Steps to help manage anxiety around investment decisions

We’re familiar with the knowledge that people are prone to a fight or flight fear response when faced with challenging situations, and that the modern world and our brains are perhaps badly matched when dealing with today’s stresses.

After all, most everyday stresses don’t require an immediate reaction, instead they cause anxiety to build up impacting our lives and the decisions we make.

Dr Hannah Critchlow, neuroscientist, broadcaster and best-selling author, spoke with us about how we can manage anxiety, particularly when it comes to important decisions about our investments.

She explained that the amygdala is the part of the brain responsible for our threat response. When it is sparked, anxiety kicks in. With our investments this could be due to unfavourable news about markets or political instability. To restore balance to our decision-making abilities we need to use other parts of our brains.

There are steps we can take to bring balance to our decision making

Listen to our Wisdom Share podcast episode featuring Dr Hannah Critchlow.