Neurobiology of Everyday – Mindscape Hub

Procrastinations? Addicted to the internet? Can't stop feeling Anxious?

Our hormones, neurochemicals, neural pathways and brain functioning play vital roles in maintaining the intricate balance so that we get to live a life without dysfunction.

To understand the basics of our nervous system and how it impacts our normal functioning and how we can reclaim it, we have to talk about Cortisol, the stress hormone, Dopamine, the feel good neurochemical and neural pathways, the information highways in the brain.

Stress hormone rules our body

Do you wonder why every physical and psychological symptom can be directly related to stress? Seems like stress-management is the new "water" treatment each physiologist or psychologist would suggest these days.
High and constant amount of Cortisol in your body suggests that your body is living in a survival mode. Survival mode that was only biologically intended to be activated during a looming danger of predator, is now the default state for a lot of us.
Living in survival makes us act in fight, freeze or flight state.

When our body is stressed due to exams, you go on a freeze response and start scrolling endlessly unable to take an action even when you feel utterly guilty inside.
When your partner makes you stressed, you might go on a flight response and run away from the situation or the person.
Inability to leave the survival mode, living in constant anxiety severely impacts our energy, motivation, emotions, actions proving to be damaging to our brain/bodily functioning, work and relationships with the Self and others.

According to Nichole Jardim, author of “Fix Your Period”:

Cortisol sits at the top of the hierarchy of hormones. High levels of cortisol often indicate hormonal disruption in the body, leading to various abnormalities that may or may not be explained by other conditions. Thyroid dysfunction, menstrual irregularities, unexplained physical pains, autoimmune diseases, among many others, are commonly associated with high levels of stress.

Substance and Non-substance addiction

When talking about addiction, we generally think about substance addiction like drug, alcohol and even stimulants. Often people think about the hazards of these types of addictions more seriously, But, sometimes you might find yourself worrying about how your quality of life has decreased once you started watching reels and shorts and tiktok. These are called behavioral addictions, All sorts of addictions are similar in a way how they have the capacity to affect our lives and how they make us feel.

Compulsive behaviors that provide temporary pleasure or relief from stress or discomfort but ultimately lead to negative consequences
Having no control over it, making it challenging to quit even it is your intention
Having negative impact in several aspects of life like physical/psychological health, relationships, or performance in life/work/school
Requiring ever increasing amounts of behavior to achieve the desired effect, and experiencing withdrawal symptom when attempting to cut back or stop it
Intense cravings/urges to engage in addiction triggered by stress/discomfort or external triggers
Even after certain period of abstinence, one usually falls back into old patterns, this is where empathy and compassion should be provided yourself of someone you love because relapse doesn’t mean failure. It is the nature of addiction and shame is the enemy of progress. Addictions often coexist with one or more underlying psychological factors which needs to be taken into consideration.

How can everything be a habit?

"95% of who we are by the time we’re 35 years old is a memorized set of behaviors, emotional reactions, unconscious habits, hardwired attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions that function like a computer program," says Dr. Joe Dispenza, a researcher in the field of neuroscience and epigenetics. He often emphasizes how people tend to follow repetitive patterns until disrupted by significant life events, such as tragedies. You don't have to totally subscribe to what he says to relate to this quote because we are all way to familiar with this.

Habits form when you do a task repetitively. The connection and communication between neurons is what makes all thoughts and actions possible. Such neural connections create neural pathways, and they become stronger the more we use them. You can take the example of a trail which, over use, becomes more prominent and which, if avoided for a longer period of time, gets covered with weeds and grass.

Habits can also be our way of thinking, our ways of coping through stress (like taking substance, scrolling mindlessly or exercising),

dealing with conflicts (like blaming, avoiding conversation or using violence) and our self-talk patterns.

Avoiding habits that don’t serve us anymore feels unnatural and even dangerous to us creating a sense of panic and prompting us to fall back into it again. This is why it is hard to break habits.
Creating new good habits take more effort because the neural connection are still new and it hasn’t yet become automatic and effortless.

To say in general, breaking out bad patterns and forming new ones are only possible when we don’t stay completely loyal to our comfort zones and embrace discomfort when necessary. However, doing this can be a tricky and tough journey.

Participate with us

Did you know procrastination is related to perfectionism and can also be caused due to fear of failure and rejection. To learn how to overcome such fears and become more productive, master our own body, learn more about our body and how our body communicates, join one of our programs and track your progress.

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