Is there a benefit to being a 'worrier'?

Is there a positive side to worrying? According to one study, worrying may be a sign of intelligence. A team at Lakehead University in Ontario surveyed 126 undergraduate students with questions to measure their intelligence as well as their anxiety level. The results pointed to a strong correlation between worrying and intelligence.

The research showed that verbally intelligent people may be more likely to think of past and future events in greater detail, leading to more anxiety. On the other hand, those with a high non-verbal intelligence may be better at processing non-verbal social signals and tend to worry less.

"The study suggests that some anxiety may be part of being a high achiever," says Dr. Andrew Gordon, a neurologist at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington. "It makes sense that highly intelligent people may worry more because they are able to digest more information and see multiple sides of a particular issue."

While this may be good news for incessant worriers, Dr. Gordon cautions that most research has actually found a negative correlation between anxiety, intelligence and performance. Some studies have also found that health problems can result from excessive anxiety.