Spanish twins, Emilio and Ivan Martinez

moved thousands of miles to LA,

where they became hugely famous

for making content.

But living far from home in a house of other teenagers

filled them with anxiety

that they are still struggling with.

-We were 17. We were young. -We were young.

We were young, and...

and that's...

that's where we started being anxious 'cause...

we were down and we didn't know how to handle it.

Yup.

[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]

NARRATOR: The School of Life is sending

some of YouTube's most popular creators

on a series of field trips,

to explore some of philosophy's most intriguing ideas.

This time, the Martinez Twins...

♪ Martinez Twins ♪

♪ We're about to hit it ♪

NARRATOR: ...best known for their online videos, blogs and pranks,

are looking at anxiety.

An issue the twins...

have had to deal with themselves.

I think for us, anxiety is the biggest problem

-we have right now. -Yeah.

NARRATOR: Anxiety has replaced depression

as the number one mental health issue.

For many people, it's characterized

as overwhelming feelings of loneliness,

inadequacy and failure.

Magnified by social media

with its never-ending images of unattainable perfection.

In this video,

we're going to discover

how the Martinez Twins experience the situation

that sent their anxiety levels through the roof.

They'll discover more about what makes them anxious, and why.

And then we'll learn some practical steps we can all take

to help us avoid anxiety.

But first...

A 60-second guide to anxiety.

We live in a time of high anxiety,

with social media providing constant updates

on just how much fun and success everyone else is having.

Why is everyone else enjoying a better career,

more friends, nicer stuff and better sex than we are.

It's the age of ultimate FOMO.

But there's nothing new about our constant state of anxiety.

Being anxious is just who we are.

Countless generations of evolution

have favored the survival of the natural-born warrior.

-[MAN SCREAMS] -The ones who didn't worry, got eaten by wild animals.

-[GROWLS] -But there is an antidote,

of sorts. Previous cultures

could draw upon deep wells of spirituality

to assure them that everything was fine.

They didn't worry about every little detail

because they believed that ultimately

they were part of a bigger plan.

A tiny cog in a giant machine.

Can we rediscover that freedom from anxiety

by letting go of our egos?

Finding relief and even taking delight

in the knowledge that it's not all about us.

Accepting that we and everyone else on the planet

are just fallible imperfect warriors

won't stop us from being anxious,

but could it stop us being anxious

about being anxious?

EMILIO: We were born in Spain

and we started making videos on the internet,

having fun, and we didn't know

-this was about... -...to be our life.

NARRATOR: Having built a following at home in Spain,

the Martinez twins moved to America,

to join a group of other young influencers

who lived together in a house in Los Angeles.

Within just three months, their fan base soared

from 400,000 subscribers to over three million.

[CROWD CHANTING] Go, Martinez! Go, Martinez!

NARRATOR: But the environment they found themselves in

became hugely stressful for the 17-year-olds.

Away from home for the first time,

barely speaking English,

and without any family support,

the twins experienced overwhelming feelings of anxiety.

And moved back to Spain,

where they stopped creating content altogether.

I want to say thank you to, um, our fans.

-We love you guys so much. -Bye, guys.

-Peace. -Peace.

NARRATOR: So, where does the feeling of anxiety actually come from?

Dean Burnett is a doctor of neuroscience,

who explains the physical origin of anxiety

in the evolution of the brain.

A lot of this anxiety is down to

how our brains have evolved and developed,

but they've done this over millions of years.

Of course, the modern world is only a few 100 years old,

and our brains simply haven't had the time to develop

ways to recognize and cope with modern threats, dangers and issues

which cause anxiety.

So, if you see the brain here,

this part at the top there, that's the neocortex.

That's the most complex part of the brain.

That's the human part of the brain

where all our imagination and planning

and thinking and language comes from.

That's relatively new,

and evolved less than two million years ago.

Whereas this part here, the limbic system in the middle,

that's where the threat response comes from.

That's like 50 million years old or older.

That's from a time when we were primitive creatures.

We were constantly encountering predators and dangers and risks.

Whereas now we have taken control over the world.

And as a result of this,

the fundamental parts of our brain

which control the fear and anxiety response,

they don't really have the ability

to tell the difference between

-being chased by a lion... -IVAN: Mmm-hmm.

DEAN: ...and the possibility of putting a video online

-that people don't like and having a negative reaction. -Yeah.

So, the brain responds to these things

in the same way when it shouldn't.

People your age are actually far more prone to anxiety

because the parts of your brain

which tell those fundamentals bits,

"Keep quiet, calm down," those are still developing.

EMILIO: We thought that we were the only ones...

-IVAN: Yeah. -EMILIO: ...at these situations.

It's a common thing, like, a lot of people have it.

You're not alone.

NARRATOR: Understanding that our brains are hard-wired to make us feel anxious

is the first step to learning that anxiety is natural, not abnormal.

We need to learn to accept it.

But we also need to learn to cope with it.

Dr. Elena Touroni is a consultant psychologist

who specializes in treating anxiety disorders.

Unusually, for such inseparable identical twins,

Emilio and Ivan are taking turns to confide in Elena.

While we were in the US,

we were working everyday.

There was a lot of pressure.

I don't wanna fail.

And if I fail, I don't want my brother to fail.

And my mind thinks,

"If you don't wanna fail, just don't do it."

One thing that I noticed is that both you and your brother

mentioned, sort of, very powerfully,

this idea of wanting to get out of the situation.

-IVAN: Mmm-hmm. Yeah. -Kind of run away from the situation,

which is very typical of anxiety.

Whenever we're feeling threatened,

we want to escape.

If you were able to challenge that negative thought,

and giving yourself a positive message,

"Look, it will be okay."

We've done this a few times,

people really enjoy watching us.

And even if something was to go wrong momentarily,

you and your brother will be able to find a way to recover.

It's really important not to become too worried

about being worried,

It's very straightforward

to, kind of, get help

-with feelings of anxiety. -EMILIO: Mmm-hmm.

Very simple techniques,

such as deep breathing, mindfulness,

can make a very big difference to relieving feeling of anxiety.

NARRATOR: Mindfulness is the process of focusing the mind

on experiences in the present moment,

and one of the most effective ways of combating anxiety.

Veronika Rakli teaches relaxation through aerial yoga.

Can she help the twins relieve their anxieties

by learning to experience the joy of the present.

VERONIKA: What brought you here today?

-To feel safe... -VERONIKA: Okay.

...when I feel anxious.

So, this is what aerial yoga can help with,

to soothe the body.

Sitting in hammocks helps you to feel more secure.

More safe.

Because you can create your own bubble

around your body.

It is only you, your mind, your body.

You are present in the moment and you are present in the body.

And how do you feel now?

I feel relaxed.

-I almost fell asleep. [CHUCKLES] -IVAN: Yeah.

This really works.

'Cause you gotta be focusing on what you're doing.

And your mind is, like, really clear.

And I feel great.

NARRATOR: We can all learn to cope with anxiety

and live calmer lives

by doing five simple things.

We do too much,

and then complain that our lives are too hectic.

But what registers as anxiety

is often the mind's plea

not to be continuously overstimulated.

We all need to accept that we can't do it all.

We need proper sleep,

at least seven hours every night.

News organizations speak of our need to know.

But often we have a greater need not to know.

There's nothing we can do about the exploits,

disasters and triumphs of strangers we'll never meet.

We need to switch off and concentrate

on things closer to home that we can affect.

Anxiety's the mind's revenge

for all the thoughts we try to suppress.

We need to allocate time where we have nothing to do,

other than sift through the chaotic contents of our minds.

Every hour of living

requires at least ten minutes of sifting.

It would be nice to be rich, famous and successful.

But it might be wiser to recognize

that a truly satisfying life

can be had living modestly

and far away from the maniac competition

to win the professional status race.

EMILIO: Being anxious made us escape from social media.

And that is a thing that we love to do.

IVAN: If this happens to you,

I wanna say to you guys

-that you guys are not alone. -Yeah.

IVAN: This can be controlled,

and you can handle it and you can change it.

There's a new future on us.

-We're gonna go out, we're gonna have fun. -EMILIO: Yeah.

And we're not gonna worry about worrying,

which is really important.

Hey, guys.

If you like this episode...

EMILIO: ...make sure you subscribe to The School of Life channel

to watch all the cool episodes.

-Right now. -Go right now.

-Yes go right now! -Right now!

Whoo!

-Right now. -[BOTH CHUCKLING]