extreme mental uneasiness or brooding fear about some contingency.1
If you are anxious, you are not alone—the U.S. is experiencing an anxiety crisis. Anxiety is highest among adults ages 18–29 and decreases with age and is higher among women than men.2 It is also higher among those with low income and less education. In 2024, 43% of adults say they feel more anxious than in the previous year, up from 37% in 2023 and 32% in 2022.3 Anxiety is most serious for U.S. youth younger than 18.
Based on the percentage of 9th‒12th graders reporting hopelessness or sadness lasting every day for 2 or more consecutive weeks that prevented them from doing some of their usual activities, U.S. youth are more anxious than 99 percent of youth in other middle- and high-income countries.
For all ages, the U.S. is in the bottom 11 percent in depression and anxiety, worst of all in fatal overdoses, and in the bottom 16 percent in suicides among these countries.4
Some Anxiety Adds Spice to Life
Some anxiety can be beneficial. It’s like adding salt to food. Too little of it and life can be boring and tasteless. In school, I would have studied less and scored lower on tests without the helpful anxiety of failing that motivated me to prepare for them.
Chronic Anxiety Negatively Affects Our Health
Too much anxiety threatens our health. An overdose of anxiety negatively affects our physical well-being. Our back, stomach, and head hurt, and ulcers join our team uninvited. A skin rash erupts. We feel a sense of doom and our hearts pound. We become irritable.
As a teenager, I made a phone call for a school project to a person I didn’t know and ended the evening with a bright red rash on my neck. I would have chosen a cold shower instead of the call, but that wasn’t an option.
Anxiety interferes with our sleep, increases our tiredness and trips to the bathroom, and steals our appetite.
We might not notice our blood pressure and muscle tension increasing or chemical changes in our blood occurring. If anxiety persists, our health invariably suffers sooner or later although no virus or bacteria are involved.
Anxiety clouds thought processes, diminishes memory, hamstrings productivity, and hurts our ability to relate to others. In Part Two we will consider how the Bible can help us deal with anxiety. See additional free spiritual growth resources for Christians. #discipleshipresources #evangelismresources #christianleadershipresources
3. Psychiatry.org - American Adults Express Increasing Anxiousness in Annual Poll; Stress and Sleep are Key Factors Imp
See free spiritual growth resources for Christians at https://www.christiangrowthresources.com.
God has empowered me to write “His Power for Your Weakness—260 Steps Toward Spiritual Strength.” It’s a free evangelistic, devotional, and discipleship eBook. Pastors have used it in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia to lead more than 3,196 people to Christ and teach the basics of Christianity to 9,019 people. I invite you to check it out.
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