Break Your Negativity Bias by Understanding & Regulating Your Stress Response with Nicole Vignola
Sep 16, 2024
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Nicole Vignola, a neuroscientist and organizational consultant, unpacks the brain's stress responses and the concept of negativity bias. She reveals that not all stress is harmful, as some is necessary for productivity. Vignola discusses how our brains can rewire and break free from negative thought patterns. She shares effective techniques for managing stress and highlights the importance of voluntary stress exposure. Listeners will gain insights into using sighing and other methods to enhance emotional regulation and cognitive efficiency.
Understanding the distinction between acute and chronic stress is vital for recognizing and managing our stress responses effectively.
Utilizing techniques such as physiological sighing and engaging in hobbies can significantly help reduce stress and enhance cognitive function.
Deep dives
Understanding Stress Mechanisms
Stress can be categorized into acute and chronic types, influencing our brain and body differently. Acute stress, such as being cut off in traffic, results in a temporary spike in hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, allowing individuals to respond quickly and recover afterward. However, chronic stress can have damaging effects, leading to prolonged negative health outcomes. Understanding these mechanisms allows individuals to better recognize stress responses and manage them more effectively.
The Difference Between Stress and Anxiety
Stress is often triggered by external factors, while anxiety typically involves a persistent worry about potential future threats. When an external stressor is removed, stress levels tend to decrease, but anxiety may linger without an obvious cause. This distinction highlights how the brain’s threat detection, driven by the amygdala, can sometimes misinterpret situations, making individuals feel anxious even when no immediate danger is present. Recognizing this difference is crucial for developing appropriate coping strategies.
Techniques for Managing Stress
Several techniques can help manage stress effectively, including physiological sighing, walking, and engaging in hobbies. Physiological sighs – inhaling deeply through the nose and exhaling through the mouth – can help lower stress levels and enhance cognitive function by reinvigorating the brain's frontal cortex. Walking naturally promotes stress reduction, creating a pattern similar to eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), which helps in processing emotions. Finally, participating in hobbies diverts attention, lowers stress hormones, and enables clearer thinking when approaching challenges.
What is actually happening in your brain when you’re in a stressed-out state of mind?
Even though stress has become an inescapable part of daily life, that doesn’t mean all stress is bad. You need a certain amount of stress to reach a state of productivity and focus. But your brain registers negative information more than positive. That’s why it’s important to learn how to combat stress effectively so that it doesn’t harm your nervous system and brain.
It might be a surprise, but you’re not hard-wired to stay in specific thought patterns. Your brain has plasticity that makes it capable of redesigning new neural pathways based on your choices. But if you always give in to an urge, you’re going to reinforce your response to that behavior. Listen in as Nicole explains why negativity bias can be so powerful and shares tools to help you regulate your stress response.
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