Thinking Too Much
It turns out that our brains can be co-conspirators in a vicious stress loop. This finding is not too surprising to any of us with an overactive cortex. I find it remarkable how some tapes insist on playing over and over in my brain despite my best efforts to hit the stop button. A recent study with stressed-out rats revealed
“…the rodents were now cognitively predisposed to keep doing the same things over and over, to run laps in the same dead-ended rat race rather than seek a pipeline to greener sewers. “Behaviors become habitual faster in stressed animals than in the controls, and worse, the stressed animals can’t shift back to goal-directed behaviors when that would be the better approach,” Dr. Sousa said. “I call this a vicious circle.”
The truth is, Dr. Sapolsky said, “we’re lousy at recognizing when our normal coping mechanisms aren’t working. Our response is usually to do it five times more, instead of thinking, maybe it’s time to try something new.” And though perseverance can be an admirable trait and is essential for all success in life, when taken too far it becomes perseveration — uncontrollable repetition — or simple perversity.”
This brings to mind Einstein’s observation that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Why do smart people fall prey to this malady?
“In humans, though, the brain can think too much, extracting phantom threats from every staff meeting or high school dance, and over time the constant hyperactivation of the stress response can unbalance the entire feedback loop. Reactions that are desirable in limited, targeted quantities become hazardous in promiscuous excess.”
So is there a cure? Fortunately, brains are remarkably elastic. All it takes is an extended vacation.
“with only four weeks’ vacation in a supportive setting free of bullies and Tasers, the formerly stressed rats looked just like the controls, able to innovate, discriminate and lay off the bar. Atrophied synaptic connections in the decisive regions of the prefrontal cortex resprouted, while the overgrown dendritic vines of the habit-prone sensorimotor striatum retreated.”
I will say that I felt remarkably better after a two week vacation this summer, and the real calm didn’t settle in until after one week had gone by. The challenge will be to maintain some of that calm as school gears up this fall. As the novelist Ellen Glasgow observed, “The only difference between a rut and a grave are the dimensions.” Ommmm.
