BBC Learnings · Section 10

Anxiety and evolution Has anxiety been good for humans

Do you ever experience anxiety, Neil? Anxiety?

Level: B1 · 120 sentences

Transcript

  1. Do you ever experience anxiety, Neil?
  2. Anxiety?
  3. Yes, you know, a feeling of being really worried
  4. or nervous without any real reason.
  5. Well, not really, but I know
  6. for some people it can be quite a serious problem.
  7. Well, anxiety may be a result of natural selection.
  8. Natural selection? You mean the principle behind evolution?
  9. Yes, the idea that life on this planet
  10. has developed as a result of random changes
  11. in biology over many, many years.
  12. So why have anxiety?
  13. That seems like a negative rather
  14. than a positive thing to develop.
  15. Well, we'll find out more in this programme.
  16. But before we do, a quiz.
  17. Charles Darwin is famous for describing evolution by natural selection.
  18. What was the name of the ship he travelled
  19. on when he made his discoveries?
  20. Was it... a HMS Beagle, b HMS Badger or c HMS Bear?
  21. What do you think, Neil?
  22. Well, I'm pretty sure I know this one,
  23. so I'm not going to give away the answer just yet.
  24. Well, you can let me know at the end
  25. of the programme before I give the answer.
  26. Right, Dr Randolph Nessie is a doctor and psychologist.
  27. He's written a lot about how evolution has an impact
  28. on our mental condition, particularly anxiety.
  29. Recently he spoke on BBC Radio 4's Start the Week programme about this topic.
  30. Listen out for the answer to this question.
  31. How long did he treat patients
  32. at the University of Michigan for?
  33. Natural selection has shaped all organisms to have special states
  34. to cope with certain kinds of circumstances.
  35. I treated patients with anxiety disorders
  36. for 40 years at the University of Michigan.
  37. It was only halfway through that I started realising
  38. that anxiety is there for a good reason.
  39. So Neil, how long did he treat patients
  40. for at the University of Michigan?
  41. He says that he did that for 40 years,
  42. but it was only after about 20 years
  43. or so that he realised that we suffer
  44. from anxiety for a good reason.
  45. We'll find out that reason shortly,
  46. but first he said that natural selection has shaped all organisms.
  47. This means that we are the result of natural selection.
  48. It has made us what we are.
  49. And it has made us able to cope with different situations.
  50. To cope with means being able to deal with, being able to manage a difficult situation.
  51. And anxiety, if it's not too great,
  52. is a way of dealing with particular situations.
  53. Let's hear from Dr Nessie again.
  54. Natural selection has shaped all organisms to have special states
  55. to cope with certain kinds of circumstances.
  56. I treated patients with anxiety disorders
  57. for 40 years at the University of Michigan.
  58. It was only halfway through that I started realising
  59. that anxiety is there for a good reason.
  60. So why is anxiety a necessary thing?
  61. Why is it something that, within
  62. reason, is not a bad emotion?
  63. Here's Dr Nessie talking about his patients
  64. who suffer from too much anxiety.
  65. What you're having is a normal kind of emergency response,
  66. which is great in life-threatening situations.
  67. But for you, it's a false alarm like a smoke
  68. detector going off when you burn the toast.
  69. And after that, many of my patients
  70. said, oh, that makes perfect sense.
  71. I think I won't need your help after all, Doctor.
  72. So, what is anxiety?
  73. Well, it's your body reacting to danger,
  74. like an emergency response, a warning.
  75. In really dangerous situations, which could harm you or even kill you,
  76. which Dr Nessie describes as life-threatening situations,
  77. it's a useful response to warn you to take
  78. action or to prepare for action.
  79. But some people experience anxiety when there's no real danger.
  80. It's a false alarm, like when you burn the toast
  81. and the smoke detector alarm starts,
  82. or as he says, goes off.
  83. And he says that some patients can feel less worried
  84. after that when they realise anxiety is a natural thing.
  85. Let's hear from Dr Nessie again.
  86. What you're having is a normal kind of emergency response,
  87. which is great in life-threatening situations.
  88. But for you, it's a false alarm like a smoke
  89. detector going off when you burn the toast.
  90. And after that, many of my patients
  91. said, oh, that makes perfect sense.
  92. I think I won't need your help after all, Doctor.
  93. Time now to review today's vocabulary.
  94. But first, let's have the answer to the quiz question.
  95. What was the name of the ship Charles Darwin travelled
  96. on when he made his discoveries about evolution?
  97. Was it a HMS Beagle, b HMS Badger or c HMS Bear?
  98. What did you think, Neil?
  99. Well, I'm pretty sure it's HMS Beagle.
  100. Well, you are right.
  101. Charles Darwin travelled on HMS Beagle.
  102. Congratulations if you also knew that.
  103. Now on with today's vocabulary.
  104. We were talking about anxiety, a feeling of being worried or scared,
  105. a feeling that something isn't quite right.
  106. Dr Nessie suggests that anxiety is a result of natural selection.
  107. This is the principle of evolution whereby random changes
  108. in the biology of a living thing can make
  109. it more likely to survive in a particular environment.
  110. These changes shape the living thing.
  111. They make it what it is.
  112. They help it to cope with different situations,
  113. which means that they help it
  114. manage or deal with those situations.
  115. A life-threatening situation is a very dangerous situation
  116. which could cause serious injury or even death.
  117. And finally, there was the phrasal verb to go off.
  118. For example, if an alarm goes off,
  119. it means that it starts making
  120. a loud noise as a warning.