1.️ Stress shuts down the prefrontal cortex This is important, so please read it again: stress shuts down the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is our ‘rational brain’. It enables us to regulate our thoughts, actions and emotions. Under stress, the fight or flight response, our limbic system, a more primitive part of the brain, takes over. As long as the limbic system is in charge, we will act reactively, habitually and instinctively. This means that stress impairs complex, flexible thinking, learning and the processing of new information, while the ability to perform simpler and more habitual tasks improves. We switch to autopilot. This can save our lives when fast and automatic responding is needed but is really not what […]

“Stress is necessary to perform, but too much stress is unhealthy.” This (or some variation) is a frequently heard mantra. It seems to be based on the idea that there is one type of stress and that this one type of stress, with moderate exposure, ensures that you are sharp and can perform well, but with excessive exposure leads to lower performance and, ultimately, to health damage. This is not the case. They are actually two fundamentally different kinds of physiological responses. One type (hereinafter: Performance Response) contributes to peak performance, high productivity and flow,[1] and under the influence of the other type, the so-called fight or flight response (hereafter: FF Response), cognitive performance is virtually impossible. A good understanding […]