In Anxiety - A Neurochemical Feedback Loop , I wrote about some of the effects of the neurochemical cortisol when our brains perceive a threat, real or imagined: 1) It prepares the body to take action 2) It alerts us to more danger (and causes...
If you struggle with anxiety, you are not alone. Many of us get stuck in fearful and negative thought loops and can spiral down the rabbit hole of what-if scenarios and catastrophe thinking. It feels terrible, but the truth is, this process is actually the...
Getting sympathy when we complain gives us a hit of feel-good brain chemicals even though the thing we are complaining about is still a problem. This feel-good hit programs us to use this strategy to feel better in the future. It becomes a habit. But...
Stress eating. We’ve all been there at some point. A whole bag of potato chips when we are lonely. A chocolate bar after a stressful situation at work. Eating when we are bored even though we aren’t hungry. Stress eating is our brain’s attempt to...