Time magazine recently had a story on this interesting topic. This followed a recent study which showed that people are more stressed about only the possibility of some discomfort coming their way than when they knew for certain something bad was about to happen.
Two examples cited were: “Knowing for sure that your plane is cancelled might be less stressful than kept in nervous suspense as it is repeatedly delayed”. “Another might be waiting for medical results. If you’re confident that it’s gone well, or if you’re certain it’s gone badly, you might not be as stressed as when you’re completely uncertain about the outcome”.
Lead study author, Archy de Berker of University College London, commented further:
“Uncertainty is difficult for the brain because it makes it hard to figure out what to do and what decisions to make.
“Stress – both the arousal component and the unpleasantness of it – help us deal with uncertain situations possibly making us more alert, and also incentivises us to avoid them.
“Practices such as meditation could help mediate the stressful reaction to uncertainty. Some meditative or religious practices which extol the virtue of acknowledging only the present, or accepting our fate, might help reduce stress by attenuating our sensitivity to uncertainty.”