We’ve all had the occasional worry about a strange ache or a late-night Google spiral that convinced us we had a rare tropical disease — despite never having left the UK. But for some people, those worries about health can become constant, intrusive, and overwhelming.
If this sounds familiar, you may be experiencing health anxiety. The good news is: it’s very common, it’s not your fault, and there are proven ways to feel better. Let’s explore how your brain is wired to protect you — and how we can gently rewire it to work with you, not against you.
From a Solution Focused Hypnotherapy perspective, we look at two key parts of your brain:
The Intellectual Mind
This is your logical, rational, and solution-focused brain. It allows you to assess information calmly and make sensible decisions based on facts — for example, “This headache is probably from not drinking enough water” or “This lump on my leg is most probably where I banged it the other day.”
The Primitive Mind
This part of your brain evolved to keep you alive — scanning constantly for danger, triggering the fight-or-flight response, and reacting fast. But it can’t distinguish between a real threat (a sabre-toothed tiger lurking in the bushes) and a perceived one (a Google search result).
When you’re experiencing health anxiety, your primitive mind is hyper-sensitive and on high alert — interpreting minor body sensations as a life-threatening illness/ailment.
The Stress Bucket
Every negative thought, worry, or “what if” moment fills up your internal stress bucket. With health anxiety, that bucket fills quickly — especially with:
– Constant symptom checking
– Reassurance-seeking (but never quite believing the answers)
– Googling (aka “cyberchondria”)
– Hyper-awareness of bodily sensations
– Fear of being dismissed by professionals
When the stress bucket overflows, your brain stays stuck in survival mode, and the cycle continues: more anxiety, more checking, more fear.
How to reduce the symptoms
We need to calm your nervous system, rebalance your thought patterns, and activate the intellectual mind — where logic and rational thinking live. We can do this by:
– Breathing techniques calm down the nervous system and activate the parasympathetic nervous system (the rest and digest state) bringing us out of the sympathetic nervous system (flight-flight response) . You can find many breathing techniques online, the one I like to teach my clients is box breathing; inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4 and repeat…
– Grounding techniques use visualisation and senses including sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell to help distract you from various feelings and thoughts and help you return to the present moment. These can be physical (savour a piece of food/touch some ice), mental (memory games, multiplication), soothing (sit with your pet, visualise your favourite place). By practicing these techniques, you can better manage overwhelming emotions and increase your sense of control and presence.
– Meditation / Hypnosis (trance) guides you into a deeply relaxed state where the brain can process emotional stress and empty that overflowing bucket. Hypnosis and meditation promote relaxation and also enhances your REM sleep which will further empty the stress bucket. You can access my free hypnosis relaxation track here: https://olicohypnotherapy.co.uk/relaxation-mp3/
– Take a walk – exercise can be fantastic for reducing stress, even just 10 minutes. If you find yourself in a cycle of negative thinking try and focus on your steps and count your steps. Have you noticed a particular rhythm?
– Spend time with loved ones. Sharing positive interactions with your family and friends produces “feel good” hormones which helps to empty the stress bucket. Positive interaction gets you out of your own head and into a more connected, calmer space.
– Reframe your thoughts. This isn’t about pretending everything is fine when it’s not. It’s about reframing those anxious thoughts into something more constructive. Try asking yourself; “is this thought helpful?”, “where is the evidence for this? (Doctor Google doesn’t count here!)”, “What if it all turns out ok?”,
– Seek professional support. There are many types of therapies out there and it’s important that you find the right one for you. In a Solution Focused Hypnotherapy session we don’t analyse the past or dwell on the fear. Instead, we explore what’s going well, what calm would feel like, and what you’d notice if the health anxiety symptoms reduced. Then we put this into action by making small changes each week, helping you towards that calmer future. You can learn how to re-engage your intellectual mind, break the reassurance-seeking loop, and trust your body again.
Health anxiety is exhausting, isolating, and often misunderstood. But it’s not something you have to “just live with.” Your brain is simply trying to protect you — it just needs some retraining on what it needs to protect you against!
Ready to Take the First Step?
I offer a free initial consultation, where we can talk about how health anxiety is affecting you and how Solution Focused Hypnotherapy might help. Please feel free to get in touch if you would like to start your journey to your preferred future today.
Thanks
Bekki